Rei Da Manivela

A friend referred us to this restaurant after we were supposed to go somewhere else. I was glad to go as I love Portuguese food and it was close to home. Next town over. I have Brazilian Portuguese friends and by now loved every dish I have tasted from them. This place being new to me I was like ok lets see. So it's on a side street next to a cemetery and the restaurant is located in a house setting. Once you walked in it was weird as it had 2 doors and I wasn't sure which one to go through. Once opened there were people eating and people coming in to order out and also a bar. Very casual setting. I'm thinking more than likely it's the take out section. A waiter greeted us and asked us if we would like to sit there or head upstairs. He was omgggg so sweet. Kudos to him. We proceeded upstairs and 2 more doors we picked one and opened it and there was a whole dining area with bar and more people. We waited for the waitress to sit us and were greeted by this nice waitress. We were seated and she brought us over menus and a bread basket. We did order drinks. I ordered Caipirinha my BF ordered beer. If you have ever tasted that drink its a muddled lime drink with sugar and Cachaca. Like I said ive had this drink many of times and this was very tarty and I had to add the sugar as it was too much lime. I just kept that drink did not reorder. I WAS THINKING WE WERE GOING SOMEWHERE ELSE SO I WAS A LITTLE OVERDRESSED SO DEFINITELY EYES ON THE SPARKLES 🤣 I HAD ON. I SELL JEWELRY🤣. The place was very very casual. SO ONCE I OPENED THE MENU I WAS LIKE LETS SEE. I DID ORDER A FISH PLATE AND MY BOYFRIEND A STEAK AND SPAGHETTI DISH. I'm not a seafood eater so I was in my head expecting to get my plate a bit different than how I got it. There was alot of small fishes in a plate cutely adorned with tomatoes rice. I was overwhelmed bcz I don't like seeing fish head on an all. My little cuties were fried. Sorry I totally forgot the pics. My boyfriend had breaded steak and spaghetti. I had enough food on my plate and his plate was laking a bit more spaghettis. After we were done my boyfriend had most of my fish. I was trying to figure out the taste of both of our plates. To sum it all up to me the food did not taste authentic. I've been to a few Portuguese Brazilian restaurants and their food and taste are very unique and making you want more. I will not shut it down yet as I will like to go back and try something else to see if I taste the authenticity of Portugal. I also believe a restaurant could be a bit more inviting to draw the eye to more than one thing and to me it lacked that. Thank God the staff was amazing and very sweet and I'm always crazy for an authentic accent. I was happy to have understood alot of what our waitress was saying in her native tongue. Overall My boyfriend enjoyed it I was a bit disappointed but will definitely give it another try.