A Tasquinha da Maria — Restaurant in England

We googled for a good restaurant in Chard and was impressed by the good reviews for A Tasquinha. We weren't very impressed by the entrance which wasn't very welcoming and had cigarette butts around the doorway. The inside of the restaurant was nice, clean and has a small garden outside. We presume the lady who served us was the owner. She is very pleasant and welcoming and took our orders and served our food speedily. We ordered a tapas plate for starters but when it came, there were no olives as they had run out that morning. However, we were charged the same price. (Sainsburys is 2 minutes up the road!) She recommended one of the specials, a bean, calamari and prawn stew which, for a cold day sounded good but the prawns were undercooked, there were only small very small pieces of calamari and it was beans, beans and more beans which was quite bland. My husband had their 'sausage' special. A tiny piece of sausage with a cooked egg ( he was not asked how he wanted his egg and it was a hard fried egg. I can't recommend...

Paulo gave us a warm welcome when we arrived at 7pm last night, he gave us a run down of the menu and wine options. Bread, olives and a selection of fish paste were ready on our table to start the meal off, just as you have when in Portugal. We felt as if we were on holiday, as the restaurant is styled similarly to a typical taverna in Portugal. We chose three different main courses all of which were full of flavour and well seasoned. The wine came in a 1/2 litre glass carafe and being Portuguese complimented the food. Plenty of banter with the staff made it special for us, creating a relaxed atmosphere. Desert followed and the meal was finished with a complimentary drink from Paulo. Well we were all surprised at the authenticity of the experience that we promise that we will return in future and Paulo will cook pork cheeks, one of our favourites, if we give advanced notice. Now, that really is looking after the customer! I have never been offered that anywhere else. Thank you Paulo, until next time, from 3...

We are staying in Chard for a few days - and after looking on Google for somewhere to eat, we were lucky enough to stumble across this little gem. From the minute we walked in we were made to feel welcome- everyone was so friendly. The owner brought us homemade bread, homemade cheese and olives whilst we waited for our main course. We had diced rump steak madiera style - and it was absolutely delicious. The portion was huge! The meat melted in your mouth and the sauce was just gorgeous! The only downside was that the food was so good - we did not have any room left for dessert! We would definitely recommend and would definitely go back if we were ever this way again! Thank you so much! Happy...