A Tavola Bar + Trattoria — Restaurant in Madeira

My wife and I have several little kids, so we always cherish the opportunity to go out together as it doesn’t happen all the time. I consulted our waitress, Bridget (with one T as she told us) about a few menu options. I went with the Chicken Scallopine Al Limone. She and I both agreed having lots of sauce was important as I was worried about the entree lacking flavor. But, I decided to go for it on her response of loving it. Unfortunately, it was exactly what I didn’t want. Pasta that had no flavor and tasted bland. I honestly had just thought that I just made a bad choice and was ready to just move on. But, Bridget asked how it was and I told her that just tasted kind bland and like buttery, rubbery noodles. My tone was not aggressive or even upset. Just simply answered the question. Her immediate response was to say “Oh…well better luck next time.” That’s not exactly the response I was expecting and it irritated me that she even asked in the first place. Not “I’m so sorry”. Not “what can we do to make this better?” She could have done a number of things. Offered to comp it, ask if I wanted to try something else, etc. But, instead she thought I would rather spend another $85 at this restaurant to find something else. Why would I want to come back based on what I just ate? If you’re gonna ask about the meal, be ready for feedback and don’t tell your guests better luck next time. It’s clear they don’t care about their customers experience every meal. Just...

Overall, this was a lovely evening out with friends. The restaurant is warm and inviting and the service was near perfect. I will definitely go back, there are a lot of menu items that I still want to try.

On this first visit, they fell just a bit short on the food. The mozzarella appetizer was just two pieces and for all the fancy adds (zucchini) it tasted like a regular mozzarella stick from anywhere. The cauliflower app was delicious and a decent size. Oddly, the Caesar salad used bib lettuce and was barely dressed.

The beef meatball was good, but I think they use the same stuff in the ragu. I thought the ragu would be shredded beef, but it was the meatball mix. The ragu and homemade fettuccine was very good though! My friends didn't like the spaghetti noodles. They were homemade but very thick and a bit chewy. That said, basically anything that has their tomato sauce on it is good. The sauce was fresh and flavorful!

The desert fell flat, literally. A very , very small piece of cheesecake. Definitely not worth $13 so save your money there.

Our server was amazing and I love how she felt comfortable enough to add to our conversation about a Netflix documentary we had all watched. It made the evening that much nicer.

I will absolutely be back -- and am looking...

Well I guess if you have any sense about good ingredients and wood fired pizza from the pics you don’t need this review but my 2 cents follow. This place is lovely for a casual date night because the service is impeccable, kind, and the whole place is low lit and jet black. My bill was less than 100$ even though we were quite extravagant getting a very delicious glass of chilled prosecco which complimented the absolutely perfect cuisine. The chicken meatball is a pleasure. The huge wood oven sparkles in the corner enticing you for that perfectly fluffy airy crusted pizza. My guy loved the way they had crumbly sausage on it, and the Lettuce chosen for the buttercrunch salad was heaven. I don't usually like salads much but there's clearly strives to be as good as the rest of the menu. The gnocchi with vodka sauce was my favorite and I brought home leftovers 😋 if we had any constructive criticism- give us a option of crushed red pepp or your take on that because we love spicy but know not everyone does. Glad I don't live any closer or I'd be there weekly. A pleasant surprise 😮 that feeling from the first bite that you know these people know what...