MadMarket Restaurante — Restaurant in Funchal

So... I have had Madmarket on my radar since last year when I found it on by looking for restaurants on Google - but we didn't get there last year so it was top of our list this year and oh was it worth the wait!!!

We were a walk in - not always the easiest - but we were lucky to get a table.

Our main server was Anabela and from the off, she made us and our girls feel very, very welcome. She made a fuss of our youngest - who is a hard nut to crack. She explained the wines - the wines are all round the wall so you pick, pay a very reasonable price and corkage.

When it came to food, we chose a meat and cheese platter to share, bread basket, eldest daughter had steak, youngest daughter had a meat and cheese board as her main, I had the beef pica-pau and hubby had the crusted seared tuna. Hubby chose a wine and eldest and I chose the homemade lemonade 😋

Daughter loved her steak, youngest devoured most of her board, the tuna steak was lovely and the pica-pau was divine. The sauce it comes in... oh my days! I could have licked the bowl! The pica-pau and steaks also came with a side salad - the best side salad I've ever had! It was simple, delicious, not over dressed. Even my eldest who has never eaten a salad devoured hers!

Honestly, there wasn't a scrap of food left at all! It was the best meal we've had and have booked in for our last night before we go home.

Service wise, nothing was too much trouble. Our youngest had really liked some small salami that we had on our board so I asked Anabela if there was any chance we could purchase her a separate small portion. She very kindly went and found which salami we were referring to and brought Sophia a small portion of her own. The gesture was very much appreciated. Anabela also came and explained there was a small delay with our mains as they had just received a delivery. This wasn't a problem and appreciated her letting us know. I can imagine if you weren't updated, it would be a little frustrating however for us, not a problem.

Onto desserts, our eldest had something passionfruit... it was like a cheesecake but not... I'll find out and update. Husband had the lime and caramel cake. Both were delicious!

The decor is quite industrial - we like this. Its an unusual, interesting space and larger than meets the eye. Round the corner is a space where they hold culinary classes and further back is a space surrounded by books with a couple of games tables. As a book lover, this caught my eye. I understand it is the intention to open up 'the library' at some point.

This restaurant is one you need to seek out as it isn't particularly visible from the road which is a shame. It deserves to be packed out every night. I am glad I discovered it. It will be one we come back to every visit and recommended to all our friends and family that regularly come over. I can't rate it...

I was looking forward to this place, as it had excellent reviews, however this was the worst meal we had the entire holiday. The service was abysmal and the food average. We arrived and were informed it would be a 25 minute wait. No problem although we were a bit surprised as it was 9pm on a Sunday so didn't expect it to be busy. As we were asking if we could order a drink while we wait and sit at one of the (many) vacant tables in the front section of the restaurant the host literally walked away from us as I was mid sentence. We considered leaving at this point but as it was so late on a Sunday we felt we had limited options so stayed. We were shown to a table after about 15 minutes and told to wait before we put our order in. Again no problem I understand staggering the kitchen but we asked for a drink of tap water while we waited. I had to ask three times before one eventually arrived and was made to feel like I was a complete nuisance for that. We ordered our food and it arrived. I had the broken egg dish which was potatoes parma ham eggs and mushrooms. It was extremely bland there was no flavour on the potatoes would have benefitted from at least some garlic or herbs in the dish. The parma ham itself was excellent quality. My partner had the octopus rice which he said was nice. The restaurant was almost empty at this stage and we had to ask for the bill multiple times. I ended up putting my jacket and bag on and the manager(?) seemed to realise we wanted to pay and asked one of her staff to give us the bill to which they visibly and audibly complained. I have almost never been made to feel more unwelcome at a restaurant and even if the food was excellent (which it was not) it wouldn't have made up for the...

Don’t Believe the Hype: Low-Quality Steaks and Rude Service

I decided to visit this restaurant with my son for dinner after seeing many positive reviews. However, our experience did not match the praise. What I do know is that we left disappointed. Two stars, awarded solely for the good starters.

We arrived at 18:30, and the restaurant was nearly empty - only about 1/5 full. At first, everything seemed promising. We were seated promptly, and our drinks and menus arrived without delay. For starters, we ordered the sausage platter and bread, both of which were excellent. The platter was well-prepared, and the bread was fresh and flavorful. Things went downhill from there.

Despite the restaurant never reaching even 1/3 capacity during our visit, it took over an hour for our main courses to arrive after finishing the starters. Other diners who arrived after us were finishing their desserts before we even saw our plates. A long wait is understandable if there’s an issue in the kitchen, but when the food finally arrived, the problems became painfully clear.

Both steaks were poorly cooked. Mine, ordered medium, was well-done, while my son’s was partially undercooked. To make matters worse, neither steak had any salt or seasoning.

The redeeming factor was one server, who acknowledged the mistakes and didn’t charge us for my main dish. However, this goodwill was erased by another server who, as we were leaving, confronted us at our table. She insisted that nothing was wrong with the food and argued that the fault lay with us. Mistakes happen, and that’s forgivable, but blaming customers instead of addressing problems shows a lack of accountability and a missed...