Artisan Vilamoura — Restaurant in Loulé

Expectations were quite high, given the rating and location. The reality turned out to be much more mundane.

Atmosphere– it was fine, nothing special. The interior isn’t particularly stylish, but it’s fresh. However, installing lightbulbs of the same color seems to be an impossible task for the owners. It’s a small detail, but it reflects the attitude. The acoustics are poor – there was only one large table occupied nearby, and we were already struggling to hear each other.

Food– I can’t say it was bad, no. But it doesn’t match the prices – more like a regular tavern level, and some dishes even worse.

Steak with pepper sauce– it was okay, the doneness was correct, but the taste was more boiled than grilled. A bit tough in the middle, which shouldn’t happen with a filet. Fish and chips– disappointing. The picture speaks for itself. Shrimp curry– average.

Cocktails– someone mentioned in reviews that they serve interesting cocktails here, but no – they’re quite basic.

Cheesecake dessert was clearly a pre-made product – served not fully defrosted.

Service– the staff is friendly but unprofessional. A waiter’s job is not just to bring food from the kitchen. At least a basic knowledge of the menu would have been helpful.

To reiterate, I wouldn’t call this a bad restaurant, but I definitely won’t be coming back. For the price of a good restaurant, you’re getting very average food with almost...

Went to this restaurant with some friends on their recommendation from a previous visit. Having travelled over 20 kilometres in a taxi and reserved a table when we arrived no one greeted or acknowledged us for at least 15 minutes when we were finally offered a drink. To be fair to Carlos the bar manager his cocktails were really good and if he hadn't been seconded to waiting tables to serve food maybe things would have been different. Having been left sat in the bar area for at least 30 minutes without being offered another drink we insisted that we were shown to our table now nearly an hour after we booked for. We then ordered a selection of starters, a bottle of wine and water. Another 40 minutes went by with still no sign of our starters and after complaining we were served calamari and chips which was actually another tables order and then a little later some spring rolls which we definitely didn't order which were hastily taken away as they obviously realised these were not ours either!. At that point nearly 2 hours after arriving our patience ran out and we decided to leave. In my opinion the only person who did their job well in Artisan was Katie Hunt the singer and the fact that they have posted on Facebook what a great success that particular night was only adds...

This place was a pleasant surprise!

We walked in starving at around 5pm and it was empty upstairs so we had the place to ourselves! Talk about romance :)

We ordered the goat cheese and honey starter (definitely the best starter I’ve ever had!!!) and Portuguese steaks.

We were a bit disappointed that instead of finely cut potatoes (as we’ve had at other places), the steak was served with homemade potato chips/crisps (versus more French fry like potatoes). So we ordered a side of French fries to go with it and to soak up the most amazing broth I’ve ever had - I could’ve had bowls and bowls of that!!!

The steak was a beautiful cut of meat as well!!

The service was impeccable and we would 100% come back here anytime. Lovely atmosphere and overall an upscale dining experience that left us feeling very well loved....