Restaurante Goya — Restaurant in Funchal

To me, this is the essense of an «almost» Bib Gourmand, albeit I understand they have not been properly evaluated since 2018. It’s a clear 5* for quality vs cost. Go there, you’ll enjoy it! Reading the rest of the review, be aware I tend towards strictness in detail towards restaurants I like :)

Some incosistencies/inexperience in the front of the house are clear, albeit ultimately not too detrimental to the experience. I would have liked to see more menu guidance, perhaps a full set menu over the «ala carte with a discount» concept, and a more engaging presentation of the dishes (e.g. origin of the produce, concept of the dish, attributes you would like to highlight in the composition of flavours..).

For starters, I went for the foie gras. Well prepared and tasty, though I think it may be simplied. The pear, figs and melba are mandatory and the passion fruit is appreciated, but the strawberries, blueberries and kiwi are redundant. The former provide the sweetness required, let’s no put things on the plate purely for decoration.

For mains, I chose the rack of lamb, a dish I was very happy with. The main plate was balanced and excibited a good mastery of technique, but it should have been served alone. Next to it, I was presented a side dish of overcooked carrots, cauliflower and ovenbaked potatoes, which arguably, should not have been there. I’d advise it’s removed in entirety.

The wine pairing, albeit great value, is too basic for the demanding tounge. I’d recommend you keep it, but introduce a premium pairing as an alternative (or a carte, but I’d prefer a prearrangement). I’d argue 20-30 EUR extra pp. to be there target area, focusing on adding some body to the arguably light house wines.

PS: The classical soundtrack is enjoyable, but choose the studio recorded version over the concert recording. The clapping is a bit...

The food was very good, however the service was very poor. I made the reservation through the Fork and on arrival there was some confusion over our bookings and they kept us standing outside the restaurant and people arriving were having problems getting passed us. They claimed that we had changed the booking from 2 to 4 people. We were kept waiting for well over 5 minutes. We were just about to walk away when the lady returned to say that there was something wrong with the name. My wife and I had the same starter – scallops and main course – fillet steak. For desert my wife had passion fruit soufflé and I had the cheese board. We entered the restaurant a little before 8pm and didn't leave till 10.30 the service was very slow which we haven't got a huge problem with • The thing that caused the problem was that during the night my wife developed severe pains in her stomach and was violently ill with sickness and diarrhoea. I sent an email to the restaurant, the result of which was sorry about your wife's illness but it wasn't our fault. See reply email below Dear Mr Ian Punton, We are sad for your news and we hope your wife will get better. However, our souffle is made fresh. Yesterday several people ate souffle we had no news that something had happened. I have already spoken to our Chef personally and I was informed that all the food was ok and that our products are of the highest quality. So we don’t know what happend yesterday, but we are very sorry.

Kind Regards, Filipa Silva Restaurante Goya

Our main concern is that no one else suffers from the same problem, but no reassurance from the restaurant that the problem will never...

We have eaten here on many occasions over many years of holidaying in Madeira. Last night may just have been un ‘unlucky night’ but when one is paying fairly substantial prices for what turned into a disappointing experience, then our report is fair and justified. On arrival the restaurant was very full and very noisy (good for them on a February night) but the experience for all must still match the price being expected. We were shown to a table extremely close to couples on either side and sitting opposite each other made easy conversation almost impossible due to the hubbub of noise from an overfilled room. Initial service was polite and efficient although the ‘welcome’ drink of sparkling wine barely made an inch up the glass and was less than a mouthful! Starter and main course were acceptable although not special. Especially the main course (scabbard fish) with banana and passion fruit was ‘enhanced’ with many additional tastes of ‘this and that’ which detracted rather than added to the main flavour. Then quite honestly we were forgotten. While the couples on either side of us received menus for dessert choice, dessert, madeira wine and then coffee, we sat and waited. Eventually I asked for the menu, dessert was ordered and again after some time we received madeira wine and dessert. No sign of attention so I asked for the bill, We paid ( and left a tip although heaven knows why.!?) As we left I mentioned that we had not been offered coffee and there was no response or apology. We will not eat at Goya again, it was a noisy and disappointing evening which cost us far too much to risk...