Restaurants I Visited

[Stevie-C]

Yep, it is still open and doing a great trade, we ate there last month and friends ate there last week, good honest food and wine at a sensible price..... brilliant

Thanks LJ, that's just how I feel about the place.

[GrahamF]

We visited six restaurants during our recent short stay. These places are not strictly comparable, but our scores and comments may be useful. The scores are based on a maximum of 20 for each of: food, service, overall value for money. Max score 60.
1. Mistral 51
Excellent all round. Amazed that there were so few customers!
2. Ele and Ella 46
Very good food. Well worth the visit.
3. Jardim do Farol 45
This place is consistently good, and always busy. Excellent value.
4. 1692 40
Doesn't really belong here because this place is in Caldos de Monchique! Bit of a disappointment - fairly good food but not good value.
5. Estrello da mar 37
Food was ok, but this was let down by very slow service - maybe short staffed?
6. O Cantino 35
We hadn't eaten there for several years, and it was very moderate. Unlikely to return.

[SJ & RE]

I liked the scoring system and the places you visited.
I think this would be a good way for us all to score for places to eat etc, for continuation purposes.
Glad u liked Mistrals, as it is our favourite too.

[GrahamF]

Glad you liked the scoring. I wondered about including something for "ambiance" but I sense that for most of us it's the food and value that are most important.

[e-richard]

Nice list Graham, and well done.
The scoring system is quite interesting, but we really need to see the individual scores for each category.

As a perverse example, if Mistral scored for 11 food, but 20 for service and 20 for value, where Ele & Ela scored 20 for food, and 6 for service, but 20 for Value, then it would all tell a very different story.

Realistically, I have found that holidaymaker's perception of restaurants are very heavily coloured by the size and composition of their party and how the waiters treat them (service). Why, in another perverse example, does Mama Mia Pizza get great reviews ? Answer: because parties with young children get super service, and kids love the place, but in my view, the pizzas are awful.

[GrahamF]

Richard is absolutely right about the subjectivity and variability. There are many other ways in which your perception of a place could be influenced by something totally random (eg your mood at the time!) But I think it's generally helpful that people post their honest unbiased views on this site. Hopefully it will give an opportunity for visitors to avoid the really poor eating places, and to help those restaurants that are excellent but slightly off the beaten track (I'd count Mistral here!)

Scores were as follows:
O Cantino
Food 11 Service 12 Value 12 Total 35

Estrelo da Mar
Food 13 Service 10 Value 14 Total 37

Mistral
Food 17 Service 18 Value 16 Total 51

1692 (Caldos de Monchique)
Food 14 Service 16 Value 10 Total 40

Elle and Ela
Food 16 Service 16 Value 14 Total 46

Jardim do Farol
Food 15 Service 16 Value 14 Total 45

We also visited the Pizza Napoli at the back of Rocha Brava but didn't do a full assessment (actually it was fine!) and the RB Cafe (I decided not to rate it as I don't really count it as a restaurant)

[Gary/Gaynor]

gary and i visited the restaurant at the Club Atlantico, wow what service,what food, what everything, superb.....def. worth every last euro in ya pocket this little number...
gaynor