Mercador Café — Restaurant in Porto

I literally don't remember the last time I've had an argument with staff in a bar/restaurant, so congratulations, Mercador Cafe, you did it. Came in for brunch. Ordered 2 dishes. Mine was too sweet for brunch, but I eat it, whatever, the other was really sweet and with some toppings that made it just way way too sweet. We ask waitress to replace the second dish with a version excluding those toppings. She starts furiously arguing how all the ingredients were listed on menu (spoiler: they weren't). She then says ok we can change but you still pay for the current dish and walks away. Baffled we take a minute to reflect and ask for the menu to verify. Indeed menu didn't mention cinnamon sugar. Waitress grabs our fork and pokes the food on our plate saying that is not cinnamon sugar but cookie crumble (also not mentioned on menu btw). While doing this drops the fork on the floor. There's food on the floor now. It's a mess. Every one around now looking at us to see what the commotion is about. She then reluctantly offers to replace the dish indeed, but we just prefer to take the bill and leave. She comes with the bill. To my surprise the brunch item that was way too sweet still included. I point that out and yet again after some objections by her she eventually removes it. To top it off she gives some sass at the end "sorry, I tried to make it work, but you weren't receptive". Typical "sorry, but not sorry". Literally the only bad restaurant experience we had in Portugal. (For reference: We went out to eat 2 to 3 times a day for...

I was so disappointed!!! I’ve been here four or five times. I’m vegan but I always take my non-vegan friends here, and people visiting from out of town. But I won’t be back. In the past the servers have been super accommodating and nice, this time I got the eye roll, and a really bad attitude when I asked for vegan options. I know that they only have 2-3 vegan options on the menu but this time I was told they don’t have any vegan options. With an added eye roll, I was informed they could make 2 items without the cheese. One pasta and one quinoa salad. This is the third time I had the quinoa salad and it was awful. Again, super disappointed. And unfortunately, for the prices they charge it should be a lot better. A bed of lettuce, lots of it brown and bad, three cherry tomato halves (so 1.5 cherry tomatoes total), and one teeny (puequeninino) slice of avocado. Almost no dressing. Seriously there was only 1 drop of balsamic on one leaf of arugula. Oh, and some quinoa. The whole thing probably cost three euros to make and they charge €14. The avocado toast is under €10 and has actual avocado on it. If you have to come here get that. Regardless, even if the food is bad, I don’t expect a side of judgmental attitude with my meal. I’m not hurting anyone by being vegan and I don’t need to be treated as though I am. I’ve been a server for many years, and I never treated a customer like this. Time to find a new and better restaurant in this area. Do yourself a favor, and don’t eat here! Especially if...

There is a really big brunch culture in Porto and just like with other Cafés, go to Mercador Cafe early (ideally when they open at 9am or later after the first bunch of people left). Nestled in the center of Porto, the historic building and interior design catches your eye. They have a large indoor seating area (great for groups) as well as a few tables outside (in winter months, there is no sun shining into the street in the morning). Menu is the equal to what is offered in other places (eggs, pancakes etc) but I came to try out their Cacao bowl. It comes with frozen banana, cacao, peanut butter and almond milk topped with house granola and fruit (7,90€). The best thing of the bowl was the food design however the mix of ingredients and taste didn’t satisfy my taste. (….says the health Coach and Breakfast Bowl specialist ;-) ) The flat white coffee was okay but nothing compared to other speciality coffee shops in town (I share more in my Google reviews). Are you vegan? Overall there are very little options for vegans and Avo Toast for 8.90€ is pricey. so I would recommend other places nearby.

What I liked about this cafe is that they sell nice mugs, bowls and cups and they offer yummy croissants and...