Belém - Brunch Bar — Restaurant in Tavira

Disappointed to be writing this review after months of visiting here regularly. Today was not a pleasant experience…

The waitress tried to clear away empty glasses and cups - just as she had put our food down to eat. My husband leaned over to help her and accidentally knocked his freshly cooked eggs Benedict everywhere.

She bought replacement food for him approximately 10 mins later - whilst my eggs Belem sat there cold and congealing as I waited for replacement cutlery to arrive. We went into the cafe twice to ask for knife and fork for me to eat mine - as it was getting cold - to be told to sit down and wait.

So I did. And it was cold. Unfortunately the eggs were undercooked and sloppy so it didn’t lead to a very appealing first mouthful. Cold, runny and sloppy eggs… So I asked them to take it away.

When I went to pay - not only did they charge twice for the eggs Benedict, but also my dish and RUDELY told me that as my husband had knocked of over - we had to pay. €45 what a waste of money. Most restaurants would take it away and replace it without charging double. It was the attitude of the lady at the till and the inexperienced waitress that made the situation worse.

If this had been handled properly - we would return (often 2-3 times a week). Now we won’t go back and they get a bad review. A shame as it’s good coffee and a nice location. They just didn’t care about keeping our business and we live...

I got an iced coffee and an almond dessert. The dessert was decent. But disappointed in the iced coffee. I tried to tell the waiter that there was a sour taste to it. He said he told me the other option was a latte but I didn't choose that. I tried to explain that I drink my iced coffee black. He then tried to say it's because I didn't put sugar. He obviously didn't replace it. And it was such a hot day that I just needed to drink it to cool down. Lack of real customer service and definitely not recommended. I tried to ask ChatGPT what could cause sour coffee, and there are so many reasons...quite interesting actually. But basically comes down to them not knowing how to make a proper cup of...

After sitting down, we had been waiting for a good 10 minutes to be able to order, when a man at the next table wanted to start smoking and asked his companion if it was okay. Since my partner has asthma, I kindly asked him not to smoke. Before he could even answer, the waiter interfered without being asked and lectured us in a rude and know-it-all manner, saying that it ist the law that smoking is allowed in Portugal. We left without ordering. This was our first unfriendly experience in Portugal. If possible, I would give zero stars. Definitely not...