Taverna Antiqua — Restaurant in Tomar

The restaurant is a choice because of the atmosphere, design, mood. I would not consider their food the top choice in town but it has gotten rather high reviews. I ordered the rabbit and my husband ordered a steak. We also ordered mushroom and fish egg salad for starters. I enjoyed the starters better than the rabbit. The rabbit had a rather 'wild' flavor that I was surprised at since I have had rabbit in other European countries without any issues. My husband enjoyed his steak but I would not have considered it anything special. Their side dishes were a bit odd in that most were composed of bread. My rabbit stew had two pieces of bread at the bottom that soaked up the stew. I would have rather had the bread on the side. We also ordered coffee and a sort of cheese pie. The coffee came with cinnamon sticks, an interesting touch. The cheese pie was just so so. Butter, olives, and bread are charged automatically and are on the table when you arrive. I suppose you could ask them to take them away and say that you do not want them but it seems a basic charge for this restaurant that is not always the common practice in Portugal. A so-so experience for me. For the price we paid, we should have had a bit better food but I guess we were paying for the candles, low light, the dress of the wait staff, and all the...

Great ambience. Was looking forward to the meal. Unfortunately, the only thing great about this place is the ambience. Ok. And service. Service is good.

Ordered a medium and medium rare steak. Was given a medium well and over well done steak. Both vey tough. (Actually ordered a medium well and medium. But they heard medium and medium rare. But the outcome was a medium well and over well done)

Had the lamb chops. It was undercooked. Had to re-fire it. Was better after the re-fire.

The bad lighting in the place, which may have started as a great setting, is in my opinion just a ruse so diner's can't see the colour of their meat.

Considering the price and the ambience and quality of the meal, I'd say 2 stars is accurate. But I'm giving it 1 to even the overall score. 4.5 is way too high for this place.

Also, the inside is in need of some proper ventilation.

Price to quality (1 star) Price to quantity (1 star) Taste (1 star) Ambience (1 star) Service (1 star)

Being satisfactory in any of the above would get them a star. So...They get 1 star for service. 1/2 for ambience (too warm) 1/2 for price to quantity

Unfortunately, there's quantity but not much quality. And the taste not quite there.

2 stars.

(Their toilet though,...

Two superb gastronomic evenings 😎 these 20 and 21 /09/2023 . Coming from Bretagne (Breizh ☝️) in France for a large Road Trip in Portugal , our 9th stop was in TOMAR 🤩 and we spent two evenings dining in " Taverna Antiqua " restaurant . OK , the decoration and the staff outfits are there to convey the medieval atmosphere. BUT, the cuisine, the kindness, the atmosphere, finally everything was so goooood and original. It’s not the “real” Portuguese canteen that we used to search for , but it’s worth the "detour" 😚 As proof, we returned to dine there two evenings in a row. A cozy atmosphere where the guests talk less than they enjoy their dishes 😉😊 Everything is said! We enjoyed the famous two-tier platter with an assortment of samples of almost all their dishes. The “dish” called “ROYAL FEAST” “Taste the Best that the merchant has to offer”. Incredible flavors and almost too generous meal and for two at price of € 30 ! The wine was okay and not overpriced. Truly a deliciously atypical stopover at any level . Bravo, we would like to give 6 stars for the meal, the setting and the service. TOTALY RECOMMENDED AND DO...