The Pearl — Restaurant in Taunton

The morning before Christmas I placed a phone order at The Pearl in Taunton, MA for 2 quarts of Portuguese kale soup. When I opened it at home I was shocked to find mostly broth, kale, cabbage and a few beans but NO CHORIZO OR LINGUICA!! I immediately called to let them know. The hostess was polite but told me in a matter of fact tone that they often "run out of stuff" (yes, she said "stuff") and so the soup might be missing some "stuff". 🫨🫨🫨 So then I asked her why I was paying $26 for broth!!! Her response was as if this is something that I should have expected. When I called to place the order, no one informed me that the soup would be so sparse but I would be paying the same price anyway.

The expensive broth was rather tasty, but if I had been told that the soup was a skeleton of the original recipe, I would have ordered something else. I feel duped and I feel like I was made to purchase the soup base at full price to help them clean out their kitchen. I thanked the hostess and hung up feeling stunned at the sheer level of ignorance - not just the woman who answered the phone, but the kitchen help that poured the soup into the container to begin with not caring that there was really nothing in it. If that is that's how they treat customers I won't be going back. Basically, I paid $26 for flavored water and a few beans and kale!!! That white chunk you see in the picture is a chunk of cabbage. Pitiful. Also, they give you the soup in the cardboard container not a plastic one. I don't know how long those last in the refrigerator but I switched mine into a food container to be on the safe side because the cardboard container was getting a little soggy. All in all it was a lousy experience but I gave them two stars because the broth BASE was tasty. But that is the only reason. I will not be back to be ripped...

This was our second time here in less than a month. The food is authentically Portuguese (without having to drive down to New Bedford or Fall River).

On our first visit, my husband had the Portuguese steak, which had the round potatoes and an absolutely delicious sauce! The sirloin was cooked medium rare, too, as he asked; the egg was unfortunately overcooked, but he could live with that. They had initially forgotten it, but brought it out when he questioned as to whether or not the dish came with an egg. I find that some Portuguese restaurants often overcook steak, but his was perfect. My Pork (carne) Aletejana was also really good, which is why I ordered it again on our second visit. That go-round, the dish was still flavorful, but the meat wasn’t as tender as the first time. We went for lunch the second time though, so maybe the meat hadn’t cooked as long as it had the first time.

My husband’s salted cod dish - I can’t recall the name - was good, so he said. He’d ordered it because he said the description sounded like a dish he’d had in a Portuguese restaurant on our trip to Paris last month - it wasn’t; however, he said he liked it. The only disappointment was the Mussels Mozambique appetizer for $15.99. There were 6 green mussels (I prefer the black ones) with a slice of chorizo and some sautéed kale on top, in a light, in no way overly generous Mozambique sauce. The overall dish was underwhelming in that there were far too few mussels for the price; plus, the sauce was too thin and certainly needed more butter. My husband makes Shrimp Mozambique all the time, and I must say that his sauce is far superior.

This is a good restaurant, with very good, friendly service, and (mostly) reasonably...

Terrible management at this restaurant, we have been going here since they opened, however this Sunday evening I decided to sit down with my family ordering takeout spending well over $70 on dinner, which is perfectly fine, however when my wife returns with dinner so we could enjoy a nice family dinner, and both 8 oz. And 14 oz steaks are cooked rare when order medium/well, not to mention both sides are missing fries and rice that go with the meal, we decide to call and speak with Daniel (general manager) she tells me she can give me a $10 gift card for the sides are missing, and that I would need to bring the steaks in so she can see them first hand, I completely become discussed with her management skills, as to ask to inconvenience me even more than her restaurant staff have already is obserd!, so in other words, her resolution requires me to repackage the meals, then drive back to the restaurant and wait for the meals to be cooked and then return home and have dinner at least 45 min from when I finally get there. So in closing I will Never go back to this Portuguese restraunt again, simply on principle due to there unprofessional response to their actions, in regards to management, well all I have to say if you can't please a customer when accidents occur with a more accommodating approach, maybe they do not belong in the position they currently hold. So looks like we will be going back to Taunton Eagles to fulfill our Portuguese dinner desires, as they never treated us with such disregard, we will make sure our Portuguese family and friends are aware, so they do not experience the same misfortune we were dealt...