Restaurante Azenhas do Mar — Restaurant in Sintra

Our recent visit to Azenhas do Mar with a party of three was a mixed experience. The restaurant has exceptional food but, unfortunately, fell far short in terms of service.

We had in a nice selection of dishes, including oysters, stuffed crab, grilled tiger prawns, and the seafood rice bowl. Complemented by a bottle of vinho verde, the food was undoubtedly the highlight of our evening. The seafood rice, in particular, with its generous portions of lobster, tiger prawns, mussels, and crab, was nothing short of excellent.

However, our dining experience was hindered by our waiter, Ion, whose demeanor left much to be desired. Ion was disinterested and borderline rude, barely willing to engage with us. After living in Portugal/Spain for three years, this is not the usual case of a tourist being confused by European style dining experiences - this guy actually wanted nothing to do with his tables. His behavior reached its peak when he threw the check at us without any request, and this was around 10:30, despite our reservation for 9:30. I mean he actually just walked past our table and threw it at us! It was an unfortunate ending to an otherwise promising evening.

Adding to the disappointment, the restaurant seemed eager to rush us out by flickering the lights around 10:20, even though the place was still 90% full. I mean they had just brought us the seafood rice not 10 minutes earlier! If you aren't staying open that late, then why take a reservation for 9:30??

On a more positive note, a change in staff midway through the evening significantly improved our experience, offering more attentive service - our new waiter actually spoke to us.

In conclusion, while Azenhas do Mar offers exceptional food, the service, particularly from Ion, left us feeling somewhat disheartened, especially given the substantial bill exceeding 300 euros. For those willing to gamble on potentially better service, a lunch visit might offer a more relaxed ambiance and a chance to enjoy the...

Had a very strange experience here recently. I reserved a month in advance for my partner and I’s 1 year anniversary. We arrive and we are walked to a decent table but the view was only good for 1 person. I had this feeling as soon as we sat down it wasnt going to be good. Our rude waiter told us mid-order they only had 2 fish options that day and both were plain white fish.. out of the 10 options.

We decide to split 700 grams of stone bass because we are told they cant cut smaller, and we had sides of rice, fries, and vegetables.

We didn’t order water as the glasses were disgustingly dirty/unpolished. When the food arrived the fish was de-boned out of our sight? Then awkwardly dished up with the head thrown in the middle. The rice was dry, and the veggies were worse than el-dente. The fish was boring but had good texture. I was so upset with the failure of an anniversary dinner that I barely ate at all. We were asked 3 time by our new (nicer) waiter if we were done as there was a lot left uneaten and we said we were just full. We didnt have dessert and we asked for the bill.

The bill arrived and all our sides had been taken off. We go to the counter and I go to the bathroom while my partner pays. She doesnt let him pay as she says they needed to double check, the original rude waiter comes to the reception desk and says we need to pay for 1 side and adds €4 on. However, they wouldn’t let my boyfriend pay until I got out of the toilet so he was stood there for 3-4 minutes which was strange. The female (host?) then charges us €10 less which we think was an accident but we didn’t question it.

The sunset view is nice, just go to the outside bar and order a drink,...

This restaurant is expensive for what you get and has very odd service, prioritizing some guests over others.

I got there with my partner for dinner as we heard great things about Azenhas de Mar from a local. We didn’t have a reservation as it was a last minute plan but decided to try our luck. When we walked in and asked about the availability, the first person at the front desk said he’ll check in and never returned. We then asked another person, and he confirmed that they have availability and showed us to the table. We were hoping to sit by the windows and enjoy the views but the waiter said that they don’t have availability (which proved untrue in 2,5+ hours we spent there). The restaurant wasn’t full at all and had a lot of empty tables with the views that were right next to us and never got filled by other guests while we were there. The food came out pretty quickly. However, the service was very odd. The group of people who came in after us was served first, got offered suggestions, small talk, dessert and got their check on time way ahead of us. The same group of people also had a consistent waiter, and we got served by 4 different people. We had to ask for dessert ourselves, asked to clarify items as they just dropped the menu in front of us and asked for a check twice. The first time, the waiter just straight up forgot about it (we probably waited 20+ minutes). The second time, they dropped it, and we had to wait 10+ minutes again for them to pick up the card.

The food wasn’t bad though not spectacular. The only thing that was pretty tasty was the sangria. Overall, service, cost and dishes don’t justify coming here from...