Rotas da Ilha Verde — Restaurant in Ponta Delgada

There’s not enough words to describe this amazing place. Long-version, shortened, it’s a must-visit. Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, flexatarian, or full-blown carnivore it doesn’t matter. The food is fresh, tasty, and guaranteed to fulfill your taste buds.

Aside, from the food, the entire team that helps put out these fantastic dishes are precious. Speak of, a quick shout out to Carolina and Henrique as they truly make your entire visit feel as though you are at a friend or families home having dinner.

To say I can’t recommend this place enough, is indeed an understatement.

Quick tips, it’s a nice size restaurant, very cozy; so dinner reservations are always recommended, if not required to say the least. Lunch is a bit easier to squeeze in, if and only if you arrive no later than 2:29; as 2:30 they are no longer taking on new guests. So don’t push it and arrive early. I’ve seen people walk away sad and hungry because they arrive late and let’s face it, it’s for good reason as even the staff need a break before coming back to prepare for dinner.

Lunch is a must, but even dinner is a treat and a bit of a different experience… Which is a bit odd given the menu is the same; except they don’t offer the very fantastic and great deal lunch special (have to try;)

Another thing, menu changes every 6-weeks (amazing). I’m taking a wild guess and assume it’s based on the season. Fruits and veggies available, etc etc. but never really asked, yet.

If you are still reading this, stop and just experience for yourself. Or don’t, up to you, but for me, you’ll must likely see me there 2-3 times a week. Super-fan of this place and...

I had had high expectations from this little restaurant but it didn't meet my expectations at all. Service was shocking - we waited more than 10 min to be served and waited at least 10 min after each course for plates to be cleared, and waited again for the bill. Whilst the waiter was a nice guy and spoke excellent English, he was just not attentive to patrons and spent a lot more time with his back to the tables or out of the room completely. Only two servers in the restaurant and they clearly don't cope with the tables assigned to them .

Food was average, especially for gluten free options, and sadly they missed the mark in terms of a pleasant dining experience. They didn't have soup - on a Saturday night, first sitting! Enoki mushroom starter was very small and drowned in balsamic vinegar consisted of 3 bunches of light battered mushrooms - for 9 Euro! Main course I had the cauliflower dish - very heavy and I would say stodgy - encased in a very thick and heavy gf batter. Perhaps I made a bad choice of dish, but partner's food ( which he enjoyed very much) didn't look great to me either. All I can say is don't have very high expectations if you're coming to this restaurant, sadly though they don't have a lot of competition in Ponta Delgado - it's slim pickings for vegan and gluten free options. It's also very for pricey 65 Euro, we had a starter and main each , 1 dessert...

Rotas Upon landing in Ponta Delgada and our usual quest for delicious food we found Rotas da Ilha Verde and called to make a reservation for the same day - well they were fully booked (which is quiet normal as we found out later) - and we got a spot for 7pm about 6 days later. Menu is small and all ingredients’ hand selected every morning at the market. The waitress was extremely friendly and jolly and provided help choosing our dishes. The baked eggplant was very flavorful, well spiced and good size. We also had the jackfruit dumplings 🥟- recommend those too. Cannelloni as a main were 200% in terms of flavor. Loved them so much I ignored the salad and sweet potato chips. Dessert the Banoffee Pie was the best I’ve ever had - no sharing with hubby. Hubby had the Pumpkin and Nut Cheesecake - not too sweet and quite light - yes he shared with me.

If you don’t have to have meat with every meal this is a great change to the usual Portuguese cuisine - make sure to make your reservation as soon...