Santa Francesinha — Restaurant in Porto

A Masterclass in Incompetence…

If you’re looking for the authentic Porto experience, let me save you some time. Santa Francesinha is not it unless your idea of a good time is being ignored for an hour while your soul slowly leaves your body.

We arrived with hope. We left hungry, disappointed and several unanswered questions. The biggest being, how is this place still open?

To start, the service was so slow I started to believe we were part of some abstract performance art piece. Drinks took forever, food took longer, and getting a waiter’s attention required a séance, a flare gun, or perhaps divine intervention. We watched entire lifetimes pass and several other tables get served before anyone remembered we existed.

When food did arrive (and I use food loosely), it was the wrong order. One member of our group received nothing for 15 minutes, then one got half a meal that was so undercooked it was practically alive, as if that’s a perfectly normal thing to do. It wasn’t even acknowledged.

Meanwhile, one person found a long, luxurious hair in their dish a thoughtful garnish, if you’re into that sort of thing. Another bit into their burger and encountered something hard and mysterious, which we can only assume was a cry for help from the kitchen.

At this point, we weren’t even angry. We were in awe. It takes real effort to be this bad at every part of the restaurant experience.

The food? Uninspired and forgettable though the trauma will stay with us for years. The vibe? Somewhere between abandoned airport lounge and hostage situation. The staff? Polite in the same way a brick wall is polite. Quiet, unbothered, and completely unresponsive.

In a city full of incredible food and warm hospitality, Santa Francesinha is the one place that managed to serve disappointment cold, hair laced, and 60 minutes late.

Rating: 1/5. Go literally anywhere else. Eat a napkin. It’ll be faster and...

How excited we were to try Porto's famed Francesinha. The promise of a delicious sloppy sandwich coated in soup has been a topic of much conversation over our short stay. Rich. Powerful. Culturally significant.

How disappointing, then, to be left hungry for well over an hour. When we did finally grab the attention of a waiter, he grunted unenthusiastically, "it's coming". Why must he turn my lunch hour into a house of lies? It did not come for several more minutes. Teased with waiters serving other tables that arrived after us, we were foaming at the mouth with anticipation.

Finally, the food arrived. Well, some of it. The Francesinha certainly delivered on its promise of slop. Cheese inexplicably cold. The meat? Miscellaneous. Cooked? Questionably. You do get a free strand of hair with every order though, so get it while stocks last.

A portion of fries remained sadly undelivered. One of our meals arrived fifteen minutes after the rest of us were already eating, and when we went to pay the server was very interested in the notes in my wallet. Not today friend, not on my watch.

FuseTea, however, is delicious. I couldn't have asked for a more refreshing drink to wash away the calamity of Santa...

This was my first meal in Porto so it had to be a Francesinha. Decided to try this place as it was near our apartment. There was a queue during lunch time and we had a 30 minute wait before getting our table. There is seating both down stairs and upstairs. Comes across like a fast food restaurant.

Service was friendly and the waitress spoke good English and gave us an English menu.

The Francesinha is essentially a super loaded cheese sandwich with special gravy ladle over it. I found the gravy here to be bland - neither stocky or spicy. Although I was informed ingredients used are very local.

Pricing was expensive given this was essentially a sandwich with lots of cheese and meats. You could get decent size steaks and fish at local restaurants nearby (less than 5 minutes away as I later discovered).

Definitely a major carbo fest and overwhelming. You had to try it because most tourists will try it. Is it the best meal I had in Porto? Definitely no. Discovered there are many excellent local restaurants in small back lanes of Porto (just outside main tourist areas) serving excellent local food at...