Café do Cais — Restaurant in Porto

My experience at cafe do cais was quite abysmal, especially considering the price of the food. I tried the vegetable soup, the tagliatelle with shrimp, and the octopus.

The soup was ok, nothing outstanding but it had good flavour.

The tagliatelle was terribly overcooked, i could tell just looking at it. The pasta was breaking apart and if not for the overwhelming amount of oil as you can see in the photo, it would have just been stuck together like a pile of mush. The shrimp was cooked well although not very flavourful. I’m surprised they would let a dish like that leave the kitchen when the pasta was so obviously overcooked, under-seasoned, and greasy.

The octopus itself was okay, a bit bland for the most part, nothing special. However, the octopus came with collard greens, and the collard greens were the most TASTELESS things ive ever had. Its no exaggeration when i say i felt like i was chewing on oily soggy paper. It was not even seasoned with any salt. I am in disbelief they serve something with absolutely zero taste and flavour in a restaurant like this. It was simply covered in olive oil and pieces of chopped garlic. I can not emphasize the absolute lack of flavour or simple taste this dish had.

The service was pretty much nonexistent throughout the meal. After we ordered and got our food, nobody came to check in or even looked over as it seemed most the servers were grouped near the kitchen talking and laughing. If someone had come check on me, i would have asked for a different dish to be brought out or for my pasta to be remade at the very least. It took about 20 minutes for me to finally flag down a server and bring the bill. When i (politely) told her about the poor and disappointing food, she was apologetic but offered no compensation or discount and i was still charged the full price of the meal.

If you want to have a few drinks with a nice view then this is a good spot. If you want to have quality food in portugal, i strongly recommend that you please PLEASE spend your money at a...

Review for Café do Cais – Porto

Picture this: a perfect Sunday afternoon, the sun glistening off the Rio Douro, a glass of sparkling sangria in hand, and laughter filling the air with good friends. Sounds like the start of a dreamy waterfront experience, right? Well… hold that thought.

The vibe? Immaculate. The place was buzzing, packed inside and out, and the energy was just right for a laid-back afternoon. The service, on the other hand, was on Portuguese time—which I usually don’t mind, except when I’m waiting way too long for a drink that costs as much as a nice dinner. But just how expensive was it? Oh, you’re not ready for this one.

Let’s talk numbers. €39 for 1 liter of sparkling red sangria. Now, considering a bottle of espumante runs about €3, I have to assume that gold flakes or a once-in-a-lifetime experience were included. Spoiler alert: they were not. We sighed, we sipped, we paid—but will I be paying them another visit? That remains to be seen.

Now onto the food. Fresh? Oh, absolutely. So fresh that my chicken wing still had feathers on it. Yes, you read that right. Let’s just say I was one step away from naming my meal before eating it. And that, my friends, was the final straw.

Would I recommend Café do Cais? If you’re after a prime riverside seat and don’t mind paying tourist-trap prices, sure. But for better food, fairer prices, and drinks that don’t require taking out a small loan? Porto has plenty of...

This is a restaurant by the shore, and we were really looking forward to sitting down for a drink and a rest, but the experience turned out to be terrible. The restaurant manager seemed great, efficiently seating customers in an orderly manner.

After we were seated in the bar area, we waited nearly twenty minutes without being able to place an order. I spoke to one of the male waiters three times. The first time, he gestured that he would come over soon. The second time, we wanted to order, and after he finished clearing a table, I told him we were ready to order, but he walked away with the plates. The third time, I asked when we could place an order, and he just ignored us. However, he served all the customers around us except us. I left immediately after that. I don’t know if this was some kind of micro aggression or something else, but he made us feel very unwelcome. I’ve been in Europe for so long, and this was the first time I lost my temper in a restaurant. I advise everyone to avoid this place, especially if you have...