Santiago da Praça — Restaurant in Porto

Service: Very incompetent, with a lot of delay in coming to the tables, little friendliness (Brazilian Girl), but mostly due to having very few employees.

Owner: The owner is at the door just directing people to tables, whose work is unnecessary as it is a completely banal place, it is not a Michelin star restaurant.

Owner's mother: She's just at the counter watching the employees work and telling them what they should or shouldn't do, how to move faster, etc.

Francesinha: With 1.5cm bread on top and bottom, too thick and dry. The meat is not very tender and also dry, already overcooked. Sauce: Weak, the worst I've eaten to date. Very watery, no meat was used in its preparation, that's enough for it to be nothing special. Furthermore, it is neither sweet nor spicy. It looks like a barbecue chicken sauce.

Waiting: We asked for sauce because the francesinha was too dry, we waited 10 minutes while the sauce remained on the counter waiting for someone to bring it to the table (Meanwhile the owner and his mother were looking at the street). Until I told him that I had been waiting for the sauce for 10 minutes and that there should be more than one employee, not just one employee to welcome around 10 tables, serve everyone and still accept payments. He brought the sauce but there was nothing to do, as the francesinha was cold. It doesn't come to the table very hot anymore, I think (without certainty) that it won't even go into the oven to heat up and melt the cheese.

I'm sorry, everything is VERY BAD from start to finish, they don't care if people are well attended to or not and zero friendliness.

For francesinha like this, I prefer to...

4.5/5*

This was a dense and large francesinha, utilising a lot of cheese and with a medium-rare sirloin steak inside. The chorizo inside was Smokey, salty and perfectly spiced. There was also a beautifully creamy, fatty, melting mortadella included in this francesinha. The sauce had the perfect balance of sweetness from the port, spice, creaminess, a savoury tomatoey flavour and a slight bitterness from the beer. The egg on top was ideally runny, the bread was lightly crispy, and the cheese was thick, creamy and deliciously high in cholesterol. The chips on the side were outstanding in combination with the sauce, crispy, salty and ready to be drenched.

The Pasteis de bacalhau were incredibly creamy, made from potato, dried cod fish (bacalhau: a Portuguese delicacy), onion, garlic, olive oil and parsley. The interior was soft like a mashed potato consistency and the exterior has a lightly crusted, hash brown like layer. These croquettes are easy to come by all over Portugal, with both the smallest of restaurants serving them and also the most sophisticated ones. We appreciated the slight nutmeg flavour in...

Sensational.

We looked at every restaurant nearby and I'm so glad we chose Santiago da Praça. Even early evening this place is busy and when we left, there were people waiting to get in.

Seating in a little pavement terrace and indoors at the counter and in separate booths.

Grilled salmon, hake, breaded calamari, lime pie, olives, a bottle of wine and extra glass came in at under €50. The food was simply superb.

The hake was delicious with the fish nice and flaky and I loved the rice and salad combination on the plate. The grilled salmon was flavourful.

Despite the restaurant being busy, the staff were helpful and attentive.

Update: We went back a few days later and had Francesinha (sausages, beef steak and wrapped in melted cheese. Delicious and worth ordering. The meats are layered inside and the Francisinha sits in a beer sauce.) and a Cahorro Santiago Especial.

The Cahorro looks like a long burrito (ingredients similar to the Francesinha) and nestled in fries. Both are filling and the one negative is there are...