ODE Porto Wine House — Restaurant in Porto

We rarely leave Google reviews - most dining experiences these days are simply satisfactory. ODE, however, was anything but ordinary - and after our experience, we felt genuinely inspired to share it.

But before adding our five stars, we were curious how anyone could rate this any less and so we scrolled through the 1-star reviews, as though we might find some reasonable critique. What we found instead was a collection of unintentional comedy: rants from entitled whiners, clutching pearls over the sheer audacity of being asked to use inside voices. How dare a small, intimate, acoustically sensitive space ask you not to yell across the table at your dinner date?

Let’s be clear: if your idea of an elevated dining experience includes a view of jet skis chasing seagulls while “YMCA” blares from tinny speakers, you’re going to hate it here (*plenty of other waterfront spots will happily provide that exact soundtrack). If you’re looking for an exquisitely curated, soul-fed, slow-burn of a dining experience - then please do yourself a favor and dine at ODE.

The ambiance? Aesthetically rich, moody and refreshingly cool amidst the Porto summer heat. This place doesn’t entice with a river-view, as it isn’t about spectacle; it’s about substance.

We arrived without a reservation and were graciously offered a table by the front window. From the first interaction, it was clear: this place takes hospitality seriously.

The sommelier (who we later learned is the owner) was a masterclass in authentic service. No ego. No upsell. Just passion, paired perfectly with intuition. Every wine he selected hit the mark, though we were actively invited to disagree. The food? Delicious. Also honest, deeply Portuguese, and thoughtfully presented - especially the cheese board that doubled as a geography lesson via a translucent map of the country.

This was our first night in Porto, and we walked out the front door after wondering how anything else on this trip could possibly compare.

In short: this place isn’t for everyone - and that’s the point. If you’re able to appreciate the tireless effort that goes into manifesting a dream into a dining room, ODE Porto Wine House will not disappoint.

Bravo to the owner and staff. This is...

THE WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. We first got a text message saying badly behaved kids under the age of 12 will be kindly asked to leave (in a more formal way)this has never happened before / has anyone else experienced a kid hating restaurant?. We have a very well mannered 3 year old that has dined at some of the best restaurants in the world and never had an issue (literally 4 Michelin star restaurants). We have traveled to more than 100 countries and never had a dining experience like this. First off, the location is terrible- if you’re going to eat in this area this is one of the only restaurants you don’t have a view at. Not worth spending your time here. The door was locked when I tried to enter? They don’t have food for kids which is completely ok, so I brought some snacks for our daughter so she wouldn’t go hungry. I was immediately reminded that it is “illegal” to bring outside food into a restaurant- FALSE. LIES. I sat down ordered a bottle of champagne (veuve) to start and had a strong conversation with my wife about some issues we had through the day - normal relationship type stuff. 5 mins later we were asked to leave because of the snacks we brought, our timely ness and our attitude towards each other. The man who kicked us out, embarrassed us saying he feels bad for my wife and child for the way we were speaking to each other, someone who had no idea about what we were actually talking about. We exchanged not pleasant words (most were curse words in Portuguese) and they pushed us out, physically. I was a GM of a fine dining restaurant for many years, never could I imagine a experience like this. What an absolute HOLE. DO NOT GO HERE. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY OR YOUR TIME. We are currently eating an absolutely amazing dinner right down the street with an actual view of the city who allowed our daughter to eat her snacks and the staff here has been great. Fiume Douro is a much better option than this “low class” establishment. I’ll be posting more on...

Amazing food - in fact our best in Portugal! We had the tripe stew, the scarlet shrimp rice and the market fish. The chef had exquisitely and MASTERFULLY executed the fish and shrimp. The restaurant itself is beautiful and it’s clear the team takes pride in what they are doing.

The service we encountered from the owner was so lovely and thoughtful. In spite of being fully booked, he took the time with each table, paying full attention with each guest. He also went above and beyond to give us a little take home bag of the butter because my mum loved it so much. And at no charge!

(The only tiny and I mean TINY thing that keeps me from giving service a perfect score was that it was a little stressful for us in the initial ordering experience with our waitress as we couldn’t get much information about the dishes to make a decision - she would simply tell us it came with rice and vegetables and seemed to always be in a rush to put anything we mentioned down as part of our order. I don’t think she meant to be rude, she may have been new, uncomfortable with English or maybe especially busy that day so we did ask her if she was ok at one point in the meal but she had already rushed off again before responding). Either way, she was never overtly rude and the other staff members and the owner himself more than made the experience better and were very kind to explain the dishes to us. For a place with such thoughtful food and wine, we wanted to be just as thoughtful In our order after all!

Overall would recommend everyone come to visit this place if they...