Restaurante Sé Velha — Restaurant in Coimbra

The worst place me and my friends have ever eaten at. Even the water wasn't enjoyable, as I was given a cup that had several stains on it, including clear lip marks from the customer before me. The caldo verde was obviously from a previous day and simply microwaved in the bowl, as there was a thin layer of fat on the top, and the soup was straight up rancid and sour.

I ordered the vegan francesinha, but when the server brought it out there was an egg on top, which the server then apologized for. While they were remaking my food, they brought out my friends' orders. One ordered the "octopus" rice, which turned out to not even be octopus, but rather a sea animal "related to octopus," as per the server. Whatever it was was almost unchewable, and the rice was extremely greasy. My other friend's steak was super salty, he took 2 bites and clocked out. By this point, no one had taken more than 3 bites of any of the food, so we decided to leave. This was the first time any of us had ever left a restaurant mid-meal before. The server apologized again and told us that no one had ever complained about the food before, which I highly doubt considering some of these other reviews here.

But the server also said that the remade vegan francesinha was done, so I decided to bring it home because I was starving and hate wasting food. The inside of the sandwich was some sort of veggie-patty made of bread and beans, and nothing else; the (hopefully) vegan cheese was also stale and unmelted. We ended up paying only for the francesinha and water, and just those were 15 euros. This place is a classic tourist trap, and I would only recommend it if you want to poison yourself, or...

Tradicional Portuguese restaurant with a separate vegan/vegetarian menu.

This is a regular restaurante by the Sé Velha, at the top of the Rua do Quebra Costas stairs. They have tables inside and outside in a area across the street.

We had the vegan alheira and the vegan francesinha, plus vegetable soup and fresh juice. The food was plain, but good. Both dishes came with French fries, and the alheiras also came with a simple salad. The soup was the typical vegetable soup you find everywhere in Portugal and it was also good. The vegan francesinha was made with slightly spicy beans, which is an interesting change from others we’ve had before, which usually use seitan or some other meat substitutes.

Overall we were very satisfied with our meals. We’re glad to find more and more vegan offers in Coimbra. The staff was very, very friendly, even though we got there just a couple of minutes before they closed the kitchen, they insisted we would take our time eating, even after they were ready to close the restaurant. The owner later told us they plan on expanding their vegan menu.

Definitely a good option for a good vegan meal while in downtown Coimbra, and we plan to go back next time...

Our first stop after Porto was Coimbra. After a long drive, we were looking forward to some seafood and had some outdoor seating. We were walking towards the main square, when we saw this restaurant with a few tablea outside and the menu had both veg and non-veg options. The hostess was friendly and was able to speak English and seated us quickly. After having the veg soup in almost every restaurant in Porto, we were not ready to break that trend. We got the Vegetable Soup and some port wine to start. The soup was different, but very hearty and tasty. We got the Margarita Pizza, Vegetable Francesinha, Grilled Seabass and the Grilled Sardines. The pizza sauce was not too tart and the crust was crisp. The Vegetable Francesinha was ok. The one in Porto were better. But the Grilled Seabass and Sardines were seasoned perfectly and Grilled to perfection. The location is great too because a few steps down and you can listen to some Jazz music. The prices were not too high either. Between $ and $$. Would...