A BÓIA — Restaurant in Vila do Bispo

Food was not great, some good, some not good. We did have reservations, which I recommend calling well in advance if you want a table along the window or outside along the railing or out front. Sardine dish was not consistent with its salt content with some of the sardines being way too salty drowning all pleasant flavors out. The salad that came with it felt and tasted like old tomato and lettuce, literally just chopped lettuce and tomatoes plopped in a bowl. Fried shrimp was lazy and nothing special. If you are going to make the customer do all the work, at least you can put some effort into the flavors. Rice that came with it was cooked well and had a nice flavor though. Fried shrimp to Americans means battered and fried, not stir fried with the head and shell still in tact. So be warned fellow ignorant Americans. Lol My daughter's pesto pasta was actually the only standout solid main dish. My wife did enjoy the fish soup. Service was unexciting. The only person that seems to enjoy serving there and smiled was the young lady taking drink orders and serving them. She was very pleasant. Our waiter was one of those kids that acted like he had somewhere better to be and was annoyed he was even talking to you. He finally smiled when I complemented his tattoos and if he simply did that more, his guests would enjoy their time more consistently. We waited for ever for our check. Despite the place being small, having no liquid or food in front of us for quite some time, not a peep after asking us if we want dessert and taking our main dishes away. Just left us alone for about 15 minutes with nothing to do but twiddle our thumbs. It was tough to even get their attention as they rarely looked at your table most the evening. We enjoy our own company, but typically we would be at least offered more drinks, coffee and/or check when nothing at all they serve is still of use for the customer at the table. They certainly have the demand due to the location to get other people seated, so no clue why they don't properly finish service. I recommend they quality control their food better and train their staff to do simple things like always table checking when on the floor. A little eye contact to insure the guest doesn't want anything...

After coming to Salema for over 30 years I decided to take my partner to A Boia. I can only speak from my experience. I ordered Peri Peri chicken which was supposed to be half a chicken. We both ordered a portion of chips separately to go with our meal my partner ordered a grilled sardines and a salad .My chicken come out and it was the smallest chicken I have ever seen there was no breast. There was a bit of leg quarter cut and dressed to look like a breast, but ultimately it had bone in. I was not happy as we ordered two portions of chips. They came served it in one small bowl we were advised that’s for both of us. Nevertheless we were dissatisfied and at no point was we asked were we happy with our meal. We raised this with the waitress and were provided with an extra bowl of chips my partner was very happy with her sardines however I could not let this lie. I raise my concerns with the waiter / head chef and advised him of my feedback and what could be improved. He did seem to take this on board and foc my part of meal. Comparing the size of dish to others seated on the table next to me, I could see the portion size of the ribs was great, but in comparison to my chicken, it resembled the size of a anorexic pigeon. I always liked this restaurant due to its generous portion sizes, and view . However, it seems in today’s culture. Everything is getting smaller and more expensive however, to maintain a competitive edge they need to up their game. Having read the responses from the restaurant to other unhappy customers, you would be forgiven for thinking this is Amy's Baking Company. Unfortunately won’t be coming back . One more bit of advice butterfly the chicken and cut in half. Customers are not babies we don’t need our food cut into small pieces plus we get to see...

What a terrible attitude when there are plenty people. Had booked and made sure it was outside and came here - of course they had put us on a table inside (third time this happens). No try whatsoever to sort it out. Terrible arrogant attitude. Will never go here again.

As I now see they are lying in their try to cover up. I called and made the reservation at 12.35 according to my call log (notice they try to claim I called one hour earlier). I tried to book in Portuguese didn't make it all the way this time so we switched to English. The guy (who evidently must have had a big problem with english) told me we couldn't sit upstairs outside but well downstairs (and here there was something with the left and right side...). We concluded - to my understanding- that it was outside. When we arrive she had a lot of problems finding our reservation but finally did - inside. As this actually was the third time this happened to me at this restaurant (having booked outside but they put me inside - not a priority guest I guess - I refused, especially this lady's arrogant attitude and lack of trying to find another solution, only referring to having a two day waiting list to sit outside. Well, isn't this what typically happens? Nice local restaurants become popular and the lose sight of what is important and become arrogant...? Typical. Having lived here for six years I'm definitely not going back as there are so many orher nice restaurants. We went to a local Indian instead - with...