Areal Beach Bar by Chakall — Restaurant in Lourinhã

Not even the sea breeze could distract us from the disappointment

We live about 30 minutes away and were really excited to try this place, especially knowing that Chakall was behind it. We assumed it would be a step above the average beach bar — unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

It took 20 minutes just to place our order due to a system error. Only after that delay did they start using the second register.

Then I was beeped and told that my meal was out of stock. I went back to choose something else, only to be told — confusingly — that they actually did have my original order after all.

We tried to shrug it off, hoping the food would be worth the hiccups. My husband ordered the chicken burger with a Caesar salad, but what arrived was a dry, frozen chicken patty with a bit of lettuce. We looked around and noticed the other burgers being served also looked pre-frozen. It was disappointing, especially from someone whose face appears on premium sausage packaging in the supermarket.

I ordered the provoleta, expecting a rich, melty cheese dish. Instead, it was greasy, hardened almost immediately, and was served with a few half-stale crackers. My margarita glass was also visibly dirty, which didn’t help the experience.

We’ve had better food at fast food chains — truly. Even if we found ourselves back at this beautiful beach, we’d think twice about returning, which says a lot. I’m just grateful we tried it on our own before bringing visiting...

The food is very good overall, although a few healthier options would be great. For instance, their natural juices are sweetened with brown sugar but most clean juices don’t use sugar.

My biggest complaint is that the music they play is too loud and can be heard all the way down the beach. Instead of listening to the waves, my head is pounding to the music played by the DJ and it keeps getting louder. Anyway, a day at the beach often turns into a headache-inducing event because of the loud music from Chakkal. Even though I’ve been here a lot with my family, I just might have to go elsewhere because I can’t relax at the beach with their music following me everywhere. And it’s bad music btw, but that’s not the point.

As I type this, my head is pounding from having to listen to their excessively loud music, and I am quite far from the restaurant, and I can’t hear the ocean waves at all.

They shouldn’t be in charge of how people spend their time at the beach. If they want to play music, play it at the restaurant for the restaurant and not for the...

Amazing location, relaxed but comfortable atmosphere, staff is all extremely friendly and offering an excellent service. The only problem is that it can be very busy and may be difficult to get a free table, especially if the weather is nice. This place would always be great even if the food was just fine, but on top of all the good things, the food is surprisingly amazing, plus we can experience different and unusual types of food. With all this I must say I am a big fan of this place. It's totally recommended. The ribs, for example, are one of the best I have ever tried all over the world, and I have tried it in many places. For meat lovers, there are plenty of great choices but also many options for other tastes. Just don't expect typical grilled fish like in other places, sea front. Like I said, here you can experience different food and most of it is really good. To finalise the prices are perfectly reasonable taking into account the location and the food quality. So, no negative points,...