A Merenda — Restaurant in Ribeira Grande

I had one of the worst coffee shop experiences ever here during my visit to the Azores. The place was supposed to close at 9 PM, and we arrived around 7:30 PM ; plenty of time before closing. However, from the moment we walked in, we were made to feel like an inconvenience. The staff looked annoyed that we even came in. One of them immediately asked if we were eating in or taking away, and when we said we’d like to sit in, she rolled her eyes and started rushing us, repeatedly asking what we wanted. It was extremely uncomfortable and unwelcoming.

When I ordered a cappuccino, things got even worse. The woman looked at her colleague, said something in Portuguese (clearly about us), then pointed at jars of instant coffee and asked which one I wanted! I was shocked! I asked if she couldn’t just make a normal coffee from the coffee machine, and with a big sigh she reluctantly agreed. It was obvious they had already cleaned the machine and didn’t want to bother using it again, even though it was still hours before closing. That level of laziness and disregard for customers is just unacceptable.

To make things worse, their payment system wasn’t working properly. My card wouldn’t go through, and instead of handling it professionally, the staff asked me multiple times if I had cash. When I said no, they spoke to each other in Portuguese again and laughed. which is incredibly rude when it’s obvious the conversation is about a customer who doesn’t understand the language.

The pastries were just okay, but the coffee was awful. and honestly, after the way we were treated, we couldn’t even enjoy them. As we were leaving, the same woman followed us right to the door and literally locked it the second we stepped out, as if she couldn’t wait for us to be gone.

Overall, a truly awful experience. Rude staff, poor service, bad coffee, and zero sense of hospitality. I would absolutely not recommend this...

I came here several hours before closing and they were sold out of basically everything. Thats presumerably a testiment to the quality of the food though. The lady was probably very tired and drained from a busy day, and her english wasnt too great so she didnt really seem like she wanted to be there or talk to me. Which is okay, i work in a restaurant myself and sometimes its like that. I had a little tart and it was quite good. Ive had better and ive definitely had much worse. Again though, i came on a week day 4 or 5 hours before closure, so i was quite confused when all the shelves were empty. Ill go back though, the tart was nice. Id rate...

We stopped here for lunch. Everyone got a bifana. The bread is fresh and chewy, delicious!

I ordered Sao Jorge cheese which is traditional Portuguese cheese that tingles on your tongue.

The French fries here are incredible, I like them better than McDonald's!

After lunch we had coffee and some items from the bakery which were delicious too.

Not much of a food selection here. I ordered pizza but 10 minutes later they came back and said they had no pizza left.

The bifana was 10/10, except I was...