Restaurante Baía dos Juncos — Restaurant in São Vicente

A rollercoaster of a review.

I arrived for food and drink to find it closed. I assume they have decided to close on Mondays? Gave 1 star. Tuesday, a return found the place not only open but popular at 7:30pm. A garlic bread I didn't expect was delicious. More on that, later. Also lovely was the white wine I asked for (blind) which turned out to be from Alentejo - fabulously fresh, dry & fruity. Peppered steak was coming next, so I'll ask for a red wine to partner it. Currently, I'd boosted the place to 3 stars.

So, the peppered steak arrived and was massively, and I mean, MASSIVELY peppered: There was some fire to it. Maybe too much for some. It was pretty big in size, too, though there were some inedible bits (which I took home for the cat). The side of freshly homemade chips was lovely. The salad (which came with separate oil and vinegar bottles), was the usual PT fare of nothing special, variably fresh, but honestly, there was just so much of the other items that I felt inundated. I had declined the rice that PT eateries throw in (for a reason I have not yet fathomed). The pleasant vibe raised the place up to 4 stars. As I was finishing, the attending waiter offered me a coffee , but I requested it wait another 25 minutes: it took him an hour to remember that and the table adjacent didn't get their food for an hour. My delay was no biggy, really. It was probably too late for me for coffee anyway.

Minutes later, the waiter asked me 'would I now like a coffee?' I changed my mind and leapt at the option. Was someone reading my live review? The coffee was grand. A delightful espresso. Five stars: What else can I do?

And then the fall from grace. Turns out, I was the mark for the ugly tourist prices scam. They tried to overcharge me for the whole caboodle. Fortunately, I had received a head's up about this very prospect. So I steeled myself and (with gentle ribbing) queried the (illegal?) handwritten bill presented to me ; especially those things I didn't specifically order separately and which were brought out on different plates. The garlic bread which I'd assumed was gratis was charged. They produced a legal bill which then got reduced by 6 euros after me pointing out that I hadn't asked for things separately. They were just trying it on. No apology was forthcoming. It was water off a duck's back for the staff, I'm sure; a regular thing. I'm sure the wine at €2:50 a glass was possibly priced-up too, but I let that go as I hadn't sighted the tariff. Because of their blatantly contemptuous attempt to overcharge me, I have no choice other than to knock back their score to 2 stars. Good spot. Enjoyable food. Poor taste in the mouth, after:...

The service was definitely not as great as it seems from most reviews. At first, even though the restaurant was not at all full it seemed like we were being ignored and it took a very long time to get the menu. After ordering soup and two main dishes, we had to wait 45 minutes for the soup, which seemed completely unreasonable based on the low amount of people. No explanation or apologies were given. Finally when the main dishes arrived, the fish was good but the steak was very undercooked and extremely bland - it seemed like it wasn't even salted. Furthermore, they tried to charge extra for the salad next to the main dish, which should have been included in the price. After pointing this out the 3 euro salad was deducted. Even though the amount was small, the fact that they tried to pretty much scam us felt very wrong. The atmosphere was quite nice with a pretty view, but after the sunset many flies started flying around and getting in our food, faces and glasses. Not a good experience, would...

We had dinner here yesterday and it was amazing. It felt like home. Very cozy and friendly atmosphere. The food was absolutely delicious. Huge portions, super fresh and full of flavor. You can tell it’s made with love and local ingredients.

We got a little starter – their traditional bread with butter and garlic, which was such a nice surprise. The portions were so big we couldn’t even finish.

The staff was incredibly kind and warm. They even took a photo of us as a souvenir, which was really sweet.

The view of the ocean was stunning, especially at sunset when the light hits the cliffs. Really romantic and peaceful.

Prices are very low for the quality you get. I would love to come back. I’m sure soon there will be lines to get a table. Highly...