Restaurante Àbabuja — Restaurant in Portimão

Restaurante Àbabuja came highly recommended for its stunning waterfront views and renowned seafood, so I was eager to experience what everyone raved about. Unfortunately, my visit was marred by a series of disappointing service issues that overshadowed the charming atmosphere.

To start, I ordered the golden bream—one of the signature dishes. When it arrived, I immediately noticed something was off: the fish was partially raw. When I mentioned this to the waiter, he nonchalantly replied that it was “fine.” Only after I pressed further did he admit that the fish was indeed undercooked. Rather than apologizing or offering a replacement, he then asked, “Why didn’t you say anything?” Even though I had already raised the issue, he never bothered to check back on my table afterward.

The situation worsened for our family: our child’s order of fish fingers and chips was completely forgotten. While I did receive an offer for dessert as a gesture to make up for the mishaps, I had to politely decline because it was nearly 9 pm, and with a 7‑year‑old present, waiting any longer wasn’t an option.

I was later informed that the kitchen was understaffed—a situation that might explain delays in service, but it certainly doesn’t justify serving food that is raw. The lack of proper follow-up and dismissive attitude from the waiter made the experience even more frustrating.

The total bill for the evening came to €108, which felt excessive given the overall experience. Paying that amount for a partially raw main course, a forgotten kids’ meal, and inattentive service left a bitter aftertaste—especially since no meaningful effort was made to rectify the issues while we were still at the table. At that price point, I expected a far higher level of care, consistency, and professionalism.

In the end, while the restaurant’s location and ambience are truly lovely, the quality control in the kitchen and the service standards fell well short of expectations. If Restaurante Àbabuja is to live up to its reputation, management will need to address these service lapses to ensure every guest, especially families with young children,...

At first this seemed like a decent place, however when it came to ordering food. I made the waiter (a larger tall male) aware of my allergies and was met with sarcasm when asking if the food I requested contained any of this. My mum ordered a tuna steak and was asked “how would you like it cooked” her reply was ‘well done please.’ The waiter said “you shouldn’t have it well done it isn’t how it’s meant to be cooked”. We insisted on it being well done.

Anyway the appetisers were lovely! We had the tuna pate, Portuguese sausage and Portuguese garlic bread (is was toasted bread with garlic oil)

The food arrived my dads pork fillet was dry and tasteless. The tuna steak didn’t come well done, we had to send it back. The potatoes on the plate were also dry and tasteless. My food was okay however they gave me the one thing I was allergic to and forgot to give the side dish I had requested. We had to ask for this again. The rice was overdone dry and bland.

When the food was being sent back a plumper lady with short hair and blonde highlights snatched the plate took it back came out and poured my dad a refill of the wine we ordered and left mine and my mums glasses empty she then slammed the bottle in to the cooler.

When collecting the food the same lady took everything all but my mums food and ignored the plate entirely. The only time she came to us with a smile was to ask if we wanted dessert.

I was going to give this a 4 star because other staff were nice, friendly and helpful and the appetisers were nice. But because of such terrible attitude and dry food it must be a 2 star. I’d definitely say avoid and try another...

We went to this restaurant and should have known better but it was relatively early, we tried one place that was fully booked and another had a long queue. We got a table outside so had lovely views of the sunset. The food was decent but the most expensive we've had this holiday. I'd recommend the clam and prawn spaghetti. Substantial prawns and well cleaned clams. My daughter had the grilled quid. It was well cooked, not chewy at all and a good flavour. Husband had the algarvian squid which he ate but didn't overly enjoy although it was cooked well. Our main issue was the service. My daughter's meal arrived about 10 minutes before ours appeared. No explanation. The girl who did finally deliver our meals did apologise for the delay. She appeared to be the only server to understand customer service. We asked for salt for the fries but it never arrived. We asked for the bill but it didn't arrive and we had to ask again after waiting 10 mins. I honestly think we could have left and they wouldn't notice. They're busy so maybe feel they don't need to offer good customer service but a lot of people who holiday Algarve return. We won't be returning here, I think there is better service and better value at other...