O Muiño — Restaurant in Caldas de Reis

We have eaten in quite a few places on the camino from Porto, some great, some good, some not so good. This was the worst.

Immediately when asking for a table we were greeted by bare-faced rudeness and really it's on us for not leaving. The host barely greeted or acknowledged us and, after rifling pointlessly and melodramatically through a bunch of post-it notes, sat us at a table with another pair who had asked at the same time, like we were all irritations who had been fortunate to be let in at all.

The food was very mediocre. We had empanada (greasy, luke warm), some manchego (sweaty), and some sardines (meh) because no other fish was in. There was no passion or care taken with any of the food. The only good bit was the free St James’ cake, which everyone gets given so the place can avoid more reviews like this one. They charged for the ‘complimentary’ bread. House wine was served in a cracked glass jug. Luckily it was too hot that evening to order much or we might have had an even worse time - even still, €25 seemed bad value somehow.

There were lovely kittens running around. Some might think this strange in a place serving food (and hygiene in general seemed a possible issue with the whole place), but actually it brightened up the otherwise joyless experience.

Looking around, everyone was having a bad time. The couple on our table didn’t finish a thing; two behind us waited almost an hour for service; and a group of young pilgrims nearby, clearly wanting the Galician taberna experience, cheerfully asked the waiter what local specialities he’d recommend as they’d never had any of the dishes: “Look at the menu and...

In a lovely location a really bad service. We were not served for about 1.5 hours we thought they must have forgotten our order and had to ask for it again. We arrived among the first at 8 pm and were served last. The staff was not happy, not smiling and not welcoming at all. They were overstressed - two people were serving 60- 80 and they told us the kitchen couldn’t cope with the orders. The pork meet was terrible and we left it as it is. The menu said it will be done with spices which meant red pepper only. We basically had cheese and bread but we could have that in a supermarket. Half of the dishes on the menu were not available. They were too expensive comparing to other restaurants pilgrims’s eat along the Portuguese Camino we would not recommend to eat there. Big...

Oh. my. God. If I could give 10 stars I would. It was the best food and best service on the whole Camino trip we have been. We had scallops, very tasty, soft. Navanjas, i could not stop eating this, iberico with red peppers and home made patatas fritas, the taste of this three together felt like being in heaven already. 100% recommended. The owner is stunningly friendly, he keeps giving us so much to try. we loved everything we ate and drink that night!! a must visit. Also, the place is very cozy, felt like being at home in the living room. Love the atmosphere. Just perfect 🥰 Thank you so much! We had Sangria for drinks, always love it:) tasted like...