Romando — Restaurant in Vila do Conde

I went there twice. This is kinda of an expensive place but you understand more clearly where your money is going.

The whole place is very comfortable, with nice chairs and sofas, and tables well spaced between each other. Provides you with a cozy and private evening.

All the food is excellent. But not the kind of small gourmet, small dishes. Instead, proper sized dishes that warm you inside and leaves you wishing you had a bigger stomach. I feel this is the case for meat and fish dishes alike.

We were also at the bar for some cocktails before dinner. They seem to have a wide variety of drinks and the person doing them seemed to know what they were doing. We enjoyed them very much.

The whole service is professional, not intrusive, quick, and make you feel comfortable.

We ate several dishes there, but I’ll choose to criticise one dessert: the tiramisu. I don’t like it. It is kinda of a re-invention with a different kind of biscuits and forest fruits sauce on top. There is no coffee flavour. The biscuit is denser. I don’t know if it is categorically worse or this is just my expectation from a traditional tiramisu. Either way, I don’t like it and I feel that, if one is doing a version of such a widely known dessert, it has to be substantially better.

Nonetheless, I hope I have the opportunity to return there...

Interesting interior, quite dark. Looks as if you're entering a Russian mafia dungeon. All black and gold. If that's not really your thing, upstairs they have a white restaurant. All white and gold. We entered the establishment and it was barely empty, playing football on a gigantic screen. The service is poor. The Maître d' will not greet you. He will come to the table and ask for what you want. We ordered a variety of sushi and sashimi, when we questioned the types of fish between the prive and the standard, he didn't really know how to explain. It was a "house thing". They served Voss sparkling water but they only have small bottles. We stayed with cocktails for the night, and funny enough, the bartender was the nicest of the staff. The food is quite a show as they use dry ice to create a smoky effect. Overall the food is not amazing for the price tag. Not worth the trip of 15kms from Porto...

First experience at Romando. Beautiful surroundings, well designed, with well thought details throughout. Attentive service, didn't quite managed to preempt guest needs as much as the price tag sets expectations for. The Food, didn't quite hit the mark. Nothing terribly wrong but picanha cut wasn't the best for the price tag; cataplana lacked seasoning and wasn't flavoursome; bacalhau com gambas lacked depth and overpowered by cheese. It was a birthday and a mention made accomodating picture taking, etc

On a final note, I failed to see where anywhere on menus or website what happens to the service charge. Ideally I would like to know that it is distributed across all employees. Is it worth a...