Ti Lena Restaurante & Casa do Gin — Restaurant in Santiago do Cacém

Sometimes I wonder how come a restaurant like this is rated with 4.5. On one hand it baffles me, on the other I must acknowledge different experiences, circumstances and subjectiveness of an evaluation.

Looking for a place to eat, I had made a previous search in the morning, nothing below 4.5 with a fair amount of reviews, funnily enough I made this search on an esplanade of the only below 4.5 restaurant in the area. Everything was pretty much rated as 4.5 with the few notable exceptions, being this restaurant one of them with 4.6 and having the highest number of evaluations. Called around 14:30 to check availability and if they were still serving, had no idea what type of restaurant it was. Arrived, was kindly greeted and accepted all the suggestions of the very professional and very courteous waitress. But nothing would prepare me for the absolutely storm of rich flavours I was about to be greeted with. Not having looked at the menu, I recall having the bull meat, rare, with a side salad and sweet potato fries. All excelent, but the meat, the flavour, I just couldn't believe how tasty and juicy it was, I suppose mouth-watering is the best possible description. And the salad also, so many times it's disregarded, not this time, properly dressed it paid excellent company to the main dish. I have now a beautiful lemon merengue pie before me, but after this meal so far, I expect nothing less than...

Avoid the beef chops (steaks). From the look of it this was taken from old bulls that no amount of aging on the bone (35 days) could tenderise. Doesn't matter if it is Aberdeen Angus. It was an old animal. It does not really matter how you like your chop or steak either. It's all about the quality and age of the beef in question. In my case I like my steaks well done. Why? Because it is a guarantee it will still be pink in the middle when delivered. Portuguese cookery can be unreliable. This was proof. Of course, when I highlighted how TOUGH the cut was (to the point I'd nearly broken my teeth!) I was told, in a very patronising manner by the old lady owner, that my choice on how it was cooked was the reason for it to be tough! Sorry, I have had T-Bone Stakes before. I have probably eaten more steak than this woman has seen any form of meat in her. Please don't patronise your clients lady. You're response on Tripadvisor doesn't make you clever.

It was telling to see, on a table to my right, a guy chewing his similar steak and spitting it out. Maybe that was the idea? Chew it, savor the flavour, spit it out? Avoid this cut is all I say. Stick to the black porc. Seems the rest of the menu went down well, although everything seemed over salted in preparation.

Over hyped in the ratings...

Dissapointment. We used to love the old rustic Ti Lena so we wanted to eat at there again, sadly this was our last time. We arrived, ambiente turned from warm, cozy and rustic to bright, white walls, annoying music. Now about the food, we ordered piqanha for 2, it arrived SUPER fast, probably someone elses canceled order, you might ask "why would you think so?" well because it arrived nearly immediately, the meat was only lukewarm, the rice was at best room temp, the migas were at best room temp. When we informed them they took the side dishes back, than it took 5-7 min to reheat them, during that time the Meat got even colder, great now we got cold meat, THAN they brought a hot stone. Why only now?! Why do customers have to complain about Cold food before getting a hot stone that other tables had from the beginning? Used to be a perfect 5/5 Restaurant, now a 2/5 and the 2 stats only because the cook was nice and the meat stil...