Intrigo — Restaurant in Porto

The food was good and the restaurant has a breath-taking view. However, the staff seemed fairly disorganized: when reserving, I got offered a 9pm indoor table with no additional details about the kitchen closing time. Outdoor tables are only available if they are when you get there. We walked in on time, and within 10 minutes were seated in a just-freed outdoor table with a fantastic river view. A 1st waiter explained us the menu while still inside, suggesting 4 tapas in 2 people as a whole dinner. Then a very kind 2nd waiter took our order, seemingly surprised as we ordered just 4 tapas (which turned out to also be generous portions, for tapas) so we mentioned the 1st colleague’s explanation. We were “dinner-hungry”, nothing extraordinary, but surely not just there for a snack. Food came swiftly and was delicious. At 9.45pm, when we requested to order more, a 3rd waiter comes & informs us the kitchen was already closed: we couldn’t even get a slice of bread: only desserts (very small portions). All the while, this 3rd waiter kept obnoxiously stereotyping our mother-tongue, which he sort of spoke, despite being addressed repeatedly and only in English. Again, the first 2 people we were attended by, as well the food & wine we had, were FANTASTIC. However, I really wish someone had told us that the kitchen was closing in barely 20 minutes from ordering an expensive bottle of wine and what I thought was going to be the first round of food (I then understood why the person who took our order looked surprised). Everyone spoke English well, so the miscommunication surely wasn’t linguistic. We ended up spending more than 80€ in 2 people to leave the place being still very hungry, a bit bothered by the last person who dealt with us in such a stereotyping and annoying way, and we had to get a whole second dinner in a fast food to calm our (fairly normal) hunger. Again, kudos to the kitchen staff, but the communication and waiting staff could use some improvement, especially considering the price-range (a proper dinner would have been at least 30€ more, given the prices on the menu) and the fact the 3rd person we dealt with seemed completely unable to read the room when dealing...

Just had one of the worst experinces in porto at this Intrigo restaurant tonight and I preface the rest of review by saying that I was the ONLY person of color (PoC) at this restaurant tonight. Got a table and was seated by 1 of the two waiters dealing with customers (the restaurant space was tight but not at capacity). Didnt get served with the menu until after 15 minutes. First red flag, people who came in after me started getting served before i did. When i got the menu i waited another 10 minutes for my order to be taken. While giving my order i asked for wine as well as ice tea but asked if there was in sugar in the latter (since i wanted it sweetened ) i was told it wasnt sweetened and wasnt given any alternative so I pivoted and explicitly said "since the ice tea has no sugar i would take a lemonade instead" that turned out to be water with lemon and a mint leaf (again no sugar) . Second red flag, my waiter suddenly switched from serving my table (which was at the very center of the restaurant) and i was served by the second guy without warning. Took another 15 minutes to get my food from the new waiter (an 18€ paella equivalent). When i got it the dish was flavorless, veru small portion and half of the shrimp was not cleaned. Third red flag, waiters never came to my table to ask if the food was ok, if I needed water, coffee or anything. These same waiters tag-teamed and waited every other table in my section at least 3-4 times and never bat an eyelid in my direction. It was the most uncomfortable and unacceptable experiences ive had during my entire visit and i will not be visiting anymore and will definitely be passing this review along to other expat groups in the area. If I loop could give less than one...

Well let's start with saying Intrigo is located in a pretty quiet street in the busy neighbourhood of Ribeira, Porto. But don't make the mistake to just drop by; this restaurant seems to be fully booked on a daily base (at least in the touristic season). So if you don't like to get dissappointed, make a reservation at least the day before.

For Dutch standards the menu is very affordable, especially the wines. I remember we bought a white housewine for €10,-. In the Netherlands you only get 2,5 glasses for this price. Needless to say this made it only tastier.

The food was delicious. Especially the tuna and the vegetarian 'tomato salad'. The last one sounded a bit boring to me, but it was one of the most great dishes I consumed in years. Reason enough to return the next day.

Besides the great food and prices, I'd have to point out the beautiful view from the serre, where you could watch the sunset and the Douro river.

Last but not least I'd have to mention the great service of the waiters. They take the time to make you feel welcome and know a lot of all the foods and wines. They are very friendly hard workers.

Because of the big amount of guests and, so I think, the attention they had for every person, it sometimes took some time before our order arrived. For example: it took more than 25 minutes before the port arrived at our table. Well, that seemed a bit too long for two spoiled and thirsty tourists, but hey, it still was worth...