Confeitaria do Bolhão — Restaurant in Porto

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE! When we arrived, I told the lady at the entrance that we’d eat here, so placed all the pastry we ordered on a plate. I also ordered 2 coffees with her, and she passed the order to her colleagues. She was really nice to me. Now once at the cafeteria, before sitting down, I ordered 2 coffees again, and there’s this bearded man who told me TWICE: with my colleague and pointed at his colleague which was busy going from one side to the other. At some point, he was saying “I don’t know, I don’t know”, making a gesture as if it has nothing to do with him. I had been waiting at the table, seeing my order on their countertop for 15 minutes now. The way he replied upset me. I understand that maybe there are certain people who can only take orders and that they were busy, but oftentimes, waiting for orders, they just had to stand up. And that man did not offer to help and was RUDE to me. I sat down, kept waiting. 25 minutes after we sat down for the first time, they brought us the food. Coffees were nowhere to be seen. I asked his colleague, the one taking the orders, to bring us two. He confirmed, and left. We saw a bunch of people coming much later after us getting their full orders, while we were starving, waiting for our coffees so we can enjoy the whole breakfast. I went to the bar and said to him: please get us our coffee, we’ve been waiting for over 30 minutes now. 10 more minutes, they finally came. And they came like this (look at the pictures). I have seen other people’a coffees, properly made, and it was obvious that they forgot about us despite the number of times I’ve patiently asked them to bring us our order. He apologized, and I told him it was okay, because at leas he wasn’t rude. But my mom’s coffee was spilled, and they both didn’t have any froth at all. Never in my life did I have to get upset like this in a restaurant, and I have waited and waited, and behaved in a polite manner. I’m sure the rest of the people here had a nice experience. We did not. And...

TL;DR: Asian couple ignored/discriminated by waitstaff. DINE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Don’t be fooled by the great reviews.

My husband and I were excited to dine here and try the pastries, but unfortunately, we felt discriminated against during our visit. Upon arrival, an older man gestured roughly toward some seats and then completely ignored us. While we didn’t mind getting our own menus, what happened afterward was frustrating. When we attempted to get the attention of two waiters (a young man and an older man) to place our order, we were continuously overlooked.

What made it worse was seeing a group of Caucasian patrons who arrived after us promptly served by the younger waiter. We also noticed other Caucasian guests being seated and attended to more proactively. Despite raising our arms for an extended time, both waiters were fully aware we wanted to order but chose to ignore us.

After waiting for 10 to 15 long minutes without being served, we decided to leave and go to a café across the street. Notably, we were the only Asians in the café. While I would like to give the benefit of the doubt and assume it was just poor service, the pattern made that seem highly unlikely.

This was our first time experiencing something like this in Porto, and it was incredibly...

Love this place. Delicious pastries, great coffee, open at 6am for early birds, fair prices, classic interior but what really made it for me was the charming service, comfortable helping tourists with limited English and limited Portuguese. Bonus points for providing a water dispenser to wash down the coffee with.

The ordering system is okay once you work it out. Order at the counter, take a seat at the back, they'll find you with your order and give you an ID card for the bill. If you want to order more, you go back to the man overseeing the seating area, or the counter, with the same card. You pay on the way out, handing the card to the cashier at the exit/entrance. They don't label the baked goods, so if you're not a native (or even if you are?!), you're best taking a photo, showing it to the counter staff and saying the quantity you want (in English, was fine).

I never used the toilets, so can't comment on them.

It's a great place to get up early for, charge up, relax and get ready to attack the day, especially if like me you don't like hotel breakfasts (they're all the same and it's one less opportunity to go somewhere new). Also, getting up early in a hot country while it's cooler is a good idea, plus you can avoid a lot of crowds...