Tasca O Galo — Restaurant in Olhão

Our flight in was quite delayed and by the time we got into Olhão, it was already closing time for most restaurants on a Monday night. We stumbled upon this sweet and quaint restaurant just up from the main restaurant row and the staff happily sat us out front the restaurant under the bougainvillea. Lovely! As is the region, we had the requisite grilled bass and sea bream (dourada) with a side of grilled veggies. Both served on a wooden board with an abundance of veg and potatoes. Unsure that there was any starch, we ordered a side of rice with it as well. It was very sweet of them to make us a brand new batch of steaming rice at the end of their night. We obviously did not need but they happily obliged. This was our very first meal in this country and they truly set the tone for a lovely trip in the Algarve. The servers were kind, smiled in abundance, gave us some local colloquial tips and shared some highlights of their town. We fell in love with Olhão in the short time we were there and this little family run restaurant lay the groundwork for it. Beer was extremely cold and the wine list was well chosen and all was very reasonably priced for quality of food, service and ambience. I say skip the big patios for one lunch or dinner and head into this alley to give them a try....

In short: NOT recommended despite some delicious (main) dishes --- We visited ‘Tasca O Galo‘ twice during our stay in Olhão, which indicates that it can‘t be such a horrible place... the restaurant is located behind the bustling main ‘avenue‘ & the market halls and could be considered as a hidden gem at first sight. We enjoyed the Cataplana w/ black rice very much - that’s why (and the only reason) we came a second time. Another seefood rish dish with monk fish was tasty as well. In contrast, the octopus dish looked better than it tasted, most starters were nothing to write home about, and finally half of the desserts on the menu were not available. There were some reasonably priced wines on the list, just a pity that the waiter did not really have a clue what she is recommending. The service is very slow at times and almost rude if the slightest thing goes wrong... once you are there you will immediately understand many of the negative comments about Tasca O Galo. The main waiter acts really bossy and is not up to the task - we have hardly ever seen such an arrogant person in Portugal :-( So despite the peaceful setting this is certainly NOT a place to spend a relaxed & enjoyable evening - better choose one of the plenty other...

Tried going tonight with my boyfriend and was incredibly disappointed by the waitstaff. Keep in mind I NEVER write reviews. We sat down and once seated were not given a menu or any acknowledgement until I went inside and asked for one. Once I did they said they would be with us in a moment and we moved to a different table. We once again sat and were not given a menu or acknowledgement until we flagged down the waitress. The waitress then told us we couldn’t sit at the table and moved our table with an incredibly rude tone and attitude. AGAIN we sat there with no menu or acknowledgement. Finally after sitting at the table for 10 minutes, the waitress brought our menus and quickly walked away. We sat there for 15 minutes without anyone coming to us. At this point we were there for 45 MINUTES without any acknowledgement. We decided we didn’t want to give this restaurant any business and went inside and gave them our menus and told them we would be leaving. The waiter and waitress were sitting there waiting for us to decide we wouldn’t take this service and gave us a smug smile as we left. If you want to eat at a restaurant with incredibly RUDE waitstaff, then be my guest and dine here. Very very...