Tempêro D'Maria — Restaurant in Vila Nova de Gaia

As you can see for yourself upon reading the other reviews, this place is revered by tourists. Averaging 4,3/4,4 out of 5, you would expect it to hit the spot also with locals. That was not the case tonight. The service was lousy. The staff wasn't shorthanded but proved utterly ineffective. Only the one who looked like being the manager seemed to know what he was doing: The food was ridiculously delayed and we had only ordered simple starters. Despite some quality in the ingredients and some effort put to the presentation, there was nothing special to the food. Not something that a local would notice, I mean. It may suit the expectations of Dutch or German tourists, but not the tried taste of a born and bred local. At 13,50€ (the common price being around 8€) they even botched the francesinha, one of Porto’s landmark dishes. This kind of restaurant bases its popularity on being located riverside, right in the heart of the promenade, overlooking the D. Luiz I iconic bridge. It's all about the atmosphere and little to zero about the food, but I admit this one may fool the 3-day-stay sightseer. The pricing is also a Portuguese - English translation, adding at least a 50% premium to the experience. Not worth it on my book, but I don't...

The host (tall, thin, man) did not treat me and my friend kindly. We walked inside and asked if we could eat outside (politely and it there was not a line of people waiting to be seated). We were given a lecture without asking if we would be willing to wait for a table (two were being cleared off) so we just sat inside. He was pushy and rushed us even though it was not quite at a busy time. After getting our food, we were then asked to move tables so they could push two tables together for a reservation. We were moved further into the restaurant. The server was kind about it and offered to get a dessert for us for free. When the host found out he had a back and forth with the waiter about it and firmly said we were only offered one free dessert not two (dietary restrictions made that complicated). The food wasn’t bad but I wish I had been told there were bones in the codfish. As two women, we did notice how he interacted with families and men which was completely different than how we were treated. This was our first meal in Porto after traveling for over 20 hrs, but we made...

We didn’t check google ratings beforehand and chuckled at what to expect in a very touristy area on the riverfront. Their greater options of meat dishes compared to places nearby is what drew us in. We ordered the bread, homemade butter and olives to accompany our shrimp and garlic app. The bread wasn’t warm but soft nonetheless and the shrimp was really good with lots of fried garlic in the olive oil. We had forgotten to mention how we like our steak cooked but it came out perfect for us at ‘medium’ which was tender and delicious. The raw sea salt on the board allowed us to measure how we liked each bite and the raw garlic in the melted butter was great with the potatoes or the meat. We skipped on desert but I did have a coffee waiting for my wife to finish her rather strong (read delicious) sangria. I had a glass of rose with my meal that was really good. Price and service was on point. Highly recommend and will stop by again if we’re in the area as we’re...