Restaurante O Patio — Restaurant in Lagoa

The staff was my favorite thing about this place..I was ecstatic to try the lobster as I’ve only had fresh a few times…unfortunately, it was a huge letdown. The first lobster they gave me was rubbery and overcooked…when I told the waiter I was disappointed, he brought it back to the kitchen and had them make a new one as well as offered a free cocktail. While I appreciated the gesture and kindness to try to correct the issue, I have to say It was still just…okay…the second time around they provided dipping sauces a garlic butter and something else which I thought was odd.

The staff on the other hand was pretty phenomenal for the most part. The only annoyance was that I had asked a waiter for my check and about 15 minutes went by and he was busy chatting with other waiters then went to serve another table. I do have to say that as a solo female traveler, I did feel a bit disregarded as I had to ask someone else for my check after 15 minutes of waiting for the other waiter to return. I realize things get busy and maybe it wasn’t intentional but I left wishing I had gone elsewhere…

For $100 meal for one person, it was a letdown. The other meals did look enjoyable so it may have just been the lobster. If you go, maybe just try something else. Or try the lobster. Maybe I caught them on...

The only decent restaurant in town, at least in this post-Christmas period. And not just decent, but excellent throughout: from the tasty olives in the starters (don't opt out of this, even if they simply call it "bread and butter") through the most delicate, ideal wine glasses I've come across in years, to everything they put on your plate and in those glasses - all the way to a second serving on the house of their exquisite Douro dessert wine, concluding a perfect 5-course Christmas menu for 60€ (85€ with very good wine pairing). Some of the all-male waiters may seem a bit martial, but all of them excel at professional, attentive service.

P.S. I came back for lunch after the succulent dinner, of course. The Ceviche was delicious, the Vinho Verde needed a second glass, and the almond tart dessert was better than any I had tasted before. So glad to have walked out of three other places, all of them tourist traps, before coming back to this treasure. Kudos!

P.S.2 The only thing that's hard to do here seems to be to get the bill, and then to get them to pick up the...

We have been eating here for years every time we come to Carvoiero but always at lunch times and even when crab was not on the menu the very knowledgeable grey haired smiley head waiter (I think) and we are ashamed not to remember his name..used to buy us a crab the night beforehand and get the chef to prepare it for our lunch next day. People would walk past and see us dissecting our crab with the surgical instruments provided and study the menu to see if it was on...and of course it wasn't. We returned the other night for a meal with two friends that had never eaten there and we were not disappointed. My friends wife and I had Monkfish and prawn in a lobster sauce which was perfect. My wife had the Sea Bass which again was perfectly cooked and my friend had the lamb cooked exactly to his liking. A few old faces from Piu were serving us very efficiently and with plenty of witty banter flying about we enjoyed the...