Taberna Lusitana - Matosinhos

Excellent food. A 'must visit ' when in Matosinhos!

For a restaurant that is located in the fish market the standard of cooking doesn’t match the freshness of the produce. As for the service, more on that below. We wanted to sample the standard of cooking so went for the tapas rather than the full-on option of selecting the fresh fish from one of the fish stalls (you select the fish and the restaurant cooks it). The sautéed garlic prawn dish was a little dry but good enough. The chilli oil gave them a welcome kick. I had a nagging feeling though that with prawns as fresh as this it’s a crime they weren’t cooked to a higher standard. The cheese platter was an OK albeit lacking in variety taste and could’ve done with a pickle as accompaniment and a bit more imagination. The Iberian Montado Iberico (ham, egg, cheese) is a no-nonsense hangover cure. We skimped the Montado Shrimp for reasons listed below. The mussels took half an hour to arrive and weren’t worth the wait. Cooked in a similar chilli oil to the sautéed shrimps and all the worse for it. Let the mussels speak for themselves, less can be much much more. It then dawned on me that maybe chilli oil was their signature. We looked on enviously at the well-oiled, calm, attentive service in the adjacent restaurant. In comparison, we had headless chickens, our waiter in particular, a great salesman but hopeless waiter. We wished our Portuguese skills were better but then again, despite his English verbal skills being excellent he didn’t seem to register half of what we told him in English. If he had paused a moment to listen maybe he’d make fewer mistakes. Some examples : When asked to explain the Shrimp Montado dish to us, our waiter omitted the shrimp was covered in cheese. Never would I eat seafood covered in cheese, it’s like going into an Italian restaurant and having Parmesan over your Vongole. Lest to say, when it arrived we sent it back. The waiter simply forgot our mussel order, our last dish, as a result we had a 30min wait. This is the 2nd Matoshinos restaurant we’ve been to that has underwhelmed. We’ll have to visit a few more before passing judgment but I’m beginning to suspect some Matoshinos eateries aim their cooking for tourists rather than people who appreciate their food.

Very good food; attentive personell the tastiest sangria and the most amazing tuna steak! A must visit if you are into seafood.

Segunda visita a este fabuloso restaurante comida 5 estrelas e serviço 5 estrelas mal posso esperar para visitar novamente

Um garçom nos ajuda a escolher o peixe e depois o envia para a cozinha. Serviço perfeito. Uma experiência muito agradável. Nós recomendamos.