Mesa d'Oito — Restaurant in Vila do Porto

Great food, poor service. A nice change from typical Santa Maria cuisine. I had the chicken and mushrooms. It arrived quickly and was delicious. Unfortunately, our waiter was not very good. He had an attitude, rolling his eyes when one of us accidentally spilled water. Our group was half English/Portuguese speaking. At one point, he started asking me something in Portuguese and those in our group who were fluent explained that I and others didn’t speak the language. Shortly after, he brought us dessert menus all in Portuguese. We had to flag him down to ask for a couple English menus. One of our party also ordered a cafe that just never arrived. The kitchen clear is doing great things but the wait staff...

It's VERY brightly lit almost too bright (clinically bright) - not cosy. I just ordered shredded lamb with couscous- and got what I consider to be a child's portion - certainly not enough for €16. Dont like being served "fashionable & chic" tiny portions - just because you press the food into tiny metal rings and pots to serve it doesn't make it better! Good that I wasn't that hungry or I would have had to order something else... I found the food was average from the taste - almost too salty. Sorry, thumbs down from me I won't make the mistake of...

In 2018 and 2019, the tuna steaks I got here were a once in a lifetime experience. 2023, I was here twice for the beefsteak(which was quite okay) and the codfish(which was rather poor for a 4*restaurant) . Service is still en par, prices stayed high, but unluckily the food doesn't match the standards anymore. I assume the restaurant is in a difficult phase somehow. I wish you all the best, friends, may you find back to your pre covid levels which were...