Mar Restaurant — Restaurant in Lagos

*Avoid this restaurant and bar * as staff are extremely rude and shout at you for no reason and don't apologise when they realise that they are in the wrong.

Popped in with my wife and I on a Friday afternoon with the intention of having a few drinks and a late lunch.

We entered the premises through the entrance at the bottom of the hill and waited to be seated. After a short wait we were seated by a pleasant man who we later found out was in fact the manager. He seated us on a table for two that did have a reserve sign on but he said it was okay. It was a nice table with a fantastic view.

After waiting around five minutes another waiter came charging at us and started to shout that we had queue jumped and accused us of entering on the wrong side and just stat down at a reserved table. He was very aggressive and made us feel very embarrassed as he shouting and pointing at us for other customers to clearly hear and see.

The man who seated us (the manager) then came over and told the irate waiter that it was okay as we hadn't queue jumped and he had seated us. To our amazement and further embarrassment the waiter continued to shout at us and accused us again of queue jumping and sitting on a reserved table, totally ignoring what the manager had just told him.

We ordered drinks but then after five minutes waiting we were then told what we had ordered was no longer in stock. No apology and no effort to try and offer an alternative.

We got the impression that they simply didn't want us there and clearly weren't bothered about losing our business. I'm not sure why this was, perhaps because we were British. At that point my wife and I stood up to leave and that's when I asked to speak to the manager so I could complain and found out that the man who had seated us and witnessed the aggressive waiter shouting at us was in fact the manager.

The manager just let all this happen and never even apologised.

At that point we walked out and left feeling very embarrassed after the publicly humiliating berating that we had just received from the waiter.

Avoid this...

Located in Fortaleza da Ponta de Bandeira, cliffside with a beautiful overview of Lagos is MAR. We stumbled upon it walking from our AirBNB heading to city center. Based on the fact that it was fairly busy and people seemed to be smiling (or drunk, drunk smiling). We asked to sit on the terrace for the views. Only downside is that through most of Europe, smoking is a thing. Something we needed to get used to. Our next door tablemate though was a very friendly Italian from Calabria and also friends with the owner, offering suggestions on our meal choices, and when I was trying to decide whether or not I wanted a Sangria, she asked her server to pour me a glass of her pitcher. How kind!! Jason opted (or rather I Told him to) order the "green wine" which is something that you can only have in Portugal. The sangria was refreshing, but glad I did not order it. Not enough untzzz in my opinion. I actually liked the green wine.

Ordered: The fish pâte. Comes with two rolls. Tasty enough, but after a few bites it sort of reminds me of creamy tuna salad with a relish inside.

Risotto of the day with fresh seafood with a tomato base. The risotto was a bit on the heavy side and not very flavorful, but the fish inside was superb. Glad it came with a slice of lime. I limed the hell out of it. Haha. 4 mussels, small mussels. Tasty but would have liked more. The 2 shrimp came whole, and I enjoyed them. There was other shrimp (small little guys inside the risotto, along with some clams, I think?

Fish of the day: Came plentiful in size, but needed acid. The veggies were 2 pieces of broccoli, some biased slice carrots, and a few green beans. Whole baby potatoes. Served like my mom would put food on a plate.

Dessert to go: Almond pie and chocolate cake. Got home, and well, it satisfied my sweet tooth, barely. Certainly made fresh, like 3 or 4 days ago. Dry and disappointing.

The view and location are the sellers for me. And the people...

Extremely disappointed with the treatment we received at this restaurant, as you will see from other reviews, clearly a problem at this restaurant. We booked a reservation, showed up a few mins early, only to be completely ignored by the staff. Finally after waiting 10-15 mins at the entrance one of the employees made eye contact to which we said we had a reservation, the employee said “oh I don’t look after that”, I’ll get you the person who can help you…stood there waiting more at the entrance. Very cold atmosphere and greeting. Finally we are seated by a very unfriendly male waiter who seemed not to want to be there, he sat us, with only food menus, no wine/drink menu. We sat ignored for another 15 mins, tables that came in after us (without reservations) were served water, drinks etc. The noise level was ridiculously loud, you couldn’t t hear each other speak. An elderly lady fell down face first outside on the patio and not one employee went to her aid. We are retired business owners from Canada and we would be appalled if our staff treated our customers the way we were treated. We walked out and had an excellent meal (amazing grilled fish along with Caprese Salad) with fabulous friendly service a few mins walk up the hill at Pinhao Restaurant & Bar. They appreciated our business and we were treated with respect, kindness and excellent food. There is clearly a cultural problem at this restaurant, that starts at the top; as you will see by the person responding to the lower reviews denies and or argues with the...