Boteco Aveiro — Restaurant in Aveiro

DONT COME IF YOURE A TOURIST! Came here around 2:30 on Tuesday the 4th of March and had literally the worst service I’ve ever had at a restaurant. We order clams, olives, bread and broken eggs. After a long wait our order of clams came out along with scrambled eggs. We politely told the short curtly haired waiter that we had ordered the broken eggs not scrambled eggs. He then began to gaslight us and say that we had misread the menu or we translated it wrong, and that broken eggs eggs are scrambled eggs. Unfortunately for this little man this wasn’t our first day in Portugal. After a back and forth we ask to see the menu again and showed him that broken eggs and scrambled eggs were two different options on the menu, which he then walked off in a huff and rolled his eyes. We then asked our waitress if we could have knives and forks to eat with instead of the singular spoon to share and if we could have our bread and olives that we had orders an hour ago. She nicely apologized and said she’d grab them right away. After another 20 mins, and after we had given up and eaten the clams without our forks, she arrived with the bread and olives. No cutlery. At this point we canceled the mysterious broken eggs, paid and left. The moody child that tried to tell us we can’t read a menu took out lament, never once apologies for trying to make us look a fool and again, walked off in a hissy fit. Massive waste of our time and the laziest and slowest servers...

The service was disorganised, inattentive, and unprofessional.

We waited over 45 minutes for our drinks after having to wave down a waiter just to place the order. We ordered the garlic steak, mushroom steak, seafood risotto, and clams. Instead, we were mistakenly served oysters—twice—which we had not ordered and had to send back.

When the food finally arrived, one dish was incorrect: instead of the mushroom steak, we were given a mushroom and steak risotto. We informed the waiter, who insisted it was correct and left without addressing the issue. Only after following up again—once the rest of our table had already received and finished their meals—was the correct dish brought out, following a complaint to the manager.

This wasn’t an isolated incident; the table next to us experienced a similar situation where one person’s omelette was brought out after the rest of the table had finished. We were mistakenly offered their omelette at one point.

The quality of the food was equally disappointing. Both steaks were overcooked and tough. The garlic steak was served with two whole, raw garlic cloves rather than a proper garlic sauce or seasoning. The clams were cold and gritty, and the seafood paella contained no more than four prawns.

To make matters worse, the final bill was incorrect, and there was a lack of apology or effort to rectify the situation.

Overall, the experience was incredibly poor, both in terms of food...

I had a business trip in Aveiro and stayed near the canal. I picked this place for its high ratings and warm atmosphere facing the canal. But alas, the food is carelessly prepared even on a less busy spring day. For sure, I was by myself, and I am an East Asian foreigner traveling by myself.

But I know risotto is not to be eaten half hard. The staff had the audacity to try to justify that half cooked rice is amusing. She quickly removed the dish, promising to recook it. At that time, I've already been sitting there for almost half an hour.

There I was, sitting by myself, and even laying my arm on the next chair caused some instant corrections. Yet, even that, they couldn't serve the already baked pastry and soup in another 20 minutes. At the end, I just wanted to leave and found my bill still contained that half cooked dish I only had one bite and returned. Every attentive billing service.

All in all, I wish I had something nice to say about this place for its service or food. This place, however, is not friendly to solo female travelers. Which is a shame. Because Aveiro is a lovely...