Restaurante Alambique — Restaurant in Loulé

Unfortunately, this restaurant has deteriorated very much. We used to love this place, the ambient is exceptional, the service used to be outstanding and the food was amazing. My wife, even though she has a few food-intolerances, was always treated first class, entirely regardless of the menu. This time, everything changed. While our waiters used to be very knowledgable, professional and friendly, this time we were served by a large number of what seemed to be high-school kids. They were clueless about anything, especially about food. For instance, my wife ordered grilled vegetables. But even this simple order, we had to return twice, because she was served raw broccoli and raw peas and carrots. The waiting time between courses is entirely ridiculous. It took more than one hour to serve the starters, even though we were the first guests that evening. Then we waited another hour for the main course. By this point, our stomach had digested itself. To top things off, we were charged 30% more by mistake. When we pointed this out, the owner offered an apology, and that was it.

This used to be one of the best restaurants in the algarve. Its a shame what happened to it. We will not be...

Restaurant Alambique is one of the best establishments I’ve ever dined in! It’s as good as L’Espelier, in Boston, which is the highest compliment I can give! We stopped in without a reservation and they welcomed us with open arms. My husband told them it was my birthday and I was treated like a Queen. The waitress recommended a local bottle of wine which we’ve since purchased s case of. The food was phenomenal. They brought out filleted sardines because they wanted us to try them-scrumptious❤️ I had the lamb chops which were out of this world and my husband had the beef which was great. After all this, they came out with pieces of chocolate cake and a candle to sing to me. It was just wonderful 💝 The service was beyond superior. We were attended to as if there was no one else at the restaurant and it was a full house. The atmosphere was quiet and comfortable. We had plenty of privacy but were able to strike up a conversation with fellow diners when we wanted to. I can’t state strongly enough how wonderful our night was💝 The only draw back is that you can only tip in cash euros and we only had US dollars. They wouldn’t accept any tip so I intend to send them a little something...

Have been a few times before over the years and really enjoyed the food and atmosphere of dining outside but I think it has grown too big now and gone down hill We were a group of 5 adults and had booked a few weeks in advance. We were greeted enthusiastically but a table had not been reserved and were shown to the upper terrace and sat with large tables of families with young children (who as seems to be the way now were allowed to run around as they pleased as the evening progressed). Waited quite a long time to be offered drinks and for them to arrive. Good menu selection, nothing much as changed since we first started going. Starters were very disappointing....avocado was hard and chewy, portions were very small. Main courses were better but nothing special considering you are paying 30+ euro for each plate. Long waits for the waiters attention, they were very pleasant but clearly stretched too far. Waited 25 minutes for dessert to arrive. Left feeling we had paid top money for very little and very underwhelmed by the whole experience. Real shame as this was one of our favourite restaurants and we now dont expect to...