Restaurante Casa da Tocha — Restaurant in Portimão

Service was bad the moment we arrived. The waitress was very curt with us, almost leaving before we finished speaking. She took more time with the other tables. I understand it could be a language barrier but we’ve been in Portugal for a week now and this is the first time we were treated like this.

Cataplana - clams tasted like mud and shrimp was overcooked. Overall flavour was nothing special, tasted like a jar of tomato sauce.

Duck and mushroom risotto - duck was definitely more rare than medium rare. It was so tough to chew. Only liked the risotto which was really good. The waitress never came out to check on us but after she was finished speaking with another table we were able to wave her over. I asked her if the duck could be cooked more and before I finished speaking she grabbed the plate and whisked off.

We grew tired of the unsatisfactory meal and poor service, and decided to ask for the bill. The kitchen was still recooking the duck so we asked for it to go. Once again the waitress left before I could finish speaking. She didn’t bother to find out why we were leaving before we were finished eating our meal. She came back with the bill and a charge for the takeaway box. Her demeanour came across as annoyed. Her friendliness with the other tables made us question if it was racial...

Me and my wife had a great start , going with codfish carpaccio plus some garlic fried prawns , and with some bread and amazing pate!! Beer and wine were beautiful!! Unfortunately for the steak and fish we cannot say the same. I had ordered the steak but the waiter brought us duck. Therefore both plates went back....I ended up having a ribeye steak even though the fillet steak is what it is described as on the menu ....and it was evident my wife's fish stayed under the heater while the steak was cooked resulting in the dish being dry and hard when brought back out. The waiter never apologized or even try to explain the situation! But all ended up good with desert Me and my wife just went for a normal retreat one night and we chose this restaurant for his good reviews! Maybe change the situation for the main courses??!

All the rest good and thank you

Lady was friendly

We recommend the...

Food was really good but a little pricey for the amount of food you get. They literally charge you for all the bread they bring you. And charged for the olives and 3 pieces of bread they put in the table without asking. We had reservations and got there 5 minutes before our reservation so they took us to a small/sketchy room in the back to wait. We ended up being seated 20 minutes past our reservation time (mind you the table we sat in was empty when we got there.) The waiters were nice but service was a little slow. Our reservation was at 8:30pm and we ended up leaving close to 11pm. The muscles were very yummy but weren’t cleaned well and the octopus was a little chewy for my taste. Everything else was great, and the drinks were...