Restaurante Sol E Jardim — Restaurant in Faro

My partner and I decided to eat at what appeared from the outside to be a fine seafood restaurant on an evening last week.

I ordered salmon whilst he ordered steak and chips.

The establishment’s decor was somewhat questionable, but we didn’t let this out us off.

What did put us off was the food. I had no problem with my salmon, however the steak and chips was not what we expected. Instead of serving the finest sirloin on a plate, with a handful of freshly cut chips, my partner received a bowl with a bit of rubber and a packet of crisps swimming in some kind of soup.

The high edges of the bowl meant it was very difficult to cut the rubber, and the crisps went soggy very quickly. Staff were unhelpful in attempting to explain why the meal was served with crisps, and not chips, but our hunger prevailed and we got on with eating.

To make matters worse, the crisps were of different flavours. My partner had only tasted plain ready salted crisps at the point we complained, but he started to taste salt and vinegar (which doesn’t go with this steak) and even a stray BBQ pulled pork (which really didn’t go with this steak).

My partner only manages to eat a small portion of his rubber before sending it back, refusing any alternative they offered. We didn’t pay for his meal in the end, and shan’t...

This area has quite a lot of restaurant options so we were quite confused about where to go. As we were walking about trying to decide on which of these places to eat, we were greeted by two elderly people who encouraged us to go inside for a nice meal. When we got in we were attended to by a two lovely customer attendants, one of which was originally from Senegal and spoke 5 languages, including Portuguese, English and French. So, if you're looking for delicious local meals, and hoping for little to no language barrier when ordering from their menus, make sure you to try out this place. Also, the interior decor was green with an exotic array of tropical plants, along with a cosy, bright and airy feel. To top all these off, the food was really affordable and flavourful. They also had a well ventilated smoking/vaping area separated from the main dining area.

The customer attendants made sure we had a good time and experience by coming over regularly to our table to check on us and confirm we were enjoying the food or if needed anything else. They also guided us in choosing from their Portuguese written menu and were patient with us...

Me and my partner wanted to try some authentic Portuguese cuisine and we chose Sol e Jardim as the owner stopped us in the street and insisted we should give his place a try. We chose the touristic menu which was highly disappointing in terms of options and flavour. We were brought some bread and a couple of already opened and half eaten individual butter portions. Not to mention the confusion in terms of what exactly was included in the menu, although the owner spoke Italian and the waiter spoke English. They stated one of the main courses included meat but it was not clear what sort of meat which left us thinking there would be some steak or grilled meat but actually meant a couple of small pieces of sausage. They tried to rectify the error and brought a replacement of undercooked chicken breast and undercooked fries. We were charged full price which was very frustrating. All these small details added up and produced a very disappointing restaurant experience. We really wanted to support local businesses but left the place with a very...