My restaurant (and bar) review Sept 2013

[Wiltsie]

Just got back early hours today from 11 days in CVO. I think this was our 14th visit in last 12 years.

Pretty busy it has been.

Happys - unashamedly we booked it 3 times this holiday ( booked from the UK a few weeks ago). 1st visit i had the duck kebab and my wife had the chicken and prawn one. Both of good quality. As usual Libby left a new bottle of port on the table.
2nd visit - Libby got me some rabbit and my wife had the chilli. Port to finish.
3rd visit - fish and chips and my wife couldnt resist the chilli again.
As usual Libby's sense of humour and banter rounded off great evenings there.

Jota Lita - a first visit for us since we've been coming to CVO, mainly based on previous comments on here. Pleasantly surprised. A real gem if you like simple food cooked v well. Homemade chips, fresh veg, reasonably priced and excellent personal service by the owner and his team. All in all a must visit for us on future visits to cvo.

Haweli Indian (O Indiano owners i think) - typical indian food, good attentive service. Food was decent but not blown away by it flavourwise.

Elliotts at Monte CVO - we've had mixed experiences here over the years and sadly to say the one visit this year didnt hit the mark. This restaurant is now overpriced in our view - same prices as Ele and Ela and vastly inferior in our view (more of Ele and Ela later).
Ribeye steak was passable but not of good quality one gets in the UK these days.
Service was a letdown. I ordered a bottle of dry white, which in our opinion always needs to be well chilled. When it came out it wasnt chilled at all.
I mentioned this to the deadpan waiter "our drinks fridge has not been working properly for the last 48 hours" was his reply, to which i replied "well as i ordered white wine, which should always be chilled, why didnt you advise me of the issue with the fridge?"
Blank look...then an offer of an ice bucket. Hmm.......
Later we had to ask for the dessert menu.
No conversation with front of house - poor in our opinion.
We wont be going back.

Primevera - excellent Italian/Medierranean food. Booked before arriving though. V busy both nights we visited. Well staffed restaurant who are always busy but also find time to smile and converse. The owner also spoke to us on both visits and he also is front of house working. We only had pizza and arabiatta pasta but both were excellent. First night i had the tiramasu for dessert, and on second visit had the profiteroles. Both desserts were superb. Nice place for a change from grilled meat dishes.

Ele and Ela - food here is a lovely fusion of flavours and dishes. I had the thai fishcakes for starters and duck breast for mains. My wife had the chicken curry for mains. All dishes were superbly presented and flavoursome. V busy - we booked for 7.30. It was rammed. In our opinion they should reduce the number of covers by about 8. The 9 o'clock bookings were waiting for quite a while to sit down. I think they try to fit too many in at 7-7.30. We didnt leave our table until 9.20 and if we'd chosen a dessert it probably would've been 9.45.
This doesnt detract from the superb food though - we rate this the best restaurant in central CVO. When you think it has the same prices as Elliotts it's streets ahead of that restaurant.

O Barrill (Ferragudo) - what a little gem. Had lunch there, off the cvo train trip. Menu of day for 10 euros. Included were the following:a couvert of bread and olives, a mixed salad or soup, chicken piri piri or salmon or bass, choice of 3 desserts, a coffee to finish plus a 0.5l jug of red or white wine. The red was perfectly drinkable; in fact it was better than that. Great service from our waiter there. Recommended.

A tale of 2 lunchtimes at the beach restaurants.
O Barco - good food, friendly service, always remembers us each year. Service with a smile.
Grand cafe - overpriced, robotic service with a scowl. Avoid.

Bars
Round Up saloon - our regular haunt - love it. Great service from Ricardo, Karen and others. Great karaoke from Alan and Adie. The usual big hug welcome from Big Will. Great atmosphere on all our nights in there. Always bump into regular faces from previous years. Tops!
Bar Talvez - the best cocktails in town, served up by Sergio and Rachel. Rachel has to be the top hostess in CVO - an absolute delight to converse with. They always make us feel so welcome. A favourite of ours, pre-dinner.
Cocktail Garden (Monte CVO) - Luis and Katia, as ever, ruling the roost up there. Spent a couple of evenings there - nice for a chill out.
But i do think this 'circle' is suffering from some of the empty units.
Kiosk Azul (Monte CVO) - must give this little cafe/shop a mention. Enjoyed sitting there for a bottle of Sagres on an afternoon, and at 1 euro a bottle who can complain? Families sit there having an ice cream as well. Nice little place to watch the world go by and chill.

Rascals - went there once for pre-dinner cocktails before Ele and Ela. The cocktails were weak - i think my grandson could've drank them with no effect whatsoever. Service was rubbish - i had to go inside to get attention and then during our 30 mins sat outside, which was quite busy, there was no interaction between staff and their customers. Poor.

That completes my summary.
Regards

[pato]

Well done you hungry barsteward.

[laserblazer]

Did you dare get on the scales when you got back?

[Wiltsie]

Did you dare get on the scales when you got back?

Yep! Put on 4 pounds. The hill walk up to Monte from the town usually helps to limit weight gain.
To the gym over next couple of weeks should shift the excess.

[ceh]

Lots of good useful information in the review. Whats O Barrill like at night - I dont know any of Ferragudo's restaurants (wrong side of cvo!)

[tricky]

I actually think that 'in season' the best restaurants are in Ferragudo, You have Nuvo Velho, Fin do mundo, Italia and others, value for money and great food
Fin do mundo and Nuvo Velho are especially good in winter when a lot of CVO restaurants are closed.

[Gary/Gaynor]

Lots of good useful information in the review. Whats O Barrill like at night - I dont know any of Ferragudo's restaurants (wrong side of cvo!)

Amazing...love the lunch there. outside CVO there are quite a few of these places.
Gaynor

[Gary/Gaynor]

With regards to Rascals Bar, I must say we have always had great service, welcoming and responsive staff and the food has always been good. Prob one of the best bar locations in the are so was surprised to hear the review. Give it another go
Gaynor n Gary

[Wiltsie]

With regards to Rascals Bar, I must say we have always had great service, welcoming and responsive staff and the food has always been good. Prob one of the best bar locations in the are so was surprised to hear the review. Give it another go
Gaynor n Gary

Well, there's no reason to return for their 'mocktails' and if staff cant be bothered to engage with their customers they dont deserve my custom.
A view that is spoiled by the top of martins grill and some electricity wires doesnt overcome the other faults i've described.
Plus,
Rachel and Sergio's cocktails and hospitality at Bar Talvez is 10 times better then Rascals.

[EMM]

To be fair there is a half decent view at Rascals if you get the right seats but we do have to agree that Talvez , Rachel and Sergio are miles ahead in the way they react with customers. Some times at Rascals we have got the impression that we are intruding on a private drinks party with the owners and their friends.
The fact that Rascals is a also smokers bar is also enough to make us take the walk uphill to Talvez.
But it is still a convenient stop for drink on a hot afternoon.