A Tendinha — Restaurant in Sintra

We live nearby (a few minutes away by car), so we usually went there every now and then, on birthdays or just because we wanted to eat some seafood. The seafood is OK (we go to several “Marisqueiras” and this one, although not the best, is fairly good if we don’t want to go very far). The “Arroz de marisco com lagosta descascado” is great (we have tried some of the other rices but they are not as good). The rest of the food is also OK, a bit pricey for the quantity that is served, but the quality is generally good. They have a “Pavlova de frutos vermelhos” that I was never able to try because they are always out of it when I order (bad luck?). This New Year’s Eve we decided to do the same thing as last year and pick up some seafood. Last year was from Ericeira (AMAZING seafood!), but this year we thought we would just pick up a “Mariscada” from this “local” restaurant. SHOULD have gone to Ericeira, definitely!! The “Sapateira” had a very strange smell, so we decided not to eat it, out of precaution. The mussels were all shells, only ONE mussel, really… The shrimp was mushy, we’ve have had better from the supermarket… At least the small “Arroz do mar” that comes with the “Mariscada” was very good, as always. We turned to the other dishes that we had bought (just in case the seafood wasn’t enough): “Polvo à Lagareiro” and “Bacalhau com Broa”. The night went further downhill: they were pratically unseasoned (almost no salt, garlic, olive oil) and had hardly been in the oven, if at all (they are both typical Portuguese dishes that require oven confection, but the potatoes were basically just boiled). We called the Restaurant to report everything that went wrong and the answer was that “we were supposed to finish the dishes at home” (?????? are we supposed to cook a take out??). And that the seafood issues “happen” when there are more than 200 meals served (maybe do less then?) - but actually seemed that they were not really trusting our word. Eventually, after a long conversation, they apologized for the situation, and that was it. Well this series of unfortunate events ruined the New Year’s Eve meal for us, so apologies are not enough. We had decided we were not going back to the restaurant before we made the call and we stick to this decision. There are plenty of restaurants with excelent seafood, no need to settle for the...

It was our first time here and it was to celebrate a birthday. They have a set menu for only 13.5 euros but our server did not even tell us about it at all. If we knew about it, we would have gotten that. Instead he gave us a regular menu and recommended the fresh fish. The fresh fish was amazing and we would order it again. We also got a seafood platter and tiger prawn with garlic rice. Seafood platter was below average with the shrimp being very over cooked. The crab for some reason barely had meat in it once we opened it. The tiger prawns had great favor but was also very very overcooked. The garlic rice was under cooked, had raw garlic, and soaked with butter… it was almost like a raw garlic butter soup with rice. The bread and olives on the table were also not free unless you get the set menu. Server also put a bunch of random crap on the table but if we eat it we get charged… he didn’t say that until I asked him.

I would liked it if the server told us about the set menu because everyone in the restaurant got it. We were the only group that ordered a whole fresh fish and all this other random stuff. It seemed like because we were not from here, he tried to sell us on all the more expensive stuff.

Overall service was decent. Fish was good. The rest of the food was just average and some being too cooked. Our server should have told us about...

Probably the best fish and seafood restaurant in greater Sintra Keep coming every year at least once during my vacation and it always delivers. The team is great and remembers me on every visit with very cheerful hugs and we friendly catch up since last visit. The food is classic traditional food from the Portuguese coast. Rices to be shared and seafood platters if you’re willing to share, or fish from the counter, fresh every day. The meat options are good, but I recommend fish or seafood. The wine is great, the place is awesome and now it’s even easier to park in the area. Book in advance, can be full...