Adega Nova — Restaurant in Faro

Not impressive but a good local place to taste some seafood

We had our dinner with them on 29th October, 2019 after a long beautiful journey from Lisbon to Faro with courtesy visit to the Ocean at the Salema beach (that day the Atlantic was so beautifully patient and so transparent that it was impossible to resist swimming there even when the water temperature was just 18 degrees Centigrade). I do not follow any "experts'" recommendation or advice to visit some local eateries and instead of that prefer to ask the very local persons or those already visited the country for what and where. It was not a choice by us but the circumstances determined that since two other places preliminary advised for our selection (Centenario & 2 Irmaos) disappeared from our list due to a noisy company in one of them and a very strange odour in front of the other :). Just left only Adega Nova or simply to visit some cafe :).

From the very entrance you feel not very comfortable - likewise you are to enter some McDonalds since the waiters are almost ready to attack you offering their personal serving lots - not a pleasant feeling, indeed. Initially we thought to stay at the upper floor but the air there was so close, hot not ventilated that we immediately returned back to the ground floor. There were only three pairs of people but it's even difficult to imagine what is going on with their ventilation when the restaurant is filled up to the top - this issue of technical maintenance certainly requires some attention. We were served by some man in years and this service was rather nervous and with just one clearly readable readiness - tips... Yes, we met the same awful situation described be many visitors with imposed dishes at your own expense but since we are acquainted with such not best samples of Latin American service we simply asked from the very beginning to keep these tuna salads (especially waiting for us for hours :) at their backstage. Definitely it's a serious problem of their operations management but who knows whether the owners hear about that... We ordered some tuna, shrimps with garlic sauce and white wine (in-house Alentejano). Everything was prepared without huge delays but no one offered us to select food from that fish present there at some glass case. All dishes are well cooked and prepared but to tell something of their deliciousness would be an overestimation. Starting with the very shrimps and garlic - as you know you could find the same dish in all seaside countries and thus, you are able to compare them through times and borders. If, for example, in Panama or even in the Dominican Republic shrimps and a garlic sauce conform some kind of unity which lives unanimously within your taste and perception, here I just felt shrimps and good separate oil with garlic... The tuna was absolutely neutral... at all. Therefore, it could be some irrational exuberance if you expect some wow-effect from the very cuisine at that place.

Additional operational failures followed - there are not any additional simple napkins on the table or simple clean glasses - both of them you are to ask continuously from the staff and to remind your requests.

Their pricing policies are almost the same (within all these three restaurants mentioned) and could be considered as middle ones.

But the most significant failure and clear sign of bad operations management is the desire to economise by eliminating acquiring costs and by that depriving customers of any opportunity to pay by cards; but at the same time and obviously, just by occasion and a coincidence you are offered to use an ATM just one meter from the entrance...

Thus, a little bit tired by such a strange service in a so "popular" place we simply decided to have our coffee and deserts at some cafe close to our hotel...

Saw this restaurant while passing by and it seemed to have good reviews so we decided to have our dinner there. Service was nice at the beginning and as soon as we took a seat we received the menu. In less than a minute after we got a small basket of bread and tuna (canned) bean salad. Food menu is translated into 4 different languages and is a bit hard to read through but we decided to go for a big skewer with shrimps, fish and vegetables. In the drinks menu there are 3 different sangrias so we asked the waiter what are the differences between them. One of them he said is with champagne and we ordered that one. From that moment on came one disappointment after another. Potential champagne sangria came out to be made of martini which I don't like and I would have not go for it if I knew it's gonna be made with it. French fries were served cold and the skewer, even though looking impressive, was definitely not made from a fresh seafood. We left half of the food but nobody bothered to ask if everything was ok if we left that much food untouched. The biggest surprise was still about to come. Once receiving the bill, we realized that: We got charged 5euro for the salad and bread that came at the beginning and we assumed that it's a complimentary starter as we haven't ordered it and the portion was so small. We got charged for the French fries and a salad, even though while ordering we were told that it's included in the meal with the skewer. After kindly asking the waiter what were all the positions on the bill (because it was in Portuguese), he got annoyed and removed only french fries from our bill. We decided to not discuss this anymore and just pay for it. Once seeing the credit card, the waiter just said "no card!" And walked away.

Our evening got spoiled by mistakes that could have been easily avoided. Will definitely...

This restaurant specialized on its main dish and you notice that instantly. The fish or meat is outstandingly good, especially for the price. The side dishes are a bit lame in contrast.

The restaurant itself is lovely and gives you an old timey feel. The wooden benches could be more comfortable though.

Another weird thing was; you get bread as an appetizer at the start. The bread is given to you without you asking for it, so I expected that the bread is included with whatever you ordered. We were kind of shocked at the end that we were asked to pay for the bread at the end. It just felt very weird because we never ordered it or were even asked if we want it and still had to pay for it.

All in all the extraordinary fish overweighted the downsides and we were still happy, but it should still be noted somewhere that you will pay for the bread even if you...