Fado No Porto — Restaurant in Porto

Fado No Porto was a decent experience. Let me start with arrival: - we had reserved a table, as we arrived there were 3 members of staff behind the bar interacting between themselves not taking heed of guests arriving - after some time the younger waiter let us pick any table we like and handed us the menus without any explanation. After few minutes senior waiter approached us whether we are ready to order which took us a bit surprise as we heard him elaborately explaining the menu to few other tables prior so we have politely asked him to explain to us as well as there were couple set menus, ala carte and fado show and we were not sure about wine pairing or whether the show is included - after being prompted he did with a very polished “almost believable politeness” - I am not sure if 2 women in their mid 30’s seemed not a great tip target as maybe the other older couples around but eventually we received all the info we wanted and so we picked a Porto set menu and waited patiently trying to get over the fact that waiter was referring to us as girls 😁😁😁 but be it we agreed it may be a language barrier 😆 the dishes started coming in sometimes by senior waiter sometimes by the younger lad… the starter was awesome butter, fresh bread and olives were absolutely divine… the second meal was a soup which was alright but nothing special- the third dish was cod with bones but tasty… the younger waiter asked us to keep our dirty cutlery for our next chicken dish 👀 considering the prices were pretty high for Porto standards I found that to be odd… we made sure we said obrigada every time when the waiter came however the younger waiter didnt even make eye contact not to mention say de nada or anything at all really… he was non responsive and honestly it felt we are the ones trying to be polite at this point 😁 the chicken dish was anything but fried chicken - the skin was soggy however the meat itself was tasty and cheesy was the highlight. The dessert was mediocre. The main waiter was serving 10+ tables mainly by himself so I would understand it he had to pretend rather than be in best spirits. The music however was amazing. Overall it was an ok experience but we would not...

We have been in Portugal for approximately fifteen days and experienced Fado music with dining at several different venues. Tonight was our last evening in Porto, and we wanted to listen to Fado one last time before leaving. This place came highly recommended, but it turned out to be the worst experience we’ve had.

After placing our orders, we waited for two hours and ten minutes, and still, there was no indication of when our food would be ready. Frustrated, we decided to cancel our food order and leave. When the bill arrived, we were charged for the wine and €15 per person for the Fado ticket. Not only did we sit there with empty stomachs, drinking wine, but we also did not receive an apology from the staff.

If I could give zero stars, I would. Having worked in the hospitality industry and visited hundreds of restaurants, I have never seen such poor service. If you are understaffed or there will be delays, at the very least, you could have offered bread, olives, hummus, or something simple as a courtesy. When we go on vacation, we expect at least a basic level of service. Treating customers as if they are stupid is highly disrespectful and unprofessional.

Avoid this place...

I spent $107 for 2 people and we only got 2 entrees and 1 appetizer. I wanted to try octopus in portugal since I grew up eating it at home but it wasn't good. Very dissapointed. There was something crunchy in it like sand. I didn't complain or send it back, I just didn't eat all of it. But when I went to pay there was $24 on my bill and when i questioned it they told me they charge you for a show. The singer came 30 minutes after we started eating and i didn't know there was going to be a singer let alone a fee for it. The singer was only there for 10 or 15 minutes while we were there. It was too loud so we ate quickly and left. If I knew it would get charged $24 for someone to be singing I wouldn't have gone to the restaurant. It was very sneaky of them to charge me. I didn't want to hear someone singing opera music. I just wanted to eat octopus. We tried to get out as fast as possible and I felt their prices were a little expensive. $30 for octopus that didn't have a very good flavor...