Elementos — Restaurant in Faro

It's a real shame, nice location and view, attractive restaurant, but terrible parking for restaurant use (it took me 25 minutes to find somewhere, meaning I had to leave my 89 year old grandmother alone at the restaurant while I went to find a space.

The service was confused, we watched and tried to get the attention of the waiter who was busy giving away our sangria to someone else (we heard them ask what it was, he explained and then they said they'd have it!). A tiny portion of fries was brought to the table, yet we had a 25 minute wait for the rest of our food that should've come with the fries. We asked two members of staff where the rest of the food was, they said they would check but neither came back with an answer. We finally caught the attention of the manager (we think?), asked him, and 5 minutes later the food finally came.

The food was very disappointing for me. My grandmother was relatively happy with her meal choice, but the gratinated goat's cheese salad was the most boring one I've ever had. Dull lettuce choice, the avocado was missing so I had to ask for that, a tiny pot of vinaigrette that was nowhere near enough to cover the salad, one sorry tiny piece of goat's cheese that barely left the fridge let alone be gratinated which is charged at €5 extra, boiled egg which was so overcooked it smelled and tasted sulphuric, about 4 large raisins... I had to add salt a few times and extra olive oil, asked for some balsamic vinegar which was added to the bill at €1 (it was about 2tsp worth of vinegar!), the waiter took it off the bill.

However, the worst thing about about our experience here was finding out that if you tip on credit card, the waiting staff do not receive the tip.... this is a disgusting practice and management...

6 of us came for dinner last night (3 couples in our mid 30s). Absolutely fantastic from start to finish. From outside it looks like nothing much, but it's a lovely restaurant with gorgeous views over to Faro (you can see the planes landing!) and the estuary - looks beautiful as the sun sets.

We were served by a lovely young man who was practicing his English, he was very sweet, attentive, and laughed with us when we kept ordering more wine.

We ordered 10 starters to share between us (this was a special birthday dinner so we were going all out!) and then also had mains each too. The only below average dish was the burger, but everything else was so delicious! If you visit you absolutely must order: the ceviche (beautifully fresh, light and zingy!), the Prawns in crunchy almonds (huge prawns served on a stick with crunchy almond coating), the beef carpaccio, and the fried cuttlefish sticks. For mains, the veal dish was melt in the mouth, and the seafood linguini, and tuna with clams were both particularly delicious.

For our lavish dinner with lots of wine, lots of starters, and a round of espresso martinis, we thought the prices were so reasonable (less than €40 each). A fantastic evening we all enjoyed very much. I will be returning asap to try more of the delicious menu! The lunch options and salads look great if you are coming to the...

Our party of 4 visited on a Friday night in the height of summer at 8pm with no reservation. The restaurant was extremely busy, including a large birthday party group, but the staff found us a table and were very welcoming. The menu had something for everyone and was a different offering from most other restaurants on the ilha. I had the black risotto with scallops, which was perfect in every way. Two others in our group had seabass, which was overcooked and dry, unfortunately, and the fourth member of our group (gluten free) had chicken, which came with chips and salad and looked very appealing. We also had bread, olives, carrots, a 2 litre jug of sparkling sangria (red berries), a large beer, and a delicious 'real' lemonade and the bill came to EUR 108. Considering the location, the attentiveness of the staff, the restaurant surroundings, the ease of parking on this very busy ilha and the quality of the food and drink, I felt this was...