O Maleiro — Restaurant in Peso da Régua

If you’re visiting the Duoro Valley, I’d advise patronizing this place only if you can’t get in anywhere else or have some need to see how locals run their restaurant with little or no appreciation of tourism business

Arriving at 7, it was literally empty. We sat outside and the restaurant apparently can’t afford lights and waits for the street light to come on leaving half the meal in total darkness. The sever was somewhat friendly but quite rushed and in 30 minutes the locals were frustratingly waiting to get in. Three servers rushed around to 50 tables so I guess they’re used to this type of service

We ordered a “Brazilian meat plate; churrascura style which meant a guy came around with one stick of sausage and two pieces of cold average tasting beef. It came with Mexican style black beans, flavorless yellow rice, and potato chips (lots of them). Oh, and one stick of pineapple eventually on the stick

We also ordered veal steak. Portugal is best for its cheeses, cured pork charcuterie meats and olives. So far we’ve not found any meat worth eating and the veal is no exception. Pink inside and totally unsalted with no seasoning whatsoever. Served with typical boiled potatoes, cabbage and shredded carrots. Felt like an Eastern European meal from the Communist days.

Barely speaking English and not really caring about being paid, I figured out I had to go to the counter and couldn’t get anyone to give me a bill. Extremely rude to visitors and couldn’t care less if you patronize or not. Strictly for locals and should be avoided especially if you’ve already been to Lisbon and Porto and seen how hard the millennial generation is trying to make tourism a viable part of their economy. Disappointing is an...

Well i don’t where to start. But it ended without anyone eating anything. On the day 08/09/23 i spoke with the owner and reserve a table for 19 people and he told me that we could either choose the menu of 25 or a la carte. Ok everything prepared. On the day after so in 09/09/23 we arrived and as it was spoken some decided the menu and some decided other dish and some didn’t wanted a full meal decided for just a soup. It was there that the problem started. Bottom line the owner refused to serve just a soup and said the house needs to make money after a lot of arguing, after all the waiters trying to speak with him nobody was successful. I even asked for dishes that I didn’t wanted just to allow everyone to eat. Nothing was successful. He started to send everyone out and refused to serv. Despite all the efforts to come to an agreement. Me as TourLeader that could have choosen other restaurants the offered the same service was very disappointing. Specially because with scheduled times and senior group. Very sad. And a big problem for me. Offcourse it was needed an official complaint. So think again before...

We asked for two servings of "Cabrito no forno" (goatling cooked on oven) and although it was nicely cooked, it was just a few bits and mainly bones. To us, the quantity did not match 2 portions so we asked the owner/manager if it was correct. He replied "That dish is the one where I make the less money! Goatling is expensive!" and walked away. After this answer, we decided to not make him "lose" more money and went for coffee and desert elsewhere. It should also be noted that the restaurant was too crowded, especially taking in account the pandemic restrictions, and noisy. I'm posting 2 stars only because the food was OK. All the rest deserve no more...