Pedro Lemos — Restaurant in Porto

Well we did have an experience.

Worst Michelin Star restaurant we ever visited. It's star should be revoked. It should not even qualify for the bib gourmand level review. Service is important and had it been a single issue that is easy to move past but it was front of house after front of house issue. My wife and I both did the full tasting menu with beverage paring. Lets start by pointing out that not all courses had a beverage pairing with them. So 150 euro each for the tasting menu and an additional 80 euro per person for a partial beverage pairing, though no mention was ever made that it was not a full beverage paring, a drink with each course. I do not expect full pours but have come to expect half pours when doing parings as such a many Michelin restaurants so I can say the amount of pour was not an issue for us at all just the lack of a paring with each course...

With each courses the silverware arrived but at different times on different sides of us and of the plates as well as shifting orders of placement. Very inconsistent.

Lets talk about glass ware. We had empty glasses remain on the table for as long as three additional courses. Imagine one glass of wine wine each plus up to 3 additional empty glasses on the table at the same time. It got very crowded. I don't know why they could not clear the empty glasses when they brought new ones for the next course?

Lastly this one is for both front of house and kitchen staff. My wife and I had one course come out for each of us. The same thing. No one noticed before the plate arrived that my wife's plate was missing part of the ingredients from her dish and plating. We brought it up to the waiter who's response should have been to apologize and clear my wife's plate to the kitchen so they could correct it. Instead he made excuses that the missing items were not necessary for the experience or flavor. He then went to the kitchen and retuned with a bowl of the missing item. Then proceeded to spoon a heaping amount on the top of my wife's dish further destroying the experience. Both by running the balance and the look of the chef's creation. I can not recommend avoiding this restaurant enough. I had two other tasting menus this same week in Porto and both were flawless. I did not pay hundred of euros per person for this kind of experience or service. As a last note for those not local to Portugal we were surprised to have paid an additional 6 euros for filtered still water, not even spring water just water in a logo glass bottle that was reused not sealed or opened new. Considering we just dropped over 466 euros for a two person experience not including tip, the 6 euros for what amounted to tap water seemed ridiculous.

Just a note we did our tasting late in August so just a...

I’m trying to find the words to write this review and I’m still at a loss. We are all still processing our experience at this restaurant and without an inkling of a doubt we can say with 100% certainty that the service and staff is SUPERB. However the food, astoundingly disappointing and sad to say, nauseating . I’m extremely sad about the whole thing and can’t believe it still.

Considering it’s credited Michelin star rating. When making the decision to visit, having read all the reviews and noting that most of the complaints were about the service and not the food, I felt that as long as the food was an enjoyable, the experience and its price would be worth it. This was the expectation but the reality was the complete opposite.

We are well traveled and not picky eaters what so ever. Even my nine year old son stayed positive and adventurous throughout the dinner, trying each dish presented.

I’m extremely sad to say I felt like the whole 3+ hour experience was a huge joke and was ready for someone to come out and tell us it was all a silly experiment. Looking back, the only bites we enjoyed were the appetizers and the rhubarb sorbet, everything else was more dreadful than the previous dish served. I couldn’t help but look at my family and laugh to keep from crying, because I knew they were all thinking the same thing. The paired flavors were nonsensical and most combinations even tasted putrid. Reaching the deserts was exciting and we thought we had reached respid, but then the blue cheese ice cream came out and all my senses went into complete and utter shut down and disbelief. As I write this I feel for the wonderful people who work there as they were involved and extremely attentive. Unfortunately this much anticipated food tasting experience left us feeling crushed as we spent what was left of our time in Porto wishing we had never gone to Pedro Lemos and instead spent more time tasting the many delicious dishes at Mercado do Bolhão and all the other restaurants we passed to save our appetites for this experience. No one should leave a Michelin star restaurant feeling queazy, negatively shocked and dumbfounded. If you are expecting the star to dictate an excellent tasting experience this is NOT it. I wish I could tell you to come try it and form your own opinion, thinking that it could be debatable but that would be completely insincere. I was hoping for an incredible culinary experience but words can’t fully explain how awful the...

06/25 update - We experienced a few flaws for the first time at our go-to fine dining spot in Porto. The front door was opened about a whole 2 minutes after we rang the bell and were kept waiting in the midday sun which is not acceptable at all! We as a group of 3 were presented with 2 menus only and were kept waitibg for about 20 minutes after which time we had to ask for a glass of water! Would be great to be offered cold water or even a glass of welcome espumante without having to ask for it while waiting to order food and drinks at the waiting lounge. The number of amuse bouches offered at the waiting lounge have been reduced to 3 down from 4 pieces and overall price for 4 course menu (2 starters + 1 main + 1 dessert) have increased to 150 euro / person from the previous 125 euro levels (my guess would be thanks to the hoards of US tourists! 🤣) and the chef we would not catch a glimpse of this time round even if he were there!

12/24 update - In love with their exquisite new venue on rua do ouro, the talented and sympathatic chef and his team have every reason to be proud - the food, the atmosphere, the architecture and the quality of the materials used, the attention to detail! Just wow!! 3+1 visit and counting - next time we are headed for the chef’s table! PS. dont skip the foie gras and the turbot and the passionfruit dessert!!

Seasonal and delicious fine dining without pretense! Tucked away in a backstreet in old Foz the restaurant made us very happy. We opted for six courses tasting menu (there is a larger tasting menu as well as a vegetarian menu) and ordered our own wine by the glass and it was more than enough. They also catered for my pescatarian needs by substituting the beef with an excellent turbot dish with mushroom sauce. We had local sparkling, white wine and port wine by the glass. Overall in our third time visit over the course of 5 yrs it’s as yummy! **Ps can consider not charging for water and offering the tea / coffee accompanying the final petit fours. Would be...