Mamma Bella Cais de Gaia — Restaurant in Vila Nova de Gaia

I was there yesterday, around 19h00, when the restaurant was absolutely empty. Me and my colleague sat down and we asked for water as we were just doing a quick pitstop before heading to a concert in the nearby buildings. We asked to pay and the waitress just surprised us with the following, with a very rude attitude: "Did you know that you can not come here and just ask for bottles of water and not eat? We should not serve you but will make an exception!".

Well, I must say that this shows that this business is being run by people that don't have the minimum capacity to deal with customers, even more with millenial customers that don't EVER tolerate this kind of rude and will be your future clients.

If the restaurant was full, I would even understand....but with an empty restaurant???? We were your only clients????? Really, this attitude is absolutely not tolerable and if you continue, you'll be out of business in no time. A business that is focused on earnings instead of making its clients (all of them, not only tourists) feel good, is a dead end in a few years. Customers are your most important asset, after your employees.

Summing up, we confronted the waitress with such attitude, and instead of a humble position, a defensive and "go away then!" attitude was the answer.

One of the worst places I have ever been...very sad to see this happening in...

One of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in a long time.

The salami pizza was a complete failure: overcooked crust that felt like cardboard, cheap tasteless salami, rubbery cheese that didn’t melt or stretch. The raw red onion was just thrown on top — no balance, no care. The second pizza, with meat sauce and egg, looked like a smeared lasagna dumped on dough. The center was undercooked, the edges rock-hard, the sauce was sour, the spices randomly scattered, and the egg was just a lump of overcooked white.

And now the cherry on top — the lemonade. They brought a 1-liter pitcher, almost completely filled with ice. Sounds generous — but the drink itself tasted like cheap powdered lemonade barely mixed with water. No flavor, just cold liquid with a chemical aftertaste.

The prices were those of a proper restaurant, but the quality was worse than a tourist trap snack bar. Everything felt lazy: serve quickly, feed poorly, and forget about the customer.

Wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. Total waste of money and time. You’re honestly better off grabbing a supermarket burger and eating it on a bench — it’d taste better and feel...

A hidden Italian-style restaurant with modern interior just 1 minute walk from the main tourist road. Though the toilet spaces are overly sexist (signs saying girls talk alot and men doesn't as door signs and pictures of naked women in the men's room and of naked men in the women's room, what is that good for?!) the food is totally fine and at least 3-5€ cheaper than on the main promenade (pizza is ~8€, pasta aswell). You won't have the fancy musicians and 20 of portvines to choose from, but you will not leave hungry and with enough money left to buy a bottle of finest douro vine just around the corner. The garlic bread is tiny, but very delicious. Get a lemonade for 1€. It's a real, none sparkling lemonade which tastes great. -1* for the weird toilets, but other than...