Al'Kawa Sushi Bar Benavente — Restaurant in Benavente

I visited this sushi restaurant with my family and we chose the all-inclusive option (drinks excluded). Normally, the waiter is supposed to ask about your preferences so the chef can prepare a plate of 30 pieces tailored to what you like. Unfortunately, in our case, no preferences were taken. The first plate arrived with about half of the pieces being tuna, which we do not enjoy.

When we mentioned this, the waiter reassured us that it was fine to leave the ones we didn’t like and that the next plate would be adjusted to our taste. However, at the end of the meal, we were surprised to find that we were charged €1 for each piece we had left on the plate. While this rule was written on the menu, the note was in very small print and easy to miss.

The issue was not with paying for wasted food, but with the fact that we were never given the chance to state our preferences in the first place. This created unnecessary waste and an unpleasant surprise on the bill.

I would advise future guests to carefully check the menu rules and make sure to clearly state your preferences when ordering to avoid...

I began eating and ordering sushi from this restaurant over 2 years ago, when I moved to this area. The fish is fresh, and the service is top notch. It has been a year since I ate or ordered sushi, and what a difference a year makes. Last night I got a take away order. When I got home and opened the container, I couldn't believe what I saw. The fish slices were so thin, you could barely taste the fish. And the amount of rice more than doubled compared to the previous times. I ended up removing half the rice from each piece of Nigiri, because of how much rice it was. I understand the need to make a bigger profit, but not like this. They should have kept the fish thickness and the rice portion the same, and increase the price. We all know that the cost of living in Portugal has gone up substantially in the last two years, so customers would not be shocked by a few cents or a one euro increase, as long as the portions remained unchanged. Sadly, this is the last time I will order from...

We visited this sushi restaurant with high hopes, but sadly, it didn’t live up to expectations. The menu leans heavily into fusion-style sushi — lots of variety, but little substance. While some of the rolls were decent, the overall quality just wasn’t there.

The biggest letdown was the tuna. It was dry, bland, and clearly not fresh — most likely previously frozen. We returned the pieces.

Honestly, it’s better to serve a smaller selection of fresh, well-prepared sushi than to offer a wide range that sacrifices freshness and taste. Quantity never makes up for quality, especially with sushi.

I would not recommend this place. If you’re looking for genuine, high-quality sushi, there are far better...