Mariscar — Restaurant in Porto

One of the rare universal 10/10’s. If 20eur/pax is in your budget and you have the option, go here, even if it means waiting outside for a bit first because it’s full.

Service is nice and all. But the food preparation is out of this world, a truly memorable experience and immediately one of my favourite restaurants in the world.

We had the octopus, mussels, olives, and bread with lemon butter, with some wine. Every dish made spectacularly. Ingredients are good of course but the spotlight is on the chefs skill and execution.

Don’t miss the octopus with celery-pumpkin purée, and the olives.

The staff won’t invite you to wait if the place is full (which it was late on a Tuesday), but we recommend to take it on yourself for the experience.

For those saying the place is crowded, this is such a non-factor for a gem like this. I will not be surprised if it becomes famous in the near future. Understand that for a restaurant that puts this much heart into their food, lower table density will directly increase price/head.

I write this as someone from the industry with technical awareness, their food...

My husband and I came here (without a reservation!) for dinner. When we arrived, they told us it was only their third night open, and sat us at a tiny table in the back. It was cozy and the chairs were super comfortable.

We were served by a super kind woman who must have been the manager - she was incredibly attentive the entire time - and the rest of the staff seemed to defer to her.

The food was awesome. I ordered six oysters, which can be a gamble, and they were all delicious. Cold, with a slice of lime. I also got the lobster sandwich, which was really nicely done. My husband got the steak dish because he’s not a big seafood guy; it was nothing short of phenomenal. For dessert we ordered some frozen, chocolate bar type of thing… it was literally frozen solid and super hard to eat, although it tasted delicious. I’d probably do a different dessert if given the chance, because I don’t like to fight my food.

We wanted to go back tonight to try some of the other dishes but they’re closed. Next time we visit we’ll...

Absolute disorganisaed chaos. We ordered bread, starters and main courses from the waiter who had started the evening by telling us that fries (!) were off.First (!) he brought our main courses, one of which was the wrong one. My wife had her main course (2 lamb chops with nothing else on plate for 17e) while I sat with no food. Mine then arrived and we were told that our forgotten starter (ceviche) would be on the house. We ate the ceviche and then received oysters that we REALLY did not want and were now told that we would be charged for the ceviche AND a replacement rice that was only requested as the original was cold by the time the correct main course arrived. Waiter kept contradicting himself and NEVER owned up to his errors and incompetence. To round it off I asked for a decaff...five minutes after taking the order he returned to say they had none. In addition, the food is no better than ordinary...service is woeful and portions are tiny with no accompaniments. Avoid...