Chefe Branco — Restaurant in Faro

I was extremely excited to come here following a recommendation from somebody in Portugal - it was to be the only Portuguese meal that we had whilst here so I was keen to go all out.

However, it didn’t live up to my expectations. I’m giving three stars because the food, although not bad at all, was nothing special or outstanding but I would have probably given 4 stars had we had better service.

Our waiter was not the nicest, we felt as though we were not wanted there. Bread and butter was put on our table (we didn’t ask for this) and having seen a previous review saying that they were charged for this bread, we decided to ask our waiter if it was free or not. He sarcastically said ‘nothing is free in this world’, which, fine, and it was only cheap, but we hadn’t asked for this bread; we decided to not eat it out of principle if nothing else. This seemed to visibly annoy the waiter. Interestingly too, their menu states the law that unsolicited food will not be charged for.

The food (cod and octopus) was nice - neither of us are massive seafood people but we wanted to try these typical dishes and I’m glad we did still. However, the side vegetables were indeed soggy and clearly from a cheap frozen bag of mixed veg that you buy in a supermarket. Still tasted good, but you expect more from a restaurant.. similarly, the boiled potatoes that accompanied the main looked basic and bland - still nice, but nothing special at all and the presentation could be improved.

Overall, I’d still recommend this place if you want to try Portuguese dishes and I think our experience would have been far more positive had we had a different waiter. The decor is nice and bright and it was busy when we went.

Also, pop over the street to the mercado opposite the restaurant to grab yourself a beer whilst you wait for a table - the owner of the shop is...

Do not eat here if you're a tourist! The staff were unethical and rude. We sat down for a quick bite on our way to our hotel after a bus ride from Lisbon and were initially grateful they would seat us, as it was starting to get late and we were very hungry. One of the servers brought over bread with butter and a plate of shrimp without us having ordered anything, including drinks. Although a plate of shrimp is uncommon where we're from, bread and butter is something we've experienced as a free starter commonly throughout Europe, the US, and where we're from in Canada. We didn't question it and were grateful. When we were given the bill and charged for both the bread and shrimp, we were adamantly told by more than one of the staff that this is common practice in Portugal (we have been here for a week, spent 3 days in Faro specifically, have been to Portugal before, eaten out a lot, and never been charged for bread and butter we didn't order). We were also adamantly told that customers do not get free bread with meals ever in Canada, which was not only frustrating because we've lived there our entire lives, but because my boyfriend and I have a combined 15 years working in the restaurant industry. We ended up paying for both appetizers, although begrudgingly and not without saying that we thought this was unfair.

We experienced a general sense of impoliteness from our server for the entirety of our dining experience. We'd ask a question and he'd walk away, whenever we said thank you he would not even smile let alone say anything in response, and he spoke perfect English so it couldn't have been a language barrier.

For a restaurant that surely relies on tourists to some degree, you'd think they'd treat them with some decency and want them to feel welcomed. Please go eat somewhere that treats all of their customers with...

saw great reviews on google so decided to come here for seafood, but i have to say this is not the type of seafood that i enjoy ☺️

The seafood rice is recommended by many people, but it turned out to be just okay. There are lots of clams, some small shrimp and a few pieces of crab whose meat is hard to get out, with rice in tomato sauce. The seafood in this dish is really unimpressive and the rice and the soup are just regular soup and rice - certainly not outstanding

The seafood rice is supposed to be for two people, but i ate a few clams, one spoon crab meat and maybe a few spoons of rice. It’s barely anything to eat 😂

The grilled seafood is better, but the sauce is sweet and a non-descript flavor. The steak is decent. The dessert is better.

Maybe we didn’t order the right dish - the grilled octopus is recommended by many, but so is the seafood rice. Maybe this is great seafood for others but not for someone who prefers more flavorful grilled or fried fresh seafood with butter and wine, garlic, etc

PLUS, parking around this restaurant is hard to find. Good luck...