Café Fortaleza — Restaurant in Funchal

Absolutely terrible experience at this coffee shop. From the get-go, the service was notably unfriendly and aggressively slow. I arrived a bit before opening, and although everything inside appeared ready and the staff member was merely on his phone, she insisted I wait outside until the exact opening time. Once inside, the wait didn’t improve… it took an unbelievable 15 minutes to prepare two simple lattes.

To add insult to injury, the pricing was outrageous. They charged me 4.5€ for a small latte, which is clearly double what it should cost! My only guess is that they were taking advantage of me being a foreigner. The coffee itself was just okay, not at all worth the premium price or the hassle.

Good service means accommodating a customer who arrives a little early, especially when the setup is clearly ready to go. A simple, "The coffee machine isn't ready yet, but give us a few minutes," would have sufficed. Instead, I got nothing but a cold shoulder and a blatant rip-off. They really need to rethink their approach to service...

This is an absolute find and well worth the walk up a very steep hill. Ricardo, Catarina and all their staff are perfect hosts and the mood here is extremely relaxed (in a good way). They are very attentive and keen that you have a relaxing time- irrespective if that’s a lunch, snack or drink. They were also very kind to recommend where to go for the best food and drink on the island. The cafe has has a great selection of craft beers, wines and bites. We visited in February, but Ricardo mentioned they also serve tapas in summer. There’s a playground next door, so it was a great spot for my wife, I and our relatives (also with kids) to have a drink whilst our kids played yards away. Walk the terrace for one of the most amazing...

The coffee is excellent. (Chinesa with fresh milk.) Staff are excellent. And the pasties were good too.

Edit; we had a second coffee served by a different person. Almost x2 price. I suggest confirm the price before ordering because it appears it is flexible! A pity because the coffee is good....an example of double pricing for tourists. Typical chinesa and cappuccino should be about €1.50 each as I was charged on my first cup.

Second edit: I see that another customer was more recently charged €4.50...