Lapa Lapa — Restaurant in Porto

Could be 5 stars, It will be 1. I’ll begin with three sentences: "The impression one has of a restaurant is directly related to the experience lived. The experience begins before arriving at the place and continues after leaving it. The memory of that lived experience remains alive as a past reference, helping guide others and shaping the desire to return."

Today was my fourth experience at Lapa Lapa, this time with six people (one elderly woman with limited mobility and five adults), and it was wonderful—before and even during lunch and dessert. We stayed for two hours, had six different dishes, side orders, drinks, and desserts. We gladly paid the 150 euros, as everything was worthy of praise: the temperature, preparation, presentation, and taste. It did take a little longer than expected, but the flavors made the wait worthwhile.

We left happy, already planning to return the following week. Upon leaving, two of us went to fetch the cars, which were parked some distance away. We asked the elderly woman and three others to wait until the vehicle got closer so she could be helped up to the street. We unfolded her chair so she could wait seated, and stayed by her side, near the stairs.

Then, at the very last moment—still cheerful from the wonderful experience up to that point—one of the waiters who had served us approached and asked us to move her, saying it was forbidden for her to sit there. An elderly woman, with reduced mobility, sitting in her own chair on a public walkway, at the foot of one of the public staircases that connects the upper plaza to the beachfront and to several restaurants—and vice versa. The staircase is at least three meters wide, and she was not on the stairs themselves, but already on the flat ground, occupying less than one meter—around 80 centimeters.

We were all surprised, and one of us asked why she had to move and what exactly was prohibited. The waiter raised his voice and said he had already warned us and expected us to understand and move her, since it was a public staircase and people might need to pass.

I won’t go on. What a shame. How regrettable, how incomprehensible, how sad. That final moment reframed the entire previous text and experience we had just lived. A service of excellence can be completely ruined by one stage of the process that contaminates the entire reference one has of the restaurant.

Sad, upset, discriminated—that’s how we felt, watching our elderly lady stand up and have to hold on to us in order to walk more quickly than she should have.

We will not be...

If I were rating the food alone, I would rate this a three. However, given the absolutely abhorrent service, this restaurant in no world deserves a rating that high.

Despite branding itself as a higher-end restaurant, the average food doesn't reflect the prices. However, the location is terrific, and you can watch the beautiful sunset across the beach. If you plan on going there, I recommend reserving a terrace table ahead of time, as they get pretty busy. Please be aware that they do not serve proper meals in the afternoon until seven o'clock, but instead offer a snack menu. Despite these positives, my two-star rating also accounts for the appalling table service we received, described below.

I had called in the morning to make a terrace reservation for dinner at seven o'clock. However, the terrace tables were booked out at seven, and we were instead offered six o'clock as an alternative, but we would have to leave at quarter past seven. When we arrived, the waiter informed us we could not order dinner, as they only start serving dinner at seven and only prepare snacks until then. I explained I had explicitly made a reservation for dinner and that there was no mention of any of this over the phone. The waiter then fetched the head waitress, with whom I had spoken over the phone, who, again, explained they do not serve dinner until seven. Again, I explained the situation, but she was extremely hostile and insisted we could not eat. My girlfriend (not the head waitress) suggested a compromise: we would have aperitifs outside on the terrace until seven, then move inside for dinner. Curiously, the waiter to take our order never arrived. At quarter to seven, we were hurriedly informed that we could now order dinner inside. What followed was a pleasant dinner with somewhat average food. Interestingly, the head waitress almost ignored my existence for the remainder of the dinner, and all communication seemed to be rerouted through my girlfriend. I have visited several high-end restaurants all over Europe and have never encountered such appalling treatment in any restaurant. The head waitress showed no compassion, apology, or compromise but was confrontational, rude, and defensive throughout our interaction. I would probably recommend visiting the restaurant for drinks snacks in the afternoon, as it is quite pleasant to watch the sunset, but a picnic on the beach would probably be equally enjoyable. Or just find a different...

This is one of the better rated beach bars/restaurants in Foz - although only 4.3 - because of its beautiful location. This is the third time I’ve been there over the years and also the last - worst meal ever and service not the greatest. We were given a table outside and told we had to leave in 1.5 hours, this was no problem for us as we really only wanted to stay an hour. (Host/mgr unfriendly to start. And we spoke Portuguese.) However, it was more than 20 minutes before any waiter finally came over. The “Organic Chicken” Caesar salad was nothing but an overcooked, fatty (mostly skin) chicken leg (with thigh) on a horrible mess of gloppy iceberg lettuce, drenched in some kind of mayonnaise sauce. With a few shavings of Parmesan on top. Basically inedible. The simple green salad was some greens and cherry tomatoes - not sure there was any dressing on it - if so, it was completely tasteless. Service continued to be poor. Once our waiter re-appeared we mentioned how bad the food was - he mumbled something and disappeared. Later another waiter showed up for the bill and to tell us we needed to leave! (we still had 20 minutes on our allotted table time and empty tables everywhere) - we mentioned the poor food quality and all he said was “you should have told me before you paid!” We said we did. He said the other waiter hadn’t mentioned it to him. It was such a disappointing experience. Beautiful views - go for drinks but not food! Menu tries to be clever and appealing, don’t fall for it. Eat...