Marisqueira Sol & Mar — Restaurant in Loulé

Don’t get me wrong, the food was excellent and would get a five star. The seafood boat was more than enough for three people and everything tasted fresh and beautifully seasoned. But the food is where all the positives end. As a foreigner the staff definitely treat you that way. Dishes are laid out on the table as if they are presented to you, be wary as they will charge you if you even so much as sniff at them. We asked them to take the dishes away but they kept insisting on leaving them there until finally the food arrived. The staff treat the entire place like a MLM marketing scheme, trying to upswell you at every given opportunity. Asked for Tabasco, got told they didn’t have any and tried to sell me some homemade chilli(after we finished we saw another waiter bring Tabasco to another table, of locals might I add). When the final bill came, they added on a basket of bread that everyone was sure not to touch, and tried saying that we had to pay for it. After refusing, the waiter finally took it off. The atmosphere in the restaurant was extremely pretentious as well, given that it is an expensive restaurant in the area, but with ugly decor everywhere it is hard to call it luxury dining. Overall, I only recommend coming here for the food, and be wary of annoying wait staff trying to upsell you on garbage. Given a 1 star as the management need to...

When we were seated, there were already plastic-wrapped dishes on the table. Nobody explained what they were, and since we hadn’t ordered them, I eventually asked. The waiter told us they weren’t free, and seemed annoyed when we declined. We ordered the seafood platter for two, plus water and a single glass of wine. Before the platter arrived, we were served fish soup and very hard bread. The platter itself was enormous—easily enough for four people, and far more than we could finish. The surprise came with the bill: we were charged an extra €30 for the bread and soup we never ordered. The soup was excellent, the wine was fine, but overall the food felt below average for the price. Between the misleading extras, the inflated cost, and the disappointing quality, the high Google reviews were...

Wonderful experience for our family of 5! We quickly cleared our grilled sole dish (fish) and nearly finished the large, beautiful seafood boat, taking home all the leftovers. The couverts were delicious. Only thing was the shrimps on the boat were slightly too salty for our personal liking. But so are most Portuguese food for us, so it's not the restaurant's fault! The staff was great. We would like to express our gratitude to Joao Paulo for being so friendly and helpful. Thanks to him, we were well taken care of: he recommended us the fish dish, de-boned the sole, cracked the tough crab legs, and were overall very attentive. Thank you! I would recommend this place. Best to reserve beforehand as it gets crowded...