Casa de Pasto - o Amaral — Restaurant in Ribeira Grande

Lots of places were closed or booked on our trip to rediscover our Portuguese roots, when we can to Sao Miguel, but a rejuvenation turn came in the form of our dinner at Casa de Pasto - o Amaral. The man serving us was very polite and had a genuine want for us to enjoy our experience. We thought it was a bit odd when we didn’t get menus right away and I was worried we would be tying up their kitchen until too late with our group of 14, but then the same man came out with a platter of fresh cuts of a variety of fish. He showed them to us and I realized, oh this man is really going to take care of us. I stopped worrying and our party was served an amazing set of cooked fish that were freshly caught. This was the best fish I ever eaten and found myself envying the island life after, but in a good way. We had some of the local table wine, recommended by the same man and had a dessert of the rice pudding which was a lovely end to the...

A truly delicious, local traditional restaurant. We arrived very, very late for lunch, so unfortunately the fresh fish was already sold out — a good sign, really, as it means everything is freshly caught and in high demand. Instead, we had the rice with lapas (limpets), and oh wow, it was fantastic. Light, flavourful, and generously portioned — perfect for two people to share. A great example of simple Azorean ingredients done right.

The only reason I’m giving one star less is due to a disappointing moment: we were served what looked like breakfast sausages burned to a crisp and were told they were blood sausage, likely because of the dark colour. Honestly, they were just overcooked beyond recognition. It felt a bit like they were trying to pass something off instead of simply saying it wasn’t available. A little honesty would have...

To be honest I don’t understand the raving reviews. In short: I feel like they could get way more from the ingredients they have. I had the fresh cheese, which mostly tasted like cottage cheese and was overpowered by the chili sauce they serve with it. I had a whole grilled fish which was well cooked. The skin would’ve been tasty as it had all the seasoning, and it seemed like it was supposed to be descaled, but still had so much on it that you couldn’t eat it. I also feel like boiling a sweet potato is the least tasty way of preparing a sweet potato and it deserves more.

Also, the service was fine, but like in many places on the island, not really friendly...