A Tasca — Restaurant in Ponta Delgada

My sister and I heard good things about this restaurant from several people while we're staying here in The Azores. The first time we tried was a very long wait, second time as well but we decided to wait. It was an estimated two hour wait at 7pm. Getting drinks while waiting was irritating as the bar lady ignored me completely while serving the man before me quickly. She did not even acknowledge me. Finally, after about ten minutes, a tall young man made eye contact with me and intervened when I started to walk away. He got our drinks quickly and efficiently while being friendly and gracious. We waited outside with our drinks and the wait ended up only being about an hour. Once we were seated we already knew what we wanted since there is a menu posted at the front door. We had another drink fairly quickly, ordered fairly quickly, and unfortunately, a little later, the waitress came back to tell us they were out of Risotto with Duck. After choosing another dish we waited for a salad that never came. A waiter came to take the salad plates indicating our meals were headed our way but I told him we had a salad coming...he looked confused. He left and the waitress arrived immediately with our entrees. I inquired about our salad and she responded "What salad?", I laughed and she left. Almost immediately, the waiter came with our salad. So we ate that while our entrees sat there cooling.

My entree, Chicken, beans and potatoes, was excellent. My sister's shrimp was mediocre at best. Possibly frozen precooked shrimp tossed in garlic butter and some spicy heat. The salad was delicious, Avocado and Cucumber with cabbage, vinegar and oil.

The wait for good food in a lovely city is nothing with drinks and conversation. The spotty service should be addressed by management as it surely makes a difference in how much you enjoy your meal. Prices were excellent. They do not take reservations.

I would definitely return but with lower expectations this time and better planning.

I sure wanted to...

All hype!

They don’t do bookings so it’s get there early or queue and wait.

The reviews were good so we came here (early in the end) and were sorely disappointed.

Food was okay not great in my opinion as a general rule anyway eg. prawns overly greasy (too much butter), octopus salty etc.

One server was lovely the other was patronising/rude and a 3rd unresponsive + waiting was adhoc so lacked attentiveness.

Food was slow this isn’t uncommon on the island from experience but this was particularly slow.

The wine we wanted wasn’t available in fact 2/4 of that region were so that halved our choice.

We then had 3 further mistakes/errors in the one sitting:

1. we asked for a second round of our 2 pints of cider, we got 2 pints of dark beers. At first I wondered why then when the bill came realised they put the 2 dark beers on instead of ciders to be fine with which were more expensive resulting in the error and almost overcharging us!!!
2. when serving mains the server tilted the plate pouring sauce in a half drunk pint (completely fine as he apologised and wanted to correct) but he replaced this with normal beer not the cider we were drinking?
3. we ordered a medium stake which came BLUE and we raised this, it came back with the 2 middle parts flash fried but only those 2 slices so given how rare it was the rest was still more rare than desired plus the meat was very fatty throughout so the ‘weight per menu’ was misleading as well. Worst steak we have had in the Azores (4 islands between the 4 covers - we had a lot of steak!). Photo attached of after it was cooked the second time.

Overall human error happens but the experience was really disappointing and poor.

Disclaimer: we raised the steak again and they did discount it from the bill as well as amending the 2 incorrect and overpriced beers but these shouldn’t have occurred to begin with....

wow...I don't usually write reviews but this place was so disappointing I wanted to get this off my chest. Seeing that A Tasca was one of the highest rated and most reviewed restaurant in Ponta Delgada, I was really looking forward to this meal, but man was this place a let down.

Our experience started with the hostess letting us know that the wait will be 1 hour or more, which was understandable considering we put our name down at the prime 7pm time. We got some drinks, and waited in the waiting area (which had ample seating). I went up to the hostess to make sure we were on the list twice, and she kept telling me yes, and that we still need to wait. 2 hours later, I began to see people who came way later than us getting seated, and that is when I asked her the third time when our table will be ready. The hostess claimed that she called our name and no one answered. She seated us 5 minutes later after the 2 hour mark.

Miscommunication happens and this was all understandable. Service was decent so I'm giving them a star for that. What blew my mind was the HORRIFIC FOOD.

We ordered the catch of the day (bluefin tuna) with fries, and the octopus stew. The fish was hardly seasoned, the vegetable sides were super bland, and those fries...they were soft and cold and just about one of the worst fries I've ever had at a restaurant. As for the octopus stew, the stew base was way too salty, and the octopus tasted mushy and not fresh and all. We were planning to get dessert but after these two dishes, we wanted to get out of the restaurant as fast as possible.

I honestly have no idea why this restaurant is rated so high. Food was mediocre at best (in fact, it was horrible imo), and the wait was ridiculous. PLEASE, save yourselves the wait time and trouble and go somewhere else. Vacation time is precious and this...