Early — Restaurant in Porto

After visiting this cafe, I was sure I should write a review. I was surprised at all the positive reviews, as this is an expensive place, despite the nice bread.

But I want to be fair and offer a genuine review based on our experience. Firstly, the service was good. Teresa was welcoming, polite and helpful. Five stars. The facilities are pleasant. It seems like a popular place to use your laptop at the window, with a view passers by. It is very clean, and is a nice place overall. We were offered any seats available. Thank you Teresa.

It seems this cafe markets itself as a provider of home baked breads. I took a slice of toast with my cup of tea. The toast arrived as fried soda bread, it was delicious. It was not toast as a UK resident understands, but it was similar to offerings of fried homemade bread that I received from my parents in my youth. The bread was really lovely, and the taste compensated for the fact it had been pan fried, and so was really tasty. I assume different countries have different understandings of toast. This is fair. The "toast" was delicious.

I overheard a customer buying bread, for seven euros. It is here that I felt Early cafe overstretched considerably.

My main caution is price/value. I have enclosed a copy of our bill. I don't believe 13 euros is reasonable for a slice of bread, a cup of tea, a bun and a coffee. I guess when you add 70 cent for milk, and 1.50 for butter it starts to add up. The total price for a slice of buttered toast was 4 euros. I find it strange that Early feels it is fair to charge for some milk for a cup of tea, or for butter for a slice of toast. Again, UK people would appreciate this concern.

There is no doubt that the bread is lovely. We can do with more cafes offering nice bread that is homemade. Well done Early. But this bread was almost exactly the same the homemade bread, baked almost every weekend in our household, during my youth. Given the cost of producing this, I can't see how the price charged seems reasonable.

I leave it for you to judge for yourself. I have included a photo of our receipt. I hope you enjoy your visit, and I'm sure it will be a nice experience. If you are content to pay, then by all means visit. It is pleasant and the server, Teresa, was polite and helpful. However, if you have any mindfulness of value, then you may wish...

Pretentious, which you can see in their replies to the negative comments.

I had a good experience the first time I went, even though they charge 1.5€ for 33cl of tap water and have NO baby facilities whatsoever so we had to change a diaper in the stroller in the corridor that leads to the toilets. The food was good and the place was pleasant.

I brought a friend with me today and it was disastrous. The food took almost one hour to arrive even though there were only two other tables being used. My sandwich (16€) was ok. The fried egg was burnt but they changed it after I complained. The mushrooms were cold. I asked for a beer (5€) and was not asked about my tastes. The waiter came with the drinks and said “I chose for you a passion fruit IPA”. Well, that’s quite niche. I’d have appreciated if she asked if I’d like that before bringing me the open bottle.

My friend had a burger. After two or three bites he noticed the meat was too raw. He asked for the waiter’s attention. She never came. He stood up to speak with the cook, who told him that’s the way they do it. She kept defending herself that the meat temperature was checked and that’s they way they serve the burger. He ended up not eating it. We were charged for the burger but got offered a 2€ discount for the extra, the cheese (yes, you pay extra if you want cheese in your burger).

Considering the food options and the prices in Porto, this places qualifies for a tourist trap.

In my opinion, the space and decor have potential, and so does the concept. It could improve with better service and more attention to their clients’ needs. A lot of people would not eat a rare burger. If that’s the way you serve it and you’re not prepared to be flexible about, a heads-up when we’re ordering would show you care about your clients’ satisfaction at least as much as you care for your...

TL;DR: if you don’t want to leave hungry and burn through your wallet just go somewhere else.

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Strap in for this one. A lovely spot with extremely pleasant staff. The concept on the other hand is needlessly convoluted and leaves you wanting more.

The meal started off with two cups of coffee and a lack of any spoons. We ended up asking for a glass of water and the waitress informed us she is obliged to charge us for a bottle - sure thing! The bottle of water arrives and so does one glass. “Can we get another?”, we asked, just to be warned another glass would be delivered with a whole new bottle of water. 0.7 litres for one person seems a bit too much. Luckily my wife and I could share one glass - imagine bringing a colleague, a coworker or anyone you don’t necessarily want to share a glass with. Pay another 1.8 euros for tap water in a glass bottle.

Let’s move on to food. A simple avocado salmon toast bread we thought turned into two slices of smoked salmon half of avocado and the thinnest slice of bread I ever saw - I mean I could see through it. Forget the 16.5 euro price point for the meal - add 3.5 euros for a slice of toasted sourdough just to make your meal worthwhile. The price point is insane just to end up leaving you hungry at the end of it.

Not sure what happened to this place - we checked the previous reviews and pictures and when trying to show them to the waitress she told us none of those options existed as the place moved across the street this year and changed up their menu - probably also their portions and prices for the worse or so I can only suspect since it was my first and...