Lofts Pastel Blue. Pub — Restaurant in Horta

Great location and well appointed restaurant and bar. The main dining area is bright and roomy. The kitchen area is viewable from your table, which always brings confidence as you can see the conditions: This was excellent. Pleasant staff. The wait for the food after ordering was a little long, however, these are difficult times (c-19) and staff numbers and kitchen capacity and efficiency may have been reduced. Meanwhile excellent local Azorean Beer made the time pass with good conversation :) I ordered the 'Crispy Chicken Burger, Bacon, Cheese and Fries'. Now this is where the review gets tricky:

The wait was too long, as I feared, and the crispy chicken burger was overcooked, somewhat dry and another 2 minutes would have seen the crispy coating turned to carbon. I could see that this would have been a very nice burger if served promptly and care taken with timing. Shame. I ate just over half. Meanwhile the bun was filled with nice salad greens, good bacon and local cheese. The bun itself was fine. The food was very nicely presented (tableware, placement etc.)

The fries are hand made, and tasted superb: however, as with the above problem regarding the wait, they were not very hot, unlike a second side of sweet potatoes we all tried... straight out the fryer! Wow. So again, if all had been served promptly when ready they fries would have been sublime.

The portions are 'generous', but quite normal by Azorean standards! I struggled with the fries at the end and shared with a table mate!

Coffee to finish with, and I had mine 'com musica' (with spirits!). Really good and hot! A generous amount of Bagaco (Aguardente) was added :)

Everyone had a great time, and no complaints were made - I have no doubt that anything would have been changed or corrected, but this was fun time with friends and not time to start whingeing or moaning about things. And as an aside, I wasn't paying - it was a friends 'treat'. The point of the meal was about the company and fun and not about the lack of a 5 star dining experience for what are 2 star prices. So I have to cut some slack. And as I mention, these are difficult times for the management and staff.

Returning, I will try one of the regular burgers, as most others had this and had no complaints, and tucked in with gusto. So perhaps it was just my plate and choice of very crispy chicken!

I can see why this establishment gets high ratings, I guess I was...

Dia 24/06/2023, liguei para reservar mesa para as 13:30, fui informado que não era possível reservar pois estavam lotados. Decidimos apenas encomendar para levar, foi-nos dito que só para depois das 14:00, aceitámos. Até aqui tudo bem, acontece. Chegámos ao local pelas 13:50, a nossa encomenda já estava preparada, perguntei se seria possível sentar, uma vez que existiam mesas disponíveis. Fomos imediatamente recebidos com expressões de desprezo e um rolar de olhos pela empregada mesa-bar, que com relutância, levou o nosso pedido à cozinha para empratar. Fomos sentados e, quando a comida vinha para a mesa, reparei que o pedido não vinha correto. Pedimos, por chamada, batatas doces e foram nos servidas batatas normais. Quando chamei à atenção do erro fomos novamente confrontados por expressões de descontentamento pela mesma funcionária e, quando a dita devolveu o pedido à cozinha e informou a cozinheira (existe uma janela da sala para a cozinha) mais descontentamento e revolta mostrou a cozinheira, que a informou a alto e bom tom "agora não temos, vão ter de esperar". Esperámos mais 20 minutos pelo pedido correto e, como é claro, as hamburgers chegaram à mesa frias. Não querendo complicar mais decidimos consumir assim. Foi nos questionado por outro funcionário se queríamos molhos para acompanhar as batatas, molhos que ficaram no esquecimento e tive de ser eu a relembrar que estavam em falta.

Para resumir foi dito que a comida só estaria pronta para DEPOIS das 14, quando 10 minutos antes já estava a comida a resfriar no saco de takeaway. Fizemos um pedido, educadamente, e fomos recebidos com rudeza. O nosso pedido estava enganado e fomos, mais uma vez, recebidos com hostilidade. Os molhos ficariam em esquecimento caso não relembra-se o funcionário. A comida, apesar de tudo, estava boa. O atendimento é péssimo, dos piores que já presencia-mos. Somos da ilha e mesmo assim, não tencionamos voltar ou...

The room was extremely spacious and it was possible to cook something if necessary. When I booked it I thought it was only a room but they were all small apartments with kitchenettes. The hotel is situated by a quiet road and has fantastic views to the sea. There is a snack-bar downstairs where you can have burgers or other quick bites. There's a car parking and it's fast to drive to Horta. A nice place to stay near Horta. I would have liked to have breakfast downstairs in the snack-bar with fresh bread, with service, instead of getting it in the room the...