88 Restaurant — Restaurant in Cascais

October 2023: We were indeed “lucky” to have dinner at “88” last night. From their very extensive dim sum menu we just chose the sumai, vegan spring rolls (“Rolas veganos de primavera frito”), and chive pancake (“Panqueca de cebolinho”). We would have had one of the rice noodle rolls ("chee cheong fun"), but they were not yet available. The sumai was one of the best we have had ever (after 35 years in San Francisco area and a couple of trips to Hong Kong). Vegan spring rolls had a very flavorful filling wrapped in thin layered sheets (think filo – structure not taste). The chive pancake was thin and beautifully constructed, but a bit bland for our taste.

We started our main courses with the Singapore rice noodles (“Massa de arroz frita a Singapur”), a San Francisco standard, which were excellent. Beautifully contrasting components with just the right level of curry flavor. Next, we were blown away by the steamed scallops (“Vieiras a vapor”) on the shell over a thin bed of thin rice noodles exquisitely flavored. We finished with salt and pepper squid (“Lula temperada com sal e piment”), another San Francisco standard, which were perfectly cooked and seasoned – the batter flavorful if a bit thick for our liking.

Finished off the perfect meal with the mango pudding – it did not disappoint.

The room and settings are elegant, as were the knowledgeable and attentive staff.

We will be back with a group for a dim sum feast and more exceptional dinners.

January, 2024; tried the Cantonese duck and braised eggplant with pork for the first time. Both...

Unfortunately not the best experience. Although the restaurant looks extremely nice and we were greeted at the door, most things did not well. Right from the start the tone is ruined by the fact that the restaurant has plastic menus, the food one with pictures and the drinks did not have all of what's available. Staff very poorly trained, not once we were asked if we wanted another bottle of wine after finishing one. They don't know the menu nor how to explain or recommend anything. WE WAITED 1 HOUR FOR THE FOOD! They took our order and the kitchen such forgot. And after other people coming in, ordering and eating, they still didn't realize we were foodless. Food is OK but avoid at all cost the spicy shrimps. They come with the "shell" and they say it's meant to be eaten like this. HORRIFIC... because the when shells are to be eaten they should be done to a point where you feel nothing. In this case you feel just how bad the dish is. The fried sticky beef is very good tho... At the end, the check came with items that were not ours and when we asked the staff to correct it, they started joking between them that we wanted a discount.

I started this review by awarding staff a 2/5 but i can't go over 1/5.

Service is key and when you can open a week later to make sure staff is ready.

What a shame! We came with high hopes and left with high certainty that we will...

On our first visit to this restaurant, we were pleasantly greeted and led to our pre-arranged table. The table was set nicely and the interior was well done. We sat on the side patio. The servers were very kind and seemed to want to serve us well. Unfortunately, they forgot my order. Everyone at my table was served except me, and they completely finished their meal before mine was even served. A few friends shared a bit of their dish. I tried fried rice with shrimp and noted that I didn't see or taste any shrimp or flavor added to the dish. The cost was 13.90 euros which was probably 90% pure profit since rice costs next to nothing. I also tried the scallion pancake which to my surprise had very little flavor. I was shocked at the lack of seasonings, even salt!

Finally, my order arrived. It was the Beef brisket, vegetable and rice noodle soup, 15 euros. It tasted okay, a bit bland, but the big shocker is the beef was prepared with large pieces of fat and connective tissue that I couldn't eat it unless I removed it from the soup and cut off the non-edible parts. I had a large pile of fat and connective tissue on my plate by the end.

The lesson to learn here is to not spend so much money on the restaurant interior that you are forced to cut corners on the food. Because, in the end, patrons come to...