L'Angolo — Restaurant in Portimão

We stumbled on this place while looking for another restaurant we wanted to book. The lady manager/ owner took our booking and was friendly and accommodating, offering gluten free, vegetarian food too. We read reviews online, which were mostly good. The food is said to be really good, especially the lasagne! Paraphrasing here but "... the best we have every had!".

On the night we went, we were seated and ordered some drinks. The male water was polite but his voice was booming and loud. Nothing happening at our table was private. Sometimes, dietary requests are something people always want to share with the rest of the diners. A small point, which comes up again later.

We ordering drinks and our food but noticed on the menu it said no card payments, cash only. The waiter confirmed this. The evening was about to get a bit interesting. In the 21st century, even while travelling abroad the large majority don't carry a lot of cash and use cards or smart phones to pay.

We weren't sure how much the final bill would be, how much cash we had in our apartment. There were cashpoint machines nearby but none of us had cards on us, as we usually use smartphones to pay for things. I had to walk back to our apartment 10 minutes away to get cash or a card to use in a cashpoint. WHY DID THE OWNER NOT TELL US THEY ONLY ACCEPT CASH WHEN WE MADE OUT BOOKING? That would have been a sensible thing to do.

Things got worse. Our food was served - the kids' pasta dishes were OK, one even had steam coming off it - nice and hot. We ordered two meat lasagnes... they were not the best we have ever had, sorry other reviewer.

Both lasagnes were lukewarm inside and in no way hot enough to enjoy. Rather than just accept cold food, we pointed the problem out to our loud waiter. At this point, everyone in the restaurant knew we had cold food and were sending dishes back to be replaced. Hashtag 'awks'.

We then heard the owner talking at the waiter about our food. Questioning why it was sent back. She seemed unhappy about something. Don't serve cold food then, if you like.

Our lasagnes we returned to us 10 minutes or so later, just as everyone else on our table had finished eating. They were no warmer than before. We called the waiter over to let him know but chose to eat the substandard food, rather than return them a second time, making it clear we would expect this to be reflected in the final bill.

Others on our table got to watch me and the father-in-law eat our warm lasagnes and two salad leaves (which were meant to be cold). Still not the best lasagne I have ever had the second time round. I would liken it to a Prezzo lasagne offering. I would also go as far to say that a lasagne I ate in Pizza Express once, was better than this one, in terms of flavour and consistency, served in a hot dish too. It even came with a bit of garlic bread. So...

We had been ignored by the owner for the rest of the night, who visited all the other tables. Ouch!

After we finished letting the others watch us eat, we asked boomer for the bill. He returned with a bill expecting full payment. Light the blue touch paper!!

When paying the bill, to be more discrete, my father-in-law went over to where the owner would come and go. She took great offence to all of this and was quite rude. During her confrontation about why we would be dissatisfied with substandard food, she accused us of only coming there for a free meal. I didn't hear shouting but it would have been obvious to anybody else there was some kind of 'issue'.

The owner was unprofessional, confrontational and accusatory. We left and will not return.

Some people like to eat barely warm food that should be hot and choose not to say anything about it until they leave. I am sure that the food here is mostly quite nice and most people will enjoy visiting L'Angolo. If that is you - maybe you too will have the best lasagne ever made.

... Oh, in case you were wondering, we did get something off the bill to reflect the failing in the lasagne department -...

Visited this restaurant with high hopes due to the positive reviews and was initially impressed by the good food, pleasant atmosphere, generous portions, and reasonable prices.

Unfortunately, my experience was doomed by an unfortunate encounter with the owner. I was recovering from a recent illness and couldn't finish a large plate of pasta. To my surprise, the owner approached our table, seemingly offended that I didn't finish my meal, and pressed me for an explanation.

This unexpected confrontation soured the entire mood of the evening, prompting us to request the bill. Despite my husband's desire for dessert, we chose to leave quickly due to the uncomfortable situation.

To add to the disappointment, my uneaten pasta was inexplicably omitted from the final bill. However I didn't want to escalate matters further by questioning this, even though it left a bitter taste in an otherwise good meal. I appreciated the pasta that I did enjoy and ate, so I left a tip to cover its cost, as it wouldn't be fair to not acknowledge and pay for it.

Unfortunately a potentially enjoyable dinner turned into a regrettable experience due to the...

We visit Alvor every year and we always eat here at least once. Unfortunately they don't have the vegan options marked on the menu, but the owners and staff are very friendly and helpful. They now offer vegan cheese for pizzas or you can have without cheese. Their pasta is fresh so contains egg but they do have a gluten free pasta available which is vegan. I had the vegan pasta with the tomato and vegetables to take away which is nice. When we ate in I had a make your own pizza with vegan cheese which was so good, not too much vegan cheese used so it didn't get oily and soggy like some pizzas do. We ate with a toddler and they provided a kids pizza too. Its a very small restaurant so they don't have a highchair but a booster seat for small children. Highly recommended a...