Cozinha dos Lóios — Restaurant in Porto

I'm sad to rate this place so low. It was our last night in Portugal and for it to be so disappointing was... well... disappointing. It's cute and small, and the service was good and friendly. But the food was just not good. The chorizo tasted almost exactly like a hot dog. Was it even chorizo? My partner ordered a seafood pasta. The pasta was black, suggesting squid ink, and seemed freshly made, but it just wasn't that great. More worrisome, the mussels and other seafood in the pasta were not fresh. For me, I ordered salmon in puff pastry, because I love salmon and there were many options in puff pastry, which suggested it was a specialty of the house. If you absolutely must eat here, do not get anything in puff pastry. The waitress warned me that the salmon would be very rare (not a problem for me as I love raw salmon) but never did she mention that the pastry itself would be undercooked. If I were Paul Hollywood on The Great British Bake Off I'd have spit it out into a napkin. We had seen people in other reviews raving about the key lime pie. It tasted like it came from a supermarket. Looking around the room, everyone else seemed to be nonplussed with their food too. I think everyone in the entire restaurant was a tourist, which is never a good sign. I cannot understand why this restaurant is rated so highly. I wonder if they have different chefs on different nights of the week, perhaps. We were there on a Wednesday, if that helps. I recommend the restaurants near Mundo -- Mundo itself, and Thamel, and Mood Sushi, and the Brazilian place near there called Salome? Something like that, with the Heineken lights. None is perfect but all are much much better than this place and cost about the...

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS PLACE!! 100% you need to visit if you are in Porto and you will definitely need to book a table as this place fills up extremely quickly!! I loved our waitress that looked after us throughout our meal she was absolutely lovely!! attentive but not overly there (I'm so sorry I can't remember your name but she was originally from Brazil) the food was amazing and fresh. we had a selection of tapas style dishes to start, pardon peppers, chorizo, meats and cheese board and olives. I had the prawn and squid skewer and it was sooo goood!! very interactive but very yummy, then there was X3 francesinha's and a veggie pasta (sorry no photos) and all went down a treat!! such generous portions and more than enough for us 5 then to finish the father in law had the créam Brulée, the brother in law had the pavlova and I had a takeaway on the infamous pasteis de nata but this one had a short crust pasty base but it was still very yummy.

thank you so much for a fantastic experience and I will definitely be returning when my travels take me back to...

Cute restaurant with wonderful service. My husband's steak was cooked perfectly rare. But his homemade chips were almost burnt. The starter pork ribs were very tasty and tender, but a bit too salty and sweet at the same time for me. (But I don't like my food over salted.) I had the sole which was okay. I didn't eat my veggie sides because it was just overcooked bell peppers and onions, and I don't like bell peppers. I think this place is better with meat than seafood. Chocolate mousse tasted good, but was more like a wet drippy chocolate sauce that would have been better over ice cream or cake than an individual dessert. The meal wasn't cheap; we still spent $70E for the two of us, and more than we usually spend on a fancy meal in Lisbon. I gave them 4 stars for their wonderful service and attention to detail, but the food for me was really closer to a 3. But I still recommend trying the restaurant, maybe I was unlucky. They are good people that make an effort for...