Restaurante Maria Rita — Restaurant in Porto

Today, we made the mistake of eating at this restaurant. We paid a whopping 85€ for cod croutons, an octopus and cod with potatoes. The cod wasn't bad, but the octopus was tempting (too soft and with enormous pieces of garlic, not easily discarded). In the bill, the owner of the restaurant thought well of making us pay 8.95€ for some ham and a little cheese that he had brought us as soon as we sat down (we had thought that, as in all the restaurants we went to, it was a gesture of courtesy to the customer). I underline that of the slices of ham (perhaps there were 20/25 slices in total), I only ate just 5, the rest was thrown away). When the bill came in, I asked the owner why there were those 8.95€: his response, very rude, was: “we put them there, you ate them, so you paid for them”. I told him that it was not correct behavior and that he had to tell his customers initially. But that's not all: inside the restaurant it is NOT possible to pay with POS/CARD. We had to withdraw outside the venue, even paying 5€ commissions. I asked for explanations again and magically he showed me a small sticker hanging on the front door that, of course, I hadn't seen. Never again an experience like this, with such...

We were recommended to come here and we were so glad we did. Of course we had to try their house speciality which they claim is the best Cod fish in the whole of Porto and although of course I haven't tried them all, I can attest to the fact that it was a superb dish. The sharer portion is very good value for money. If you're not a bone fan though, I wouldn't recommend it as it is cooked on the bone, although the waiter very kindly served us making sure there was no bone on our plate. Desert is a good selection. However, it is all based around gluten if that's a problem. We chose the Pumpkin pie but as they had no cream we took it away, bought cream and heated it at home in the oven and have to say after this it was 100x better than cold so they could think about this an option when they serve desert perhaps? Service was super friendly and the place has a...

It’s been 2 weeks since I ate at Maria Rita and I still think about this meal. If possible you should make a reservation, I came in a Tuesday evening and they didn’t have a table and told me „maybe“ in an hour. So I took a walk and came back an hour later and was lucky to then get a table. Thanks to the other reviews I tried the octopus - and it really was the best octopus I ever had. The ambient is beautiful and the young man did a great job as server. I wish I tried one of their desserts but unfortunately I was too full, so maybe next time. The prices are great for what you get. Be aware though: if you eat the amuse-gueul that’s waiting for you on the table you have to pay for it like you would for a normal appetiser, even without ordering it specifically! Thankfully it was really tasty so I wasn’t mad about it...