Restaurante Maresia — Restaurant in Olhão

Gah...first less-than-positive review I've left with Google, I think. First things first - the food is lovely. No criticism at all on that front. But the service... We obviously got the "slow" waitress in our half of the restaurant. It took her ten minutes to take our order, after it was clear we were ready, and another ten to report back that the squid were finished. No problem, we reordered quite happily, but then the first two meals arrived....and the third (our 9-yo son's: tiger mum alert) didn't. A family who had sat down after us had all been served, which was particularly annoying. (In the other half of the restaurant, of course!) We waited...and waited...our two meals getting cold...we gave the waitress a questioning look, she shrugged gormlessly... Then the boss came out, a typical unshaven oik who clearly couldn't give a monkey's about the situation and just dondered over our queries (I speak Portuguese - after a fashion 😋 - and there was no way he could have misunderstood as the Portuguese couple on the next table understood me clearly and actually interjected that I should ask him for the complaints book!) So I did (thank you, lovely couple whoever you are!) and now I'm doing the same here. Would it have been so hard to come out and say "Sorry for the wait, we're trying our best." That would have been enough to mollify me, but his utter ignorance has resulted in this review and a complaint...

I visited today the restaurant but my experience ended before I started to have a meal. I called the restaurant 16:00 asking if there was oysters. As the answer was positive I asked to reserve a table for 4 persons at 19:30. From the other end the diligent lady answered that they don’t do reservations for groups inferior to 10 persons, she added that they respect the arrival order. I thank her and disconnected without a reserve. At 19:30 I arrived to the restaurant. 3 tables with 4 seats each were empty. For my surprise 2 of the tables had reservation tablets. I confronted the employee about the question I made earlier about the reservations and the 2 tables that were reserved with 4 seats. She said that they don’t reserve from 19:00. I meant to forget the issue and to eat but when I eat in the only free table this was uneven seating on the equally uneven cobblestone. At this point I went to the inside of the restaurant to see if I could settle in a table inside. No one was seated inside and the reason was the intensive smoke coming from the grill. When I decided to leave one of the employees insisted to know why I was leaving, after my explanation, he offered to seat me and my family in one of the reserved tables. I didn’t accepted to have a wonderful dinner in a...

We arrived with high hopes, as this place was rated 4.6. We left bitterly disappointed and dissatisfied.

Shrimp and fish skewer was not good. Maybe it's me but I asked for fresh fish or seafood and being advised this, I didn't expect the monkfish being wrapped in ham. Shrimps were not deveined and impossible to eat, the shell being stuck to the meat. Zero taste. Accompanied by some tasteless oil and fries. At least the fries were okay. Definitely not worth the price. The scabbard was ok, but we ordered with rice instead of potatoes and a side of vegetables. Of course it came with potatoes (however after insisting they brought some extra rice for free). After insisting two times, finally the veggies arrived as the fish was already finished. One of the waiters was really nice, the others, however, not at all. It's a pity and I do hope this feedback will motivate them to get better.

Later edit: they did ask how things went and they listened to our complaints. Was offered some excuse and took out the veggies from the bill. Your...