Portas Da Cidade — Restaurant in Westport

After reading the many positive reviews, we decided to give Portas da Cidade a try. There were four of us, and we waited about 30 minutes for a table. The restaurant was busy, which we took as a good sign. Once seated, we found menus already on the table with a loose sheet of specials — some of which were crossed out, which didn’t give a great first impression.

An older gentleman came by without introducing himself and asked if we wanted drinks. We placed our order, the drinks were delivered, and he returned later to ask if we wanted appetizers. Again, no introduction, no warmth, no check-ins. He never once asked how we were enjoying our food or if we needed anything. The service felt rushed and impersonal.

After we finished the appetizers, he finally returned to take our entrée orders. To our surprise, the entrées came out quickly in under 15 minutes but that’s where the positives ended.

The steak plate, typically served on a sizzling hot terracotta dish, arrived lukewarm with the terracotta plate stone cold. The "Polvo à Lagareiro" (octopus) was tough and lacked any real flavor. The baked shrimp dish was completely underwhelming. And the worst of all: my bacalhau à brasa was absolutely flavorless. It was clearly just salted boiled cod, thrown on the grill for maybe a minute it had no color, no char, and tasted bland. The accompanying boiled potatoes tasted like they had been reheated from the day before.

After we gave our feedback to the bus boy, the waiter never came to the table to discuss the experience. He simply dropped off a dessert menu and later returned to ask if we wanted dessert or coffee, which we declined. I once again mentioned our disappointment with the food. His response? “You should have said something sooner, I would have given you another dish.” I didn’t want another plate is it too much to expect the food that I’m paying for to come to the table right the first time? He then added, “We have a very good reputation and you had a bad experience,” with little in the way of genuine concern or accountability.

I honestly don’t understand how this restaurant has so many glowing reviews. Are my expectations too high, or are people just settling for less? Based on our experience, the food was substandard and the service inattentive. Definitely not worth the hype. We...

Wanted to grab lunch with my son and since I had never been, we decided to try Portas Da Cidade Restaurant and Lounge. Well I can safely say that's one place I will never return to! We ordered the chicken wings appetizer which was just Wing dings with banana peppers on them. Even though they weren't impressive, we didn't mind it. We them placed our order of 2 portuguese burgers. A little while later a table of 3 next us all ordered one had steak and the others had seafood I believe. Well here's where it get interesting...there food comes out and even though we were still waiting for out burgers I didn't even mind. Time goes by...the table next to us is just about finished with all 3 of there meals and I'm still waiting for our burgers...you know the ones we ordered before they did...with the same waiter. Other guests come in get waited on...still no burgers. Finally I'm done waiting...I get up and no one's at the counter...as I turn the waiter comes out of the kitchen with our burgers to which I say they can keep them, I just want to pat and leave. The lady comes out and says "sorry..I don't know what's going on back there". Well neither do i...I've o ly been waiting over 45 mins for burgers. I tell her I'm all set I just want to pay and leave, she goes in the back, comes out and says oh I took one of the burgers off the bill. I said you can charge me for both, I don't care, I don't want them and just want to pay and leave. The waiter comes out with my bill and the burger or burgers (not even sure at this point) bagged. I take the bill and tell him he can give those away because I don't want them. The lady takes my card, I pay and off we go. Needless to say it cost me $42 for chicken wings, 2 diet sodas and one of the worst dining experiences I've...

The service was great! The waitress provided great customer service. Let me start by saying, I am 100% Portuguese. My mom is from Portugal. I really really wanted to love this place. My Mom and I both got Portuguese steak. The cut of steak was good. The steak was cooked properly to medium however it seriously lacked flavor. The steak is usually served with an egg on top and the egg was completely cooked with a solid yolk. This is usually served with a soft yolk so that the yolk runs out onto the steak. The other part of the dish I did not like nor did my mother like was the fact that the round fries were served very crispy. They were literally like potato chips out of a bag. I even got a bifana sandwich to take home for my husband and since I saw how the round fries were I asked for regular fries instead. I was really hoping that the bifana would have been good. My husband said the very same thing that there was absolutely no flavor on the meat. I really don't like to give poor reviews. I try to point out all the positives and there were many positives the service was excellent, restaurant is clean and nice inside, the desserts were really good. We had tiramisu and pudim de feijao. I'm just going to be honest, I will not be going back. This is just because of the lack of flavor in the food. This may be a good place for others that like plainly seasoned food. I wouldn't consider this my type of Portuguese food. This was the third time I tried this restaurant out and I really wanted to like. As they say three strikes...