Dinner at Casa Madeira was . . . An experience.

4 of us went there for dinner based on the nice variety of options on the menu. We got 2 “margherita” pizzas, 1 order of mussels and 1 grilled sea bass which came with boiled potatoes and veggies. The pizza was really a plain cheese pizza which my companions described as “okay.” The sauce for the mussels was delicious, but about 1/3 of them hadn’t opened their shells, which was offputting. The grilled fish was lovely, really nicely prepared and tasty, but I never got the side of a sauce I had requested. However, we received a gravy boat full of melted butter. A large gravy boat. Full of butter. No one ever explained what it was for, but in part I used it for my veggies which was fine.

We got bread and olives. The olives were nice, the bread was freshly toasted things that looked like English muffins (just muffins on this side of the pond?).

Our drinks order came out with 3 of the 4 requested beverages, and the meal came out with 3 of 4 plates. In each case, they seem to have been confused by the fact that 2 people got the same drink and 2 people got the same pizza. They made it right when we pointed out the issue.

The service was also a bit problematic in other ways. In the middle of taking our order the waiter said he’d be right back. He left for about 10 minutes and seemed to spend the entire time moving other tables around and cleaning them off. He had been put off by us asking questions, such as “what is the soup of the day?” And “what is in the house sauce?” (Answer: “It’s just a normal sauce.”) Upon his return we tried to put our orders in very efficiently.

There was also a mix-up with the bill where we were charged for gin we didn’t get, and it was inordinately complicated to explain that and get it corrected.

The atmosphere was described by one of my companions as “Portuguese sports bar with Italian soccer on TV.” It was friendly and homey but also a bit noisy due to being able to hear the passing tube trains.

To their credit, the folks at the restaurant apologized for all the mistakes and comped us some desert as we were heading out. That gesture was appreciated, but didn’t make up for such a spotty experience.