Elliots....good or bad?

Bruce Wallis
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by Bruce Wallis »

Oh....dont get me going on l'Orange :D We'll be here all night.
Until roy4eyes convinces me differently in July, I still think that l'Orange is the most overated restaurant in the area!!
Jenny P
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by Jenny P »

To Bruce

Alex and Corky ran the Italian Bistro "Elliotts" in Thorpeness, Suffolk for a number of years.

When my husband and I plus two friends bought holiday homes in Aldeburgh, we discovered Elliotts by accident, but after that we went to the restaurant nearly every weekend. The food was superb and both Corky & Alex became very good friends. The only reason we decided to go to Portugal for the first time 3 years ago, was because of Corky & Alex. I don't know if you have been into their restaurant, but our photo (taken at Elliotts, Suffolk) is on the wall.

We had some fantastic evenings with them, some of them quite blurry (due to the amount of Port consumed at the end of the meal, supplied by Alex) :D

The food was always good and Corky often waited on the tables after cooking the food.

I think their restaurant in Portugal is extremely good. There are a number of varied dishes on the menu, all of which are superb, we have never had a bad meal.

To Emm 16/04/2009

I think it's about time you tried Elliotts. They were probably closed as they feel they should spend time with their daughter Kelly and she is very important. Like they say, you cannot ignore your children when they are growing up so it's worth closing every now and again to be with them. It's ashame that more parents aren't like them when it comes to the children.

We are hopefully going back to Portugal in October but judging by some of the comments on this forum, it would appear that everyone is suffering in this recession and after everything that Alex and Corky have given up I really do hope they come through this. I know one thing, they will definately have our custom for as long as we can afford and are fit enough to travel.

Jenny, Ron, Jayne & Ron
25/4/2009
SJ & RE
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by SJ & RE »

Promise, when we can get out to CVO we wil give it a whirl :D
charlie
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by charlie »

I would also recomend this restaurant, we had 2 lovely meals there over Easter. The food was fantastic, Alex made us feel very welcome and was great with the children supplying paper and crayons.
EMM
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by EMM »

We have a general view that the bigger the menu the less chance of good quality food.

It is impossible to prepare fresh when there are more than a dozen choices.

This of course be unfair on some but we always make a bee line for those with daily specials of like Ela and Ela or Maximes where the choice is limited but proven.
The downside is that they do not change the menu often enough.
e-llen
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by e-llen »

We had a very enjoyable meal in Elliots on Saturday evening, our first visit. We will go back - although we do not usually go to Monte Carvoeiro- but we will make an exception in their case.
loretta
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by loretta »

We visited this restaurant last week and we didnt like it at all.
My starter mushrooms in garlic was just a greasy mush, The fillet steak had a strange burnt (not smokey) taste and I couldnt eat it , I only had two mouthfulls and left the rest and suprisingly the waiter didnt ask why I left it (maybe they are used to it) My husband shared the fish Cataplana with another member of our party and they said it was worse one they had ever tasted, the fish was tough and it was full of grease. We also found the staff offhand, rude and impatient.
I will not be giving this place a second try.

Loretta
Bruce Wallis
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by Bruce Wallis »

Every time I think of giving Elliots a whirl, I read another review like the one above.

A bit like the parsons egg.

It strikes me that maybe Elliots is good when the owners are there, and terrible when they are not.

Fair comment????
e-richard
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by e-richard »

There's no doubt that Elliotts gets and deserves mixed reviews.

In my opinion, its not "when the owners are there"; we've found it great at the beginning of the season, and poor towards the end. Seems like they run out of steam. So, my advice, Bruce is try it early in the season, then make up your mind.

That could also be applied to a few other establishments by the way.
charlie
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by charlie »

Had 2 lovely meals at Elliots last week. Owners there on both occasions. This restaurant is now one of our favourites. The chocolate cake with baileys sauce is to die for!
xhelhoy
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by xhelhoy »

Went to Elliots for the first time last week. 6 of us ate and not one bad meal. Mixed selections of garlic prawns, risotto, tuna steak, melon, portugese steak. I had the homemade fishcakes with garlic mayo which were delicious and a very tender and tasty fillet steak. A nice addition was the side dish of buttery leeks and soft sweet potato mash. Great verde wine and house white. Good price too as 2 courses each and half bottle of wine at least came to 20 euros. Will be back next year xx :)
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by laserblazer »

I had the monkfish St Jaques last week. Very yummy :)
Sandy
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by Sandy »

Visited for the first time last night.
I chose fish and chips. Not freshly cooked. The fish was swimming in oil which tasted rancid. I had to put a paper napkin underneath to soak up the excess oil. No response when I complained other than 'I'll tell the chef'. Tasted revolting, I can still taste it this morning and feel quite sick!
The pork stroganoff was clearly something they'd just invented in the kitchen - just some kind of bland pork stew.

Avoid!
SJ & RE
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by SJ & RE »

6 years between reviews, what do you expect.
joeysoap
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Re: Elliots....good or bad?

Post by joeysoap »

Three excellent restaurants nearby. A Tasquinha , O Salmao and Mamma Mia.
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