Taberna by Lucia Ribeiro — Restaurant in Loulé

Came here because of the stellar reviews and yet, sadly, Taberna by Lucia Ribeiro turned out to be a massive disappointment. The service: the staff was extremely slow and forgetful. Increasingly throughout our visit the waiters revealed themselves unhelpful and sometimes even rude. The atmosphere: there was no A/C and it was boiling inside the restaurant. The mosquitos flying around us didn’t help either. The electricity shut down at least three times during the course of our meal. At one point the smoke alarm went off and the daughter of the restaurant owner had to be the one to get up from a table and turn it off—the owner was nowhere to be found. The food: the bread was dry, the croquetes de alheira were almost black in color from being overfried… We ordered grilled secretos de porco preto and got served a completely different type of pork dish—looked like they were lombo prepared in the oven and arrived at the table strangely sliced. The oysters were destroyed in the process of getting them opened. However, the xerem de berbigão, was the worst. It arrived at the table with a strong, foul smell. We tried the berbigão and it was obviously spoiled, we could not believe how it was even sent to the table in the first place. Sad to say everything was a miss. I’d say better luck next time, but we surely won’t...

During our 6 days in the Loule area, we went there three times for dinner. And these are the reasons: They have a lot of gluten free dishes (be aware of cross contamination!). The food is delicious. We enjoyed everything we tried. It's not fancy, but very aromatic and with lots of flavors. The waitress, Gifty, always had a very good recommendation for wine and in general was very accommodating. And, the food and wine is reasonably priced for its quality. If there is one thing I would change, then I would add some indicators for veggie, vegan and gluten free to the menu. Unfortunately, we ordered the beans algarvian style, which contained bacon, although we both don't eat meat. And we simply didn't think of asking. Nevertheless, we went there three times during our stay, which is an indicator that it's a good place for dinner .... or simply enjoy a good wine. P.S. The almond tart was...

Dinner was a tragedy. We got there at 9pm and there was only another group in the restaurant. However, the service was extremely slow and we weren’t eating until after 10 pm. There were children in our group and me, a vegan, and we were the last ones to be served around 10:30pm. The rest of the group had sea food that arrived earlier but wasn’t fresh. The kids ordered grilled meat and were served roasted meat. My vegan food, despite tasty at first (4 stars), was extremely salty to the point I wasn’t able to finish and was sipping water at every bite. The staff looked and was helpless because they were dependent on a slow kitchen. The last straw wasn’t when the alarm went off or the electricity failed twice, but when the blade clam rice came and it smelled and tasted spoiled. We paid and left disappointed as all the reviews and online articles talked so highly of Taberna by...