Restaurante The Garden — Restaurant in Lagos

I am not one to write reviews, but I had to after our experience at this restaurant. The food was good. Nothing special, I’ve had way better barbecue at home but I also didn’t come to Portugal expecting to eat the best barbecue either. Not exactly what they’re known for, but overall the food was still good. I had the ribs and they were fall off the bone tender, which was great.

The loss of stars really comes down to the service. I found service moved slow, our empty plates sat on our table for a while before someone came to clear away and offer dessert. My husband ordered the bbq platter, which comes with a small beer. He had ordered a small beer to start before placing the food order, so when he ordered his meal he asked if it can just include the beer he already ordered and was told no because it was a brand not included. Fine- the waitress said she would put his included beer in to order when he finished his existing one. Issue is that when it came time to order dessert, there was still no beer. We asked a different server for the beer and our dessert order, and yet our dessert came and went and still no beer. Our waitress finally comes over and apologizes and said she forgot to put the beer order in, but it would be right out. We wait 5-10 minutes, and still no beer. At this point we just want the bill and to go, especially considering the end time of our reservation (written on our table) was nearing, and we had finished eating. I ask the waitress if, since it was her mistake, and we’ve already finished our dessert and don’t want another beer, they can just comp the original beer ordered. She said she would ask her manager and came back with the news that her manager said no. Honestly, this is a reflection of the management. The fact that you wouldn’t comp a $4.50 beer, or at least just charge the difference in price ($1.60) just shows they care more about making money than they do the customer experience of this place. I guess when you have tourist lined up at the door since it’s a trendy place, customer service no longer needs to matter?

This ended with us being moved to a couch for my husband to wait for his beer (which still took another 5 minutes to even come!) so that they could seat someone at our table. Literally 2 minutes after moving, a new couple was placed at our table and they didn’t even clean the table top after we ate before seating the new people. So gross. Sat for another 15-20 minutes to get a bill and change before leaving.

Crazy to me that they were faster moving people out of tables than delivering a half pint of beer. Food was not good enough to justify this terrible customer service and unhygienic practices, in my opinion. All of this over $1.60. I write this review not because I think management will care, because quite frankly it’s clear they don’t care at all, but to advise visitors that the vibes and atmosphere are not worth it. Choose...

Better than I expected, to be honest!

In all truth, I expected just another quirky tourist restaurant but when I came for lunch, it was actually really pleasant with a nice menu, prepared well. There's definitely a South African influence here that makes it stand out from other similar spots western Algarve.

Is it a tourist place? Yes. Very much. But the vibes are relaxed and friendly, and the space is lovely, if a tad breezy. It was a hot day so the wind was nice. Love the trees and plants. The big BBQ is wonderful too.

Service was prompt and amiable, for the most part. (For some reason, when I tried to get and pay the bill, everyone disappeared for long stretches of time and everyone I asked would run off... and not return. I had an appointment so waiting almost 20 minutes just to tap my card (I said card when I asked for the bill) was a bit of an issue for me, but otherwise it was good and fast service.)

Food was pretty delicious. Very filling but not mindblowing. Also, it was so visually appealing that neighbouring tables asked me what it was I ordered. (It was bunny chow, cos I figured if I'm at a place with a unique influence, why not try that? I can get Portuguese food anywhere. I can't get South African elsewhere.) It wasn't as bursting with strong flavour as I expected, but it had loads of variety. No spice or heat unfortunately even though it's a curry, so spice-adverse folks will be just fine.

The cocktails were actually pretty decent too. Usually, I find cocktails in Europe too sweet, but this was really refreshing and balanced. Exactly what I would expect from a gin basil smash. Really pleased by it.

Next time I'm definitely going to get a dessert. They sound great, but I just ran out of...

Flies. Big ones.

'Restaurante The Garden' has a very eclectic menu curated with great care. An interesting fusion of cuisines is reflected in items like the South African Bunny Chow and the quintessentially Middle Eastern falafels. They have some good beers too.

As the name suggests, the restaurant is literally like a garden. And no garden is complete without insects. In this case, flies. An odd fly here and there doesn't bother me, and in fact one can argue that it's a part of the charm of eating in a garden. But the place was absolutely teeming with the buzzy creatures - so much so that we started devising schemes to keep them from bothering us too much. In one instance we kept an emptied plate of food (with tiny remnants) on the aisle-end of the table to attract flies there -- only for the otherwise indifferent staff to clear up the plate in no time. We then kept a cup of untouched sweet chili sauce on the wall-end of the table, but the health-conscious flies avoided it altogether. "They come right after a rainy spell", was the insightful but ultimately useless guidance offered by a waiter.

Our bill also took ages to come, and then some more tense, fly-bombed minutes of waiting before one waitress finally put us out of our misery by getting the card reader.

Managing flies is not difficult, they've simply not thought about it. Some potential solutions could be incense sticks, fans on tables (hand held or electric), or if fly-welfare is not a priority, then fly-zappers.

All said, I'm not sure other punters were as miserable as I was with this fly business. But it did mar my eating experience to a...