Maria's Restaurant and Beach, Algarve — Restaurant in Loulé

We've been eating at Maria's for years and used to really love it. A while ago we noticed a change and it wasn't for the better. Really arrogant staff started working there and the occasional poor meal was served. We persevered which isn't really something you should have to do with a favourite restaurant and certainly not at their prices. The remaining good staff and the location still brought us back.

My 40th birthday meal was ruined thanks to these guys. My wife thought it would be a treat to book our favourite table for an early evening meal. On arrival our table had been given to someone else and we were put at the back of the restaurant. I asked for other well placed tables that were unoccupied but was told they were reserved. We were asked for drinks very quickly but then waited 20 mins. Eventually we were told "ah hahaha I forgot" without apology. Our 2 drinks arrived a further 10 mins later. Food took forever and my curry was stone cold so sent it back. My daughter's calamari was vile, it was clearly a mix of old refried and new fresh fried calamari. The old dark batter was, without exaggeration, oozing oil when you took a bite. I squeezed a piece, like one would a lemon, onto a napkin to show the waiter who told me it was normal. He had no explanation for the mix of old and fresh or why the fresh calamari didn't leak oil like the normal calamari. I asked for a replacement meal and was sighed at, the plate snatched off the table and he stormed off. We're pretty placid people and were genuinely polite and I actually apologised for complaining. My wife ate by herself and shared with my hungry young daughter. 20 mins later a different and lovely waiter brought over my curry but no calamari. At this point I lost it and asked him to get the manageress. She's always been amazing over the years. They both returned and true to form, she was lovely and couldn't apologise enough. The waiter calmly explained that his colleague has just told them he forgot to reorder. A few minutes later the original waiter brought over the replacement calamari, banged it on the table in front of my 3 yr old daughter and said in a loud voice to her "THERE".

I asked him what his problem was and he said "you never ordered replacement calamari, you lied to my colleague"

We didn't say a word, we just stood up, left the remaining food, walked to the door and paid the manageress. She deducted my daughters meal without being asked and said sorry many times. She got visibly upset when I told her it was my birthday and we wouldn't be back. This lovely lady used to rub my wife's tummy when she was pregnant and later took our daughter for a cuddle and wander on the boardwalk and around the restaurant when she was 4 months old.....we have lovely memories of her and the restaurant.....and that's where it...

WARNING: Violent Assault – Avoid This Venue

I am writing this with immense distress following a horrific and unprovoked attack at Maria’s in Vale do Lobo.

My husband and brother were violently assaulted by security after being asked to leave while intoxicated. Rather than handling the situation calmly, they were attacked with metal batons—struck repeatedly across their bodies. Most horrifying of all, my husband’s head was stamped on, leaving him with a black eye and serious head trauma.

My husband suffered a stroke four years ago and had to relearn how to speak. As I write this, we are waiting to be seen in Faro hospital and still don’t know the full extent of the damage caused by this attack.

During the assault, my husband’s phone—which was in his pocket—was completely destroyed when he was struck in the leg with a baton. When we returned the following day, the only thing we asked for was the cost of a replacement. Both the head of ProFive security and the owner of Maria’s refused to take any responsibility or offer compensation.

A waiter at Maria’s admitted this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. The security guard was armed and clearly prepared to cause harm. The owner of ProFive security openly admitted that carrying weapons like batons is illegal in Portugal, yet didn’t seem concerned that his staff are using them.

There were six men involved in the attack, yet only one is officially employed as Maria’s security guard. The owner of the security company claimed not to know who the others were but appeared evasive and coy, clearly aware this was likely premeditated—we believe the others had been called in in advance.

Whilst we were there the following day we asked to speak to the owner of Maria’s. The manager said he was “only 2 minutes away,” but they never arrived—choosing to avoid the situation entirely.

This was not simply a matter of removing someone from a venue—it was a violent and unlawful assault involving multiple aggressors and illegal weapons. I urge anyone considering visiting Maria’s to think again. The owners and staff are condoning this behaviour and the risk to your safety is simply...

If someone tells you that this place is good don’t believe them.

The food was awful.

-How you can make fresh squid taste bland I’ll never know no seasoning what’s so ever. -The ceviche was so limey a far cry from the one we had the night before at the boiled octopus. -The seared tuna was only seared on one side… so many questions did they forget to do the other side? The part that was seared must have been done for 10 seconds if that! Who’s training these chefs have they ever eaten any of the food they serve??

The only thing that tasted ok was the goats cheese salad - you can’t really mess that up & the Thai curry also pretty hard to mess up. Cleary the chefs on these sections are slightly better..

Then we have the drinks EVERYTHING had passion fruit in it WHYYYY - well I’ll tell you why they can’t make a cocktail taste nice with out it. I asked for a spicy margarita came with passion fruit errr that’s not how that comes so they remade it and it was undrinkable it’s tasted like pure lime I think at this point they was trying to poison us!

Then we have the bottle ms still water - sooo low rate a plastic bottle did you run out of the glass ones and run to the local supermarket…

Then we went upstairs to have a drink it was like a scene of teenagers in the wild.. some so drunk they couldn’t even stand. One trod on my toe he didn’t even notice cause he was so consumed in gropping his girl friend at the bar in front of us. I don’t know if it was because I’d had 2 sips of an alcoholic beverage but all I could think was get a room or at least get on only fans and get paid for it…

All in all it’s a no from me. I only wish I’d taken pictures of the...