Pizzeria Bulli & Pupe — Restaurant in Portimão

From overbooking to relocating to 7 stars service !

I was in charge of a group of 20 participants this Saturday at the occasion of International Women Day. Due to uncertain weather conditions and another regular group coming at the same time as us, our group had to be relocated to this location.

The manager Paulo has dealed with the situation properly offering a couple of options and making sure we had an assigned staff to take care of us.

Filipe, our dedicated staff, was attentive and came back several time to me to make sure all was in order.

The hostess Alice was as well really friendly and welcoming with me the participants.

I put a 4 stars on food as most participants had drinks and few had a meal. I had the chocolate crepe and almonds which was generous and tasty ! The vegetarian Lasagna were appreciated too.

The service was flawless, helping us to facilitate the activity we wanted to do during the gathering.

Thanks for having us and we will be pleased to come back on this location or...

This is a 3.5 microwave-oven oriented restaurant in reality. At the time of visiting the rating here was 4.5 based on 1,500ish votes (the main driver of our decision to visit). This did not reflect our experience by any stretch of imagination. Mostly it should be 3.5 or 3.4.

Here are the reasons:

1. The Pizza Calzone we ordered was cooked at 230 degrees (C) or less in stead of 400 degrees (or even if microwave oven). The bread was pale and some ingredients hotter than other. The dough had not been given proper resting, almost lacked gluten network. Quite a weird experience from an Italian restaurant.

2. The Pasta we ordered also had the microwave oven feeling. Quite bland woth uneven distribution of heat. Ingredients were low quality as well.

3. We ordered bruschetta with cheese, still the same story. Either cooked in low-temperature or prepared in microwave oven.

I took a glance at other tables, most had either half-finished their meal or almost had not started it...

I really wanted to like this place, but unfortunately, the experience was quite disappointing.

I ordered garlic bread with cheese, but was served garlic bread with tomato and onion — a more expensive dish I did NOT order. As a tourist, I trusted the staff and assumed this was their standard version.

Only when I saw the final bill did I realize I had been charged more. I pointed it out to the waiter, who insisted I should pay anyway because I had already eaten it.

I explained clearly that I ordered garlic bread with cheese and was never informed of any substitution or price difference. Only after I mentioned I would write to the manager, did they finally refund me.

It’s disappointing to feel taken advantage of just because you don’t speak the local language. If the staff had just apologized and fixed it right away, I would’ve left with a smile.

Tourists, please check your...