Cova da Loba — Restaurant in Celorico da Beira

The head of the restaurant politely took the order. I ordered pasta and asked him to please make sure it is prepared with no dairy products. The dish came with a red sauce... and cream. Although unnoticeable in color or texture, it smelled and tasted cream. I told the same person, he went and checked with the kitchen, and came back saying there were no dairy products on the food. He wouldn't taste it and, instead, put himself in a defensive position saying he trusted his employees. I explained there was no need to trust anyone... mistakes happen, and even go unnoticed, no big deal... he could simply taste it himself. He wouldn't. I returned the dish untouched. My friends had a good meal. I wasn't offered the menu again, or anything else for that matter. The person never showed up in the room again. The dish was billed, I paid and walked out, no questions asked. This was two weeks ago. The place seems to be running on the reputation of the...

The partridge soup is special, very exciting dish, good flavours and the pastry is a unique touch. On the dessert menu they claim to have the best sponge cake in the universe. I haven't tried their sponge cake, but I also haven't been to the entire universe (yet) so I could not verify their claim. I only had the soup which was excellent, and the bacalhau was super mediocre, the chickpea sauce did not appear fresh, it looked tired, it could use some freshening up, they still have to refine the recipe. Overall, it is a nice place, nice ambience, it is located in a basement, ideal for romantic dinners, it's literally in the middle of nowhere, I drove 30 minutes each direction and was the only car on the road both ways. Quite a few dangerous curves on the way there so if you are driving at night please drive slowly and safely. I will be back for the partridge soup for...

We’ve been here 2 times, once for dinner and once for lunch. The ambiance is good, staff is very friendly. The quality of the food is great, really great. We tried the soup, the sausage rolls, the mushroom risotto, the kids dishes with fries and turkey steak, the wild board and tuna tartar. All was very good. The price is a bit high for local portuguese standards, but it’s still a good price vs quality. At last the deserts, we had quite a couple and they were all good.

The meal sizes are regular, nor small, nor too big. I’m a big eater and an entree and main dish were enough. If you’ve got some room left, pick a nice dessert to top it off (or with some nice Port). The wine list is enormous, know your wines if you want to choose!

Really nice place to visit. If you are considering the...