Rabelos Restaurante Bar — Restaurant in Vila Nova de Gaia

I came to this restaurant two years ago with a friend. As I remembered the food was quite tasty and the view pleasant I decided to come back with my partner instead. Good food, decent prices for a "touristic" area. I was pretty shocked when I got to see the bill at the end. When we sat at the table, the waiter brought us olives bread and some kind of grilled cheese as an "hors d'oeuvre". First of all the olives didn't taste like anything. To our surprise they decided to charge us for the bread olive and cheese which we never ordered and thought these were given to us as a gesture of Goodwill... But no in the end the bill had an extra €10 to it... We complained... And the waiter explained that it was a "Portuguese thing". That we supposedly bring stuff to the table and if you touch them you pay and if you chose not to eat them then you don't have to pay... As a Portuguese man I am pretty shocked and angry to hear such nonsense... I have eaten in different Portuguese restaurants and I never had to pay for things which have been voluntarily put on my table. I am really ashamed to know that some establishments try to rob people/tourists money and this needs to be told. I mean seriously? It is like voluntarily serving someone a drink and then expecting them to pay for it... Who are you trying to kid...?? This is misleading... If you want people to pay for those... Make sure this is disclosed first of all in your menu or at the main entrance!! Very disappointed with this behaviour. I will certainly never come back again... They tried to charge us €10, if they hadn't, then they would have at least got €5 as a tip but instead they got €0 for...

절대 가지마세요, 인종차별 끝판왕 My first meal in Porto was filled with discrimination and rudeness, ruining the mood for my entire trip. From the start, the waiter mocked my English accent by “correcting” it in a condescending tone. Despite calling the server multiple times, we were told to wait because “other customers’ orders had to be taken first.” I ordered my steak rare, but it arrived almost well-done. The paella tasted fine but was ridiculously small. I ordered tap water, yet they served it in a Vitalis glass bottle with the cap already removed and visible limescale stains—clearly reused. When the bill came, I was charged for bottled water and coffee I never received. When I disputed this, the waiter said, “I didn’t take good care of your table, but don’t forget—this is a tourist city, and it’s normal to pay this much here.” Rude, discriminatory, and dishonest. Avoid...

I would start by saying that there are numerous restaurants along the cais of Vila Nova de Gaia, and many tourists, like myself, look upon TripAdvisor or general Google search to find the "best" restaurant for lunch/ dinner. However I would say ignore these ratings and go and explore by yourselves. This restaurant only has an average rating of 4* but my god the food, service and ambience was good. Myself and my wife had lunch on the second floor with some magnificent views towards Porto. We ate the house specialty "Bacalhau com Broa" - I am Portuguese and let me say it was one of the best cods in the area, really fresh and tasty and the vegetables where nice and al dente. Service was excellent, all the staff seem to know what they're doing and qualified which makes the experience much enjoyable. The ambience was great with some good old classic...