Pimenta Preta

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roy4eyes
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Pimenta Preta

Post by roy4eyes »

Nuno (the owner) - if you are reading this please do not devote yourself wholly to the BonBon !!

I don't know if it is a case of 'while the cat is away the mice will play', but for the first time ever we had a most disappointing meal at your prestigious restaurant.

Service was very slow - "because we are training new staff" according to the manager. There were only two vegetables - plain carrots and courgettes - irrespective of what meal was ordered and indeed for both the fish and the meat dishes on the taster menu. I was not asked how I wanted my lamb cooked (it was in fact hardly cooked !) nor which of the three advertised sauces I wanted as an accompaniment.

The wine waiter was excellent - keeping our glasses well filled, giving good advice and knowledgable about wines but the manager (?) although very pleasant seemed to be constantly in a flap and tattoos are no substitute for white gloved service.

To sum up - expensive and disappointing !!
biffa
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Re: Pimenta Preta

Post by biffa »

Roy - its not improved! Had a very mediocre meal at top prices there last Sunday. Very few fellow diners so word may have got around. Pity it never reached me before I shelled out 200 Euros! :(
bifas 1st darling!
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Re: Pimenta Preta

Post by bifas 1st darling! »

We should have gone to McDonalds :D :D
alf1956
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Re: Pimenta Preta

Post by alf1956 »

If you want quality food you should try La Bella Vita at Clube Atlantico. In my opinion the best food for miles around !
BarryTodd
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Re: Pimenta Preta

Post by BarryTodd »

alf1956 wrote:If you want quality food you should try La Bella Vita at Clube Atlantico. In my opinion the best food for miles around !
It is, but the menu hasn't changed for years, and it has got very expensive. They always have scallops with ravioli and truffle on as a special starter and they don't tell you the price.
alf1956
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Re: Pimenta Preta

Post by alf1956 »

Maybe the old adage is being used "if its not broken don't fix it" & I have yet to see a bad review about the place We find enough choices on the menu to satisfy us & when we have taken friends & family there. You can also add or take away items on the menu which we sometimes do which is never a problem for them to do. In the menu card the prices are stated, regarding the chef specials I am sure if you asked how much they were that the waiter will tell you. We do not find it expensive at all regarding that we class it as "fine dinning" 2 x surf & turf plus drinks approx. €85 which I think is reasonable when you can spend nearly as much as that on 2 meals at A Rede.
BarryTodd
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Re: Pimenta Preta

Post by BarryTodd »

alf1956 wrote:Maybe the old adage is being used "if its not broken don't fix it" & I have yet to see a bad review about the place We find enough choices on the menu to satisfy us & when we have taken friends & family there. You can also add or take away items on the menu which we sometimes do which is never a problem for them to do. In the menu card the prices are stated, regarding the chef specials I am sure if you asked how much they were that the waiter will tell you. We do not find it expensive at all regarding that we class it as "fine dinning" 2 x surf & turf plus drinks approx. €85 which I think is reasonable when you can spend nearly as much as that on 2 meals at A Rede.
If you go to tripadvisor you can certainly find disappointed customers. I wish we could eat there for €85 ! It's normally double that for us . However we've been going there for more than 20 years, and will continue to do so. Actually the one thing I don't like is their amuse bouche which I always find too substantial
alf1956
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Re: Pimenta Preta

Post by alf1956 »

Not been on trip advisor as i have a lot of bad things about the site, ie people put false reviews on especially rival businesses etc. I prefer to read reviews that are more local ie the Carvoeiro forum or wherever I am a web site local to a place I am going to visit. I maybe a little blinkered in some peoples opinion but I do prefer to go by local reviews on local web sites/forums rather than the larger ones which are prone to fake reviews, not saying that this cannot happen on local sites but I do tend to find not. We eat there regular but there are only 2 of us & we have 2 x main meals with couvert & the amuse bouche which we use as a starter we do not have any desserts as we are quite full after that & the bill is approx €85/
BarryTodd
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Re: Pimenta Preta

Post by BarryTodd »

alf1956 wrote:Not been on trip advisor as i have a lot of bad things about the site, ie people put false reviews on especially rival businesses etc. I prefer to read reviews that are more local ie the Carvoeiro forum or wherever I am a web site local to a place I am going to visit. I maybe a little blinkered in some peoples opinion but I do prefer to go by local reviews on local web sites/forums rather than the larger ones which are prone to fake reviews, not saying that this cannot happen on local sites but I do tend to find not. We eat there regular but there are only 2 of us & we have 2 x main meals with couvert & the amuse bouche which we use as a starter we do not have any desserts as we are quite full after that & the bill is approx €85/

That's fine. I have never eaten in A Rede, as the outside cacophony puts me me off. So you would pay roughly the same there for couvert and a main meal and the same drinks?
I take tripadvisor with a pinch of salt but the reviews I read on there sounded about right, knowing who they were talking about and what they described . It does no harm reading them and comparing them with your experience, rather than dismissing them out of hand. I only mentioned tripadvisor as you said you had never heard of a bad review and I thought I would show that they do exist, even if you now doubt their credibility.
alf1956
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Re: Pimenta Preta

Post by alf1956 »

We were in A rede a good time back & I think the bill was approx. €75 for 2 of us but we did have a starter as you do not get the amuse bouche which is like a starter, I agree that the constant over the top there does put a lot of people off going in there & can be a bit irksome to say the least. I didn't doubt you saying that there are some bad reports on trip advisor & i would not dismiss any reviews but would sometimes question their origins & motives sometimes, in my city there has been a big thing about rival businesses putting bad reports on about their rivals.
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