Adega Caloura Restaurant — Restaurant in Lagoa

Newly opened restaurant in Caloura, near the small harbour. We had dinner twice in this restaurant and had excellent meals. Excellent price quality. Count 50 euro = per person for full meal. The restaurant’s interior is original. It is a large room with rough “black” stone, but cosy thanks to the decoration and the atmosphere of a former “adega”. Lighting is just enough to see what you eat, with lots of candle lights everywhere. There is a nice terrace as well, seating comfort basic, and not enough light to see what you eat when it gets dark. The kitchen is really top, at least what we ate : tuna tartare, exceptional, the catch of the day was ray fish with a champagne sauce. Also exceptional. The menu is on a blackboard with 4-5 choices for starter, main and desert. Service is efficient but impersonal. Explained by the fact one young lady has to do it all by herself. She does an excellent job and has no time for small talk. We had no occasion to express our gratitude to the chef. Parking: best to park at the harbour, a very short walk back to...

An experience to forget. The main issue that we noticed also for all other tables was the service. They had no idea about what they were doing. People were left without food or anything they requested for a very long time. Dishes took too much time to come and everyone was complaining since only half of the plates of a table were brought out. We got the squid tempura: all the tempura was separated from the squid which was very hard to chew and full of frying oil. The fish was good but very small portion. They forgot to bring the glasses for the water and no bread was brought to the table. In the evening you can't see your plate while dining outside. There are kids (not clients) and cats running around the tables without the staff saying anything about it. Overall you notice a huge lack of experience in everything from the kitchen to the service. They never apologized throughout the evening and in the end we had to wait almost half an hour just to pay the bill which is also very expensive considering...

Came last minute on a Sunday for dinner and we were simply blown away. This must be one of the best restaurants in the Azores. I know that’s not saying much, but this chef/owner would do very well in New York, LA or Paris.

The environment was relaxing, with excellent low-key music (we were not there during a live set). The dining room is gorgeous - think historic stone masonry with vaulted ceilings. All of our dishes were excellent: mushroom risotto was perfectly cooked duck confit was juicy, not dry, served with a sweet reduction and grilled potatoes & vegetables, one of the best preparations I’ve had tuna steak was thick cut and fresh, grilled simply and perfectly medium-rare the seared fatty tuna appetizer with Japanese flavors was off the charts

Even the desserts stood out… chocolate “mousse” which was surprisingly amazing - it was thick like ganache with a fresh blueberry sauce. It went very well with banana flambé and vanilla gelato.

The food takes time so plan to...