Genuíno Restaurante — Restaurant in Horta

'it is more difficult to stay at the top than to get there' No matter where you are or in what industry you are in, this is a fact. With Restaurante Genuino happens the same and that is happening; they are losing their place at the top by their own fault.  Despite we made no reservation we were very welcomed by Mr. Genuino and had a nice chat about his travel and St. Helena (the table where we were seated). Ordered starters (all were nice); tuna steak and grilled swordfish (both were good); but the problem comes with the 2 tuna meatballs. This dish supposes to be one of restaurant's stars. Both came cold. This should not happen but sometimes happen, and we were in the mood not to make this a big thing but the major disappointment comes with how this was handled by the staff and Mr. Genuino himself. Both waiters took the dishes back as it was the most common thing; not asked why or even apologise.  When taking the plates back to the kitchen; noticed that Mr. Genuino asked the girls why, but he never spoke with us and when we paid he never asked if the dinner was ok. All that kindness how we were received had disappeared. When the dishes came from the kitchen the food was hot and dry; all the flavours were lost.

Faial, lovely island, lovely people. It will be a pleasure to come back someday. Genuino...

In over 5+ years of using Google reviews, I have never written a review.

The location is picturesque, it's absolutely paradise, and it is convenient if you are staying in the area. This is where the positives end.

Anyone visiting Horta I would advise finding other dining arrangements. The service consisted of seating us and then 5 minutes later asking what we wanted. 5 minutes later the bottle of wine came. Then 75 minutes later, with no updates or any contact from the server (except for an angry response when we asked if the bread we ordered 70 minutes prior was still coming) the food arrived...

We ordered the fish stew for 2 for 48 euro with white fish, shrimp, and limpets. The fish and shrimp were over cooked and flavorless, and the 3 limpets were tough, sandy, and oversized. It seemed that the seafood was frozen and dethawed in the broth. The broth was decent.

In my short time in the Azores every restaurant I have been to has had good service and fresh, high quality seafood. Genuino restaurant has been the one exception. To anyone traveling to Horta I would strongly recommend finding other dining options. Horta deserves better.

It is also possible that my experience is not representative of what Genuino typically offers. If so, I wish them...

I don’t usually review or create situations because they make me so uncomfortable, but this place gets the award of the worst restaurant I’ve ever witnessed, so I’ll go the extra length.

They advertise as a fresh seafood restaurant, where you can get “the best from the Azores”. Well if that’s what they call frozen seafood then it might be accurate.

They serve food straight from the supermarket, as we discovered at our expanse ordering prawns, the most expansive item on the menu, which they recognised was frozen (with the breading!) and imported from outside the Azores. When refusing to pay 30€ for the blendest food I have ever experienced, something that was not worth more than 3€, they straight away called the police on us, who pretty much agreed with us that that place was a scam. Such a waste of public servant time when there are other ways to handle unhappy customers. Unfortunately, because we had started eating (it was holy Sunday and it was this or not eating at all), we ended up paying full.

Little note on the water too, as we were discouraged from ordering tap water, only to be served self bottled and filtered water… from the tap! Disgraceful. Avoid this place...