LA FAMILIA — Restaurant in Viana do Castelo

La Familia truly lives up to its name. This small and cozy bistro makes you feel not just like a guest, but like part of the family. The staff is incredibly polite and welcoming, always with a warm smile.

They serve a great selection of both hot and cold drinks – all very tasty and nicely presented. But the real highlight is the freshly prepared food: it’s not just good, it’s very, very, very delicious. You can tell it’s made with care and love.

For me, La Familia has become a fixed stop after every mountain bike tour in Viana do Castelo. I’ve been coming here year after year, and every time, it feels like coming home.

Highly recommended – not just for the food and drinks, but for the atmosphere...

The visit to this place turned out very disappointing. I by now have a pretty good idea of the value of money in restaurants here in Portugal. So when I ordered my dish I could confidently expect to receive something that would satisfy my appetite. My expectations however were not met in the least. I found the dish a pityful and overpriced joke, not worthy the term dish. Worse still is their reaction when I vented my displeasure. They said "fine" when I returned the dish untouched and proceeded to put it on the bill anyway. No excuses, no effort to make amends, no nothing. Thank God such lack of common hospitality is rare...

We spent several hours in this lovely place, working a bit during a short 3-day stay in Viana. We started the day with a delicious brunch which brought the best hot chocolate I ever drank. I didn't know it could be so dense and so good! Then we took out our laptops and worked several hours using the WiFi, which was good for my purposes. The day ended with a snack, just as good as the brunch. I won't be back in Viana anytime soon so I can't guarantee that the welcoming people running La Familia will see me again but I highly recommend this place. It was an...