5 Sentidos - Funchal — Restaurant in Funchal

Honestly, despite the good reviews, I did not enjoy my experience at this restaurant. I had a reservation and was seated quickly but I instantly felt out of place. Online it said it was a more casual vibe and so that’s how we dressed (we had also just arrived from the airport) but to our surprise the other guests were dressed a bit nicer. That’s our fault though and we ignored it. However, I felt like the waitress was not treating us the same. I don’t know if it was because we weren’t dressed up or because we didn’t order any wine. They seem to be very proud of their wine selection and as I’m not a big drinker, didn’t order anything alcoholic. The waitress brought around little hooks for all the ladies to hang their purses on the side of the table but didn’t bring me one. I also don’t eat so much and very often I prefer to order off of the kids menus because the portion sizes are much better for me. I requested the kids meal and the waitress embarrassed me by saying that I can’t have that because I’m not a child. Although the menu stated nowhere that only children of a certain age can order it. Whatever, I ordered a different meal, a steak to be exact. I told her how I wanted my steak cooked—wrong, way too pink. I asked her for a sauce for my fries—no ketchup in this restaurant apparently, she offered chimichurri or mayo and I said mayo but she brought chimichurri. I had to ask again for mayo. The steak was soooo fatty, I didn’t even eat it. Then my meal came with a cabbage type salad….that was probably the nastiest thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. It was the most sour cabbage ever and so vinegary and just gross. My boyfriend, liked the scabbard and his quinoa I believe it was but for me I left hungry. Also, we were apparently using the wrong utensils for our meals and the waitress seemed very passive aggressive about it by taking away the dirty plates with the clean (assuming correct) utensils and leaving us with the ones we just used. Also, the waitress had quite foul breath which wasn’t pleasant to smell when trying to eat. Overall, this restaurant was quite disappointing for me which was surprising because people...

I would recommend making a reservation in advance if you want to eat here.

Overall thoughts: beautifully presented food, cozy and inviting atmosphere and attentive service. For my personal preference the food was a little too "fancy" and didn't feel as genuine or authentic to me - but depends on what you are looking for.

My husband and I came for dinner and started with the bread. The butter and cheese were amazing! They give you a decent amount as well. I got the veal and my husband got the octopus. The octopus portion was HUGE (in our opinions). It came over fried plantains, which he enjoyed. The veal was cooked to order and the madeira wine sauce was fantastic! The potatoes it came with were good but could use a little more flavor in my opinion. We both wished our dishes had some vegetables with them - but to my husband's point, that is not what people are paying for.

We were too full for dessert, we both could not finish our meals. We opted for Madeira wine instead, which was very good.

If you are looking for an elevated dining experience with a reflected price point, I would recommend trying this place! If you are looking for more authentic food/better value and don't care as much about presentation, maybe not the best...

This was by far the best food we had in 10 days on Madeira. In fact it was the best meal either of us have had in a very long time. Didn't take photos, too busy eating. We had local bread with butter and black olive butter to start. Black olive butter is delicious and so is the bread. Our main courses were the Veal with mushrooms in Madeira wine sauce and the sirloin steak. Both done medium rare. I would say my wife's steak was more rare than medium which was just fine. Both meals were simply incredible. The meat was melt in the mouth soft. My veal was incredible and there was zero fat or waste, I didn't leave a single scrap. The sauce and accompanying vegetables were tasty and cooked perfectly. The sirloin was sliced into pieces and my wife loved it. There was a lot of meat for an unbelievably good price. The serving staff are great, friendly, helpful, smiling and polite. We arrived without a booking at 18:30 and although they had lots of bookings they squeezed us in stating we could have the table until 19:30 when their booking arrived. That was plenty of time for us as service was prompt and we were only having mains. We were finished by 19:15 I highly recommend booking a table here especially if you are...