Restaurante Alcides — Restaurant in Ponta Delgada

It happens sometimes that things go so bad that you don't even know where to start. And that was the case with that restaurant. First the service : the waitress had to come back two times to keep the order in mind. And appparently it wasn't enough as the manager had to come with her a third time to complete the missing part. Then only half of us were served with appetizers as the other half had to wait just to figure out that they forgot the other appetizer. Then the main courses arrived although we didn't event finished the appetizer. Second point : the food. The tuna was not really fried. It was litterally drowned with oil. As for the grilled tuna, it was more scorched than grilled. Then the desserts. To balance the bad experience, we dared to order to go on with the menu. On eight desserts, almost half was not available any more with no explication. I wouldn't even mention the rude way to present them that doesn't match with the service you can expect from a hotel in the center. And last but not least : the bill. More than 20 euros for each which is already quite expensive for a good regular restaurant in Açores. Here, it's a scam. Sad that zero star doesn't...

I seldom write negative reviews but the behavior of the waiters was downright rude, the food was exceptionally bad, the price a joke and they basically blamed us for all their mistakes. Avoid by all means. Details: Came here for dinner. When we ordered a bottle of wine, they came 5mins later to tell us, that they don't have it. Other wine, same story. Then they behaved impatient as if we should know which wines are sold out. Then same story with the food: my girlfriend ordered a variety of tuna and the waitress simply waved her index finger signaling that it is not available. Alright, so we basically had to ask what was available. My girlfriend had tuna and I had butterfish. They served us two portions of tuna and first tried to convince me that it is butterfish. After I said, that I want butterfish, she replied "if you don't take the tuna, you will wait 30mins". So she basically threatened me with a long wait. I took the tuna but only because we were waiting already more than 30 minutes. The tuna was undercooked, the vegetables out of a can and cold. We paid 50 euros for 2, which is a lot in the Azores.

Really, go anywhere else. This...

Unfortunately our experience is not the same as so many of the highly rated reviews. We had an evening reservation at 7pm when the restaurant opened for service and a number of fish dishes were already unavailable. We ordered the picanha steak and the tuna and both dishes were extremely disappointing.

The tuna was overdone on the outside and watery on the inside; clearly a frozen piece of fish that had been cooked poorly. The picanha steak was ordered medium rare but came well done and was tough & chewy, with a sauce that I could not identify and tasted strange. The side dishes of vegetables were overly boiled and unseasoned - extremely bland.

It is rare I do not finish a meal and I don't like to leave bad reviews, perhaps the kitchen was having a bad night but I do not understand how our experience was so wildly different to the good reviews from others. Sadly, I would tell those visiting Ponta Delgada to...