Taberna da Maré — Restaurant in Portimão

We walked into this restaurant without any reservation after being turned down by other spots and we couldn’t be more grateful for having a wonderful dining experience at Taberna da Maré. The place is 36 years old, owned and run by Zeca - framed photos on the walls capture some moments of the early days of the restaurant and life in Algarve. We loved all the small details and decoration inside, it felt homey like a family dinner setting. The vibe outside in the terrace was equally vibrant. Both spaces could accommodate large groups, and there were some - mostly locals. The service was prompt and friendly. Zeca, the owner, offered his attention to each table and gave us some recommendations to order. Food was overall great. There were plenty of seafood and fish options on the menu (except for octopus), and a few meat-based and vegetarian dishes. Prices were quite reasonable. The ingredients were of good quality, though I would note that some fish (e.g. sea bream) is farmed not caught - hence the price range. We went for sardines as a starter, grilled fish and squid, clams as well as the rainbow salad which I highly recommend. We also had the orange pie and fig & carob cake, both were delicious and I would particularly invite you to try the orange pie - a different taste, surprisingly refreshing...

Found this place via Google maps and we are very happy that we went. Lovely restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating on a quiet side street in the old town.

All of the waiting team were lovely, attentive and knowledgeable.

Ricardo gave us excellent recommendations which we followed and were glad we did! The scaled mackerel and Algarve salad to start was a particularly excellent recommendation.

The bread stew was also an unexpected star, particularly when paired with their incredible house peri peri oil. It took a few bites to acclimatise and then it was very moreish. It's like a British bread sauce, with way more flavour. Their grilled squid was perfect too.

Excellent food, good wine, great waiting team and...

I ate here several times over the years. However my latest experience pretty much changed my opinion of this restaurant. Don't get me wrong the food is good, not great, only good. Same quality food at a portion of the price is available on the surrounding restaurants. However the service is unfortunately terrible. I got to the restaurant at 12:10, 10 min after the restaurant opened, asked for a table, and was told to sit wherever I liked and someone would be with in 10 min. 20 min later I was still waiting while the staff was still eating. Ordered my food from the specials thinking, this is going to be fast as it is in the specials... one hour later I was still waiting....