MISTU — Restaurant in Porto

I got explosive food poisoning and vomiting from this place!!

I wanted so badly to like this restaurant. It came strongly recommended by someone who'd been here recently, mainly for the food. I was seated pretty promptly as the first one in the restaurant. Others were then seated, and I noticed pretty much every table but mine got an appetizer on the house. Mine finally came, but the delay itself should have signaled me to the service to come.

I ordered a cocktail and sparkling water. My cocktail came, no sparkling water. I reminded the waitress. Meanwhile, the table next to me ordered 2 martinis with olives and were instead brought 2 martinis with lemon twists. The waitress came back, brought martinis with lemon twists...again. The customers reminded the waitress again that this was not what they asked for -- not sure if it was a language barrier? While she was at the table next door and about to leave, I reminded her again about the sparkling water.

It eventually came. I ordered my food. On her recommendation, I got the salmon ceviche and sea bass. The salmon ceviche, when it came, had a strange look to it. The color of the salmon was not like fresh salmon I'm used to seeing. It was a bit bland/gray in color. I shrugged it off, thought maybe it's just cause of the sauce on it. Took a bite, and this should have been the warning sign. The salmon was rubbery, smelled a bit fishy, and the sauce was a little sour...I'm honestly not sure why I kept eating. I finished about a quarter of it. The waiter asked if it was okay as I hadn't finished it. Again, my fault I didn't say something but I didn't think anything of it at the time.

The sea bass was alright. To be honest, I had better sea bass that morning at a local cafe. Nothing special.

Fast forward 4-5 hours later....I start feeling nauseous. I have trouble sleeping through the night because of the nausea. I throw up for the first time in the middle of the night, into the hotel toilet. And the vomit that came up reeked of expired, old, raw fish. The salmon ceviche. It was likely poorly handled and old fish.

The morning after when I woke up, I proceeded to vomit and retch at least 10 more times until there was nothing left to come up. I had to cancel my Duoro River cruise. I had to uber powerade, water, and medication to my hotel room. Now I'm 2 days out from my dinner reservation and still stuck in bed, 2 days wasted because I'm still feeling ill.

Really disappointing for a restaurant so highly rated, to have had such mediocre service and ill-prepared food.

EDIT In response to the owner's response below, I've updated my rating...to a 1 star service from 2 stars. Because 1) I find it laughable that he should respond with such rudeness as the owner. I expected better from him, but I guess this speaks to how poor the service is. My friends who have read his response agree. 2) I guess I didn't truly know something was actually wrong until I was hovering over my toilet throwing up!! I thought it was okay! So that is why I didn't bother to say anything. I also didn't care to have another dish brought to me. I did respond to his text, but not his call because I was laying sick in bed and I didn't think anything good could come from the conversation...maybe a light apology? Good thing I didn't, looks like I dodged a bullet. I'm under no obligation to do so.

Also, just because no one else said anything about themselves being poisoned doesn’t mean they didn’t feel ill after their meal. Not everyone complains or writes reviews, so this claim is unjustified by the owner. What did I have earlier that day to eat? A piece of toast with butter and pre-packaged bottled water. Sea bass that was fully cooked with steamed vegetables. So I'm pretty sure I know where the raw food poisoning...

I had high hopes for this place, but it was disappointing to say the least. I want to say the servers were nice (but slow) and the dessert was great, but that’s where the pluses stopped for this place. The food in general was unimpressive for the cost (compared to other nice restaurants we tried in Porto at similar prices), and the tables were way too close. We basically heard the life story of the people next to us and accidentally hit the guy on my other side when I got up. (Gives you an idea of how tight it was for a nice place) Our main dish came about 30 minutes after our starters, but the waiter said kitchen was short so we understood (I know from experience things happen that you can’t control in restaurants) … no big deal right? Nope! This guy who was not our server, wearing a gray jacket, just randomly came to our table (and the one next to ours I noticed) and just asked how everything was (we lied and said everything was great…see above re: food) and proceeds to tell us our time is up and we need to leave because other customers are waiting (we had about 2 hours and 15 mins which I had initially thought was more than enough) right at the 2:18 mark….mind you we were completely done and just waiting for the check for the last 10 minutes or so. It took another 10 minutes for the check to come after he told us we had to leave!!! Hmmm WE ARE NOT THE REASON YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE WAITING FOR A TABLE!!! We don’t even have the check!

I don’t like writing bad reviews, but we felt this was warranted. Yes, we did tell the person who finally came around for us to pay that it was unnecessary and disrespectful to tell us to leave when you haven’t even brought the check. Instead of apologizing, she said your reservation gave you the time!!! Our next table neighbors even felt the need to say something to us that they’ve never seen anything like that before even with a timed reservation(also noting our check wasn’t even there )

Hope they read this review and never ruin another person’s...

FOOD- wowsie, delicious. SERVICE: the server was professional and worked very hard. The issue I take is the service was extremely slow even by European standards. Management does not properly staff nor did they assist the team. A requested glass of water, a glass of the 20 year old port, and even the bill/check, arrived way too late to enjoy with the items it was meant to be coupled with.

ATMOSPHERE: We sat in the secondary room (away from the main dining area) and you may as well sat at a bar. It was not cozy, nor comfortable, and felt like another space to shove people to get more people seated for more $$$.

FOOD REVIEW- the best part. The meals are suggested to be shared. For 2 people, we were told 3-4 dishes would suffice. We were pleasantly surprised when the server brought us a complimentary hor’ deuve hummus/chickpea ball. The food was fantastic.

ORIENTAL DUCK SALAD, GREEN APPLE, POMEGRANATE AND HOISIN SAUCE 17€

It was a nice salad with the duck properly prepared. Tender and juicy with hoisin sauce and fresh greens.

Entree’s

Grilled Sea Bass The sea bass filet is grilled to perfection. It had a deliciously moist texture that melts in your mouth . Grilled Octopus The grilled octopus was my 2nd favorite of the entrees’. Couple the grilled octopus with sweet potatoes and exquisite flavors burst in your mouth!

Lamb Chops

The lamb chops are crusted w/corn flakes and a tangy Korean barbecue sauce. I enjoyed these as well, and was surprised it made it as my #3 favorite for the evening choices.

Dessert-crème...