Barão Fladgate — Restaurant in Vila Nova de Gaia

Sorry to say but this place is overrated and overpriced, even for a touristic place like Gaia in Porto. The restaurant's location and atmosphere is definitely great. The concept and desire to differentiate and create a sense of exclusivity is also fully understood. However, the service level offered doesn't match that goal (and price level) at all - the service is limited, inflexible, slow and unattentive.

We arrived 20min ahead of schedule for a dinner reservation with a group of 8 people and were not allowed to enter - while the whole place was nearly empty and staff was hanging on. Returning at scheduled time we were finally allowed to get in, but placed at an inside table, rather than on the terrace (which had plenty of empty tables and space available) for what we have asked. The restaurant said they can only accommodate groups with up to six people max. outside - inflexible, ridiculous and stubborn.

The experience with the unattentive and slow staff unfortunately manifested through the whole dinner, which took three hours - just because every step took ages - from appetizer, to main course, to getting a desert menu offered. And we even had to call (almost beg) to get accompanying drinks, and desert wines offered.

The food quality was good (but not exceptional) and the atmosphere decent for a business dinner.

Summary: Go there if you don't care about time and money you spent. If you want to enjoy the true merits of Porto better go...

As others have said, small portions with high prices. Take the bread and you'll pay €5. It was fresh and came with some terrific olive oil and butter. The panacotta starter was ok but lacking flavor, not at all with the time of expense to order. My wife had the corvina which was reportedly good and I tried some of her sides which were, let's say, delicate. Vegetables are hard to find in restaurants in general, but I had some samplings on my plate with fennel, carrots and what was I think a tiny piece of zucchini. They complemented the pork which, while perfectly cooked, again lacked flavor and seasoning. We skipped wine and dessert. I was impressed that ordering tap water got me a glass bottle of filtered water, saving the waste of store bought supplies of some far-off land. Service was slow but friendly and paying with a credit card will get you a prompt to tip like an American. I'll admit I rounded up a few euros. We were hungry, this restaurant was open when others weren't, and so I'm glad we went but would probably...

We had made reservations to celebrate a special birthday weeks in advance for a party of six at 1828 which is part of the WOW restaurants. But they canceled the reservation saying that they got a reservation for a bigger group and now it’s a private event. I asked if there’s another similar dining option, they said they can book at Barão Fladgate. Then days before our dinner plans, we got a message from them saying that they have canceled our reservation for the same reason - we have a bigger group who wants the space. No apologies or providing any options. With two bad experiences, we will never go to the restaurants at WOW and since we are part of the committee to coordinate diplomat luncheons and dinners in Porto, WOW and its restaurants will never be an option. Being in the hospitality business, this is unacceptable. So book at own risk knowing they can cancel your reservation anytime and you will be left with finding another restaurant last minute. Just imagine the amount of stress the WOW management will cause due to...