Faina — Restaurant in Portimão

I really wanted this to be great but it fell Short on several levels. Being seated was a bit disorganized, no place settings or lights placed on the table. 4 menus for 5 people, no wine on the main menu so had to wait until we were ordering to find out that they had wine. Ordered the octopus with eggs and potato which was very interesting and tasty. Maybe not worth 17€ but still good. The portion is a little bit small.

We were told upon ordering that they did not have the seared tuna, would have been nice to learn that before 2 people decided on that dish. Would probably have been a good idea to inform us when they gave us the menus 5 minutes earlier.

Then….came the wait. It took 1 hr to get the first 2 dishes, the about 5 more minutes to get the remaining 3 (party of 5 people). The restaurant was mostly empty, 1 other table of 10 or so to serve asides from us. The bitoque with egg was the thinnest I have seen in Portugal, the tuna burgers were very odd, a weird combination of flavors that didn’t work. The side salad of the steak was unseasoned. No oil or vinegar or salt or pepper at the table. We asked for salt and pepper. We received the weirdest salt shaker I have an ever seen at a restaurant that dispensed almost no salt. We asked for tomato ketchup for the fries that accompanied the dishes but they don’t have ketchup…. I have eaten all over the world, ketchup is always available when serving fries. Anyways. We paid and left but the dinning experience on all fronts was not great. Food, service, lack of attentiveness, wait time. Rating would really be more of a...

What a lovely restaurant. I would recommend to anyone who is visiting the area, and after being in Portimão for the last few days, the best we’ve experienced. If you want a place that serves a slightly modern take on the beautiful Portuguese fish that’s available, then this is your spot! The sardines were divine, as expected, being worlds above any others we’ve tried, loudly and proudly being from a jar that they offer to customers to buy (we have taken 2 home with us!). The seared tuna was seared to perfection, being done just right, where the texture of the fish was spot on, and every mouthful was just as exciting and curiously tasty as the first. We also had the steak tiborna, which was seasoned so well, so moreish! Their mustard that came with the steak was so so so good, and after speaking to the staff, they managed to muster me a jar to take home! Honestly, the service could not have been better. We had the panna cotta to finish, which was very flavourful. The views and atmosphere are unmatched too, and I cannot give enough praise to what seems to be a rather underrated...

had a wonderful experience here, everything was clearly made with love and attention to details. the view & location was a nice addition to the experience. we finished a boat tour of the benagil caves and came right over for dinner around 7:30pm, it quickly filled up but we managed to get very attentive service. everything we ate was incredibly flavorful and the addition of the red chilis was such a nice pop. the steak board was the best sirloin i’ve ever had, so tender and flavorful with roasted garlic, lemon, the chilis & chimichurri, every bite could be different & the little bit of fat gave just that much more flavor wherever you wanted it. extremely talented chef & the servers were very knowledgeable & capable of recommending wine from their large selection on the wall. i ordered the house white and it was perfect. the decor was lovely & there seems to be an upstairs as well but we didn’t venture...