Ponto de Encontro — Restaurant in Tavira

Rude and disrespectful waiter. Hygiene is bad. Honestly, I am trying to find something to give a second star for… The “Algarvian” mojito was pictured in the menu with something that looks like ripe figs. Well, we had a syrup instead. The mint leaves on top were very telling of the quality and cleanliness of the drink, but to top it off, we found some strange creatures lurking inside the reusable straws (which were probably in use from the last two decades). We were a bit taken aback, so we only ordered a stake, which was tenderised and tasted good - just salt and pepper, really good job there! (Here’s the one star!) The sides were something like a quick-picked vegetable medley, but it had raw mange-tout beans, which is a no-no for quick pickling, because it has no time to brine and deactivate some of its lectins. The potato wedges were nice and soft inside, while crispy outside and the bbq dip was so nice that we had to order a second (hope it wasn’t store-bought!) The sweet potato chips was burnt, bitter and dry. The dash of dried oregano was a good idea but it was only on three crisps and even there it couldn’t make up for the bad taste. The main reason this place scored so low was the staff. The waiter we had was old, clearly unhappy with life or himself and we almost felt like we were in his harm by dining there. My partner had to change seat around the table as the sun was in her eyes, so when the waiter started moving the mats, he urged me, with a bit of a strop in his voice, to move my glass and cutlery, because his hands were full. Luckily, the younger guys swapped him for the rest of the evening and they were nice. Also shocking was how all the staff sank into the kitchen as soon as they saw the local beggar appear, allowing him to walk freely around their tables. To me, this place looks like it relies on a good location and they don’t expect you to visit a...

This restaurant was recommended to us by our hotel and we are so glad that they did make the recommendation. We were actually quite fortunate to get a table because it was totally full the night we went, but they managed to find a nice table for us anyway.

The restaurant is very traditional in its decor, but you can see from looking around that it has recently been renovated, as the tiles and paint look brand new. We also had a very nice server and found all the staff we dealt with to be extremely friendly.

The star of this place, however, is the food. I ordered the grilled fish of the day, which was a nice white fish (not sure which) that I was told had come fresh from the local market that morning--and we believe it, because it was fresh, tasty and expertly cooked, flaking off the fork with a nice hint of garlic. My wife's meal, the baked Tavira octopus, was even better. She loves octopus, but admitted that this was possibly the best she had ever had. It was tender and delicious, and the presentation was colourful and inviting.

We finished this off with a nice dessert that was some kind of cake--fig, I think--served next to a scoop of local ice cream. And we also had a lovely bottle of Portuguese wine with our meal which was less expensive than in other places we had eaten at in the Algarve.

Overall, this was a lovely dining experience that was one of our most memorable in...

As a gluten free traveller I visited here for an easy dinner as there was grilled chicken breast on the menu. Upon ordering I was told this was not available and so ended up ordering a sirloin steak, adapted with boiled potatoes (as the original side of spiced wedges were gluten-containing). The menu was marked for allergens.

Unfortunately the service was disappointing - it over took half an hour for our order to be taken despite the restaurant being mostly empty and after a further half an hour our food still hadn't appeared. When we asked, staff were not apologetic about the wait. The food was satisfactory when it arrived.

So you can get a gluten free meal here if required, however be aware that the service may let you down and it was one of the pricier meals we...