Lareira — Restaurant in Beja

Five star ratings for this restaurant seems to be insufficient! I found A Lareira on Google Maps 2 weeks ago coming from home in Castro Verde to Beja to do some shopping with my wife. It was getting late. Since not familiar with restaurants in Beja, started a search on Google. Bingo, A Lareira, full of 5star ratings along with an impressive list of praising reviews. A huge menu, lots of inviting photos. Of special note.... a rarety,  a favorite of my wife, migas de tomate (with shrimp to boot!). It was 21:30 so I called to verify a table it being late already on a Friday night for a table. The gentleman confirmed a table for us, and the migas! Friendly service straight away on the phone! The restaurant was full but with a table set with  h'ordeuvres awaiting us next to the fireplace. We were attended by Mr. Antonio whom we were to find out is the owner and the one I spoke to on the phone. Now for the food and service: The migas was a complete surprise. Nothing like the usual. The portion was double the usual size with large shrimps garnered around the plate, but the surprise was that the migas had not only tomato but shrimp inside the roll. As for me, it was grilled salmon, my usual if not original choice when dining out. It was the best I had ever had. A huge salmon steak, grilled perfectly, golden on the surface, succulent inside, accompanied by a variety of perfectly cooked delicious vegetables (again a rarety of sorts). I could go on and on praising this dining experience, the professional, friendly service, the higiene, all so perfect and guess what? A great price for everything on the huge range of choices on the standard menu (which has a children menu, another rarety). Many thanks go to Google, all the 5 star ratings, the honest reviews that led me to choose A Lareira and of course to Mr. António in particular for his congeniality. It will be a regular dining out for us...

We stopped in here after an exceptionally long travel day. Everyone was so accommodating given our poor attempts at Portuguese and really went out of their way to make us feel right at home. Pedro came out from the back to help translate and make recommendations and all were on point. Everything was exceptional… entrees , service, dessert, coffee and regional wines. I highly recommend visiting Restaurante Lareira on your...

Comida OK mas nada de especial, mas sendo o primeiro a chegar ao restaurante é só ser servido passado uma hora e com outras mesas que chegaram 10 e 15 minutos depois serem atendidas primeiro é muito mau. Nunca mais lá vou. Um senhor queixou-se do mesmo e a resposta do empregado foi: 'na sua casa a comida não leva tempo a fazer? Aqui também leva.'

Food is okish but the service is miserable, I was the first in the restaurant, the food arrived 1h later. Other costumers that arrived 10 and 15 minutes later than me was serviced first. Lost a costumer. One other costumer complained about the food being late, the waiter replyed: 'in your home the food takes time to cook right? In here...