Baleias Café — Restaurant in Lajes do Pico

Food is good, atmoshphere looks good inside but outside, it's just standard café's umbrella and iron chairs & tables, service is terrible, the worst I experienced, understaffed as hell! We received the menu quiet quickly but then we had to wait more than 45' to order. We ordered the apetizer with olives and sangria and at the same time, the main dish with wine. We received an apetizer but without olives, we asked but they confirm that it was what we ordered... So first be trick: no olives in the olive apetizer! And no sangria to accompagny (as asked)... Then they come with the wine without the main dishes obviously... So we re-tell them that the wine was foreseen for the main dishes and that we wanted our sangria...then after several minutes, they came with the main dishes.... without wine and with the wrong dishes of course! As we told them, they catched their mistakes and were about to throw it away and make news dishes. But as we really hate to throw away food and we didn't want to spend another hour waiting, we decided to keep it. We asked thus to cancel the sangria and to bring the wine. What they did, nice wine (Terras de Lava). But as we were finished...they bring the sangria ... I really hope it's a isolated event but when speaking to the table next to us, they were in the same troubles!

They didn't charge the apetizer inthe end, admitting their...

delicious food, wonderful view on the yacht club. however, the place is really understaffed and the waiting time reaches up to two hours (even though there are barely any visitors in the restaurant in relation to the great number of available tables). moreover, one of the waiters, the ginger one with piercings and tattoos is rude for no reason. i came up to the bar to make a reservation. she was talking to another person at that time in a strangely arrogant way and i already knew my conversation with her was not going to be pleasant either. i asked if i could book a table for 8pm, to which the waitress offered me a snort of disgust. she said that’s a terrible time to visit them. i told her i didn’t think there was going to be a problem with anything here considering the fact that i already visited them 5 times before at the same time. she shrugged and said "good luck" in a sarcastic way, followed by "it’s not my problem anyway, i won’t be working then" 🤔 and that’s just one example of my interaction with her. since when are we trying to lose clients instead of being friendly and welcoming?? all in all, the restaurant is worth visiting (as long as you have a lot of time on your hands, a deck of cards perhaps?). again, the food and view compensate for the attitude from some of the...

My partner and I are working abroad here for the next 3 months, and we stumbled upon this absolute GEM in Laije!! 😍🙌🏻 We have ordered everything from their coffee, to sangrias, to meals, to desserts - listen to me when I tell you this: They. Do. Not. Miss!! EVERYTHING is incredible quality. The flavour is fantastic, the drinks are delicious, and their desserts are creative and mouthwatering 🤤 The fish and chips is to die for, and the dish of the day is always a winner (we had lasagna today with their soup of the day and it was insanely good)

Aside from the food, the service is friendly and relaxed. I saw a few low ratings due to slow service, but I feel like you need to be prepared for that wherever you go on the island 🤷🏼‍♀️ That being said, all of the times we have gone, the service has been very friendly and prompt 😊 Don’t let those comments keep you from missing out on this amazing cuisine!

Last note - the atmosphere and interior is so beautiful. On the patio, you see a peaceful view of the harbor and mount pico; inside, you enjoy the trendy interior decor with relaxing lounge/lofi music.

My advice: YOU MUST GO...