Luisa's Place — Restaurant in Lagoa

Extremely Disappointing Experience - I wish I could leave minus stars!!

We arrived at 6:30 pm and were quickly asked to order drinks — but there was no drinks menu, so we had to guess what they had.

Only half the food menu was available: no pasta at all, only pizza. We were seated at what looked like a makeshift garden table that wobbled badly (not due to uneven ground). We therefore asked to be moved - there were several available 4 seater tables so not sure why we were seated there.

It took 45 minutes before we asked a waiter came to take our food order. We ordered two Italian pizzas and peri peri chicken. We were NOT told the chicken would take a long time. With two young, hungry children (ages 5 and 7), we expected a reasonable wait.

Over an hour later, we still had no food. We watched other tables who arrived after us being served before us. At that point, we asked for the drinks bill and said we were leaving. The owner claimed they had told us the chicken takes 30 minutes (they hadn’t) — and even so, it had been far far longer than that.

When I said we were not waiting any longer, the owner’s response was, “You shouldn’t have ordered the chicken then”. This attitude was unacceptable given the already poor service. The situation became heated, and shockingly, the owner said to me in front of my children, “If your children weren’t here, I’d knock you out!" (With additional profanity).

This is absolutely not how you treat paying customers. Poor menu availability, painfully slow service, dismissive attitude, and aggressive behaviour from the owner made this one of the worst dining experiences we’ve ever had. We will never return and strongly recommend...

We dined here twice in 7 nights. First night was late - our flight landed later than expected. Harry and his team accommodated a late walk-in without any drama, shuffling a few tables around to suit. All of the staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming, and very good with entertaining our 3 year old. The food was excellent and it could not be faulted. We soon found out that the expertise behind the food was Harry’s wife - you could tell the food was prepared with care, attention and to a very high standard, just by glancing into the kitchen a few times. All of the aforementioned made us want to eat there again during our stay - so we booked to eat there on our final night. Everything was perfect once again. Thank you Harry & Team. If you are visiting with young children, ask Harry to point out the “Nightbird” - believing children...

The service was incredibly slow. It took about 20 minutes for a waiter to take our order, and we waited over an hour for our main courses, despite being a party of just two. It was difficult to get the wait staff’s attention, which left many of our concerns unanswered.

Be aware that they only accept cash, but this is not clearly stated on the menu. Additionally, there was no drinks menu provided, and we were overcharged for water—paying for 1.5L while only receiving half that amount.

The food was underwhelming overall. The portobello mushroom starter was vastly overpriced, and although the main dishes were decent, they lacked sufficient seasoning.

The seating area was uncomfortably dark, which made the dining experience...