Mitch's/Medina

djprescott · Post by **djprescott** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:19 am

PJ wrote:yes - last UK address was Leamington Spa. Have been coming to Portugal for 18 years and moved to Carvoeiro last July.

That's a strange coincidence, PJ - we went on a guided walk round Leamington last night! Started in the Jephsons gardens and went up to the Town Hall and down to the Old Town.

Anyway, hope to see you when we come over in October.

Dave

bife73 · Post by **bife73** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 5:36 pm

We went here for a meal on Saturday evening, we were celebrating my birthday a groups of 9....6 adults & 3 children.
We started with drinks in the bar downstairs, while choosing our dishes. once shown to our table the waiter explained the menu (quite different to the norm around town). They discovered it was my birthday and brought up a dessert with a candle in it for me singing happy birthday!!
As a family we found the food good, the service excellent and rounded off with a very friendly and relaxing atmosphere.
Even once the kids got a little rowdy they came out with a mini DVD player showing Nemo, which was a hit with the kids....and gave us time to enjoy the rest of our meal.
Well worth a visit...

Bruce Wallis · Post by **Bruce Wallis** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 1:56 pm

As promised , we visted PJ at his Medina last week.

Impressions? Great decor and imaganitive layout.
We had a really good meal, and worth the effort of going further out of town than normal in that direction...( we never ventured beyond Elle&Ella before!)

I think PJ deserves to succeed, but I think he could be even more adventerous and different in his approach. He has one or 2 really good and different dishes, but because of his location needs to become even more different than Restaurant Hill, and going even further in his Middle East themes could pay him real dividends.
I would have loved to see a lamb and rice dish with a garlic sauce. Tabbouleh would be a hit, and Im sure that adding Hummous to those excellent starters would go down well.

Julia and I will definately revisit the Medina.....and I hope that others of you that tire of Piri-piri/kebabs and stone steak on restuarant hill will walk the extra hundred metres to encourage PJ to push his Medina further into more imaganitive middle east cuisinne

Bryn · Post by **Bryn** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:51 pm

We visited carvoeiro for the first time at the beginning of July and thoroughly enjoyed it, and our most visited restaurant was the Medina. Why? thoughtful decor, comfortable surroundings, very friendly staff and something a bit different on the menu(at very reasonable prices!).
We particularly enjoyed the medina platter starte and the steak with the almond sauce. well worth the extra walk.
I hope it proves a success

cazzy7 · Post by **cazzy7** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:26 pm

Hi sounds really nice we are having our 4th visit to carvoeiro in september not sure where this restaurant is but would really like to try it if someone could let us no where it is please as we don't remember mitchs.

Helen · Post by **Helen** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:36 pm

It's on the road out on the left hand side after the estate agents that used to be AliSuper.

cazzy7 · Post by **cazzy7** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:36 pm

Thanks will try it in sept....roll on september!

joanne · Post by **joanne** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:52 pm

We had a really nice meal and will be going back in 2 days so shall go back again, we liked Mitchs though and could never understand why it not busy?

B2D · Post by **B2D** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:37 pm

I admit defeat - I have posted two reviews of the meal we had at Medina and both have been removed by the mods. I never slagged the place off - said both times the waiter was the star of the show - just that I thought it was a strange conceit to have the same 'dip' and 'rice salad' for starters appear as a 'sauce' and 'hot rice' on our main courses - we didn't book in as the Carvoeiro Amnesiac Society you know.
And I also said that the food wasn't very nice - hardly AA Gill is it?? Actually it wasn't 'not very nice' it was just completely boring.

I and the 11 other people in our party obviously are in the minority in not having had a great meal there so I therefore I bow to everyone's superior knowledge and experience.

No one needs to wish this restaurant luck as they obviously have the power of cvo.com on their side and will only receive glowing reviews on this website...

It's a shame for that restaurant at QDP that they don't have the same friends and have instead been labelled for days now as 'The Worst Takeaway Ever' despite several people saying they have had a satisfactory meal there...

roy4eyes · Post by **roy4eyes** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:57 pm

Like B2D, I find it strange that his

remarks have been deleted - not all comments can be positive and in fact often constructive criticsm can be helpful to a restaurateur.

We have only had the "Medina platter" there and found it very bland and unimaginative - at the end of the meal we expressed our opinions to PJ whose coment was that his first season approach was to be on the cautious side but to experiment on the locals in the winter !!

I certainly agree that there is room for an Arabic style restaurant in CVO with all the lovely spices that they use in their cooking.

blue · Post by **blue** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 6:31 pm

I was really looking forward to Medina opening as I love middle eastern food & cook a lot of Moroccan food at home, so it came as a bit of a surprise that a Moroccan themed restaurant didn't serve Moroccan food, a bit like an Indian themed restaurant not serving curry. Having said that a few of our friends who have been said they did enjoy the restaurant.

bifas 1st darling! · Post by **bifas 1st darling!** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 6:41 pm

Like B2D, I find it strange that his remarks

OMG, she's had a sex change

roy4eyes · Post by **roy4eyes** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 6:55 pm

Oops

I was feeling a bit queer after almoço muito vino

B2D · Post by **B2D** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 11:35 pm

it's ok Roy! I type in a very deep voice

Bruce Wallis · Post by **Bruce Wallis** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:27 pm

Are you getting the message PJ?

You are sitting on a potential goldmine. You havent got it right yet. You can corner a really lucrative market, but not as you are now.
My wife fancied your "horny Rusiian/Latvian/Estonian waiter" but if that is your main pulling point, you have problems, especially as it is the food oriented husbands that pay the bill!

You are too far off the main drag to rely JUST on passing trade. You have to hit that niche Arabic/Morrocan market. You have a potential expat market in the same way as Happys....

This forum has demonstrated to you that you have the support if you go that bit further and change a frankly not terribly exciting menu into something good.

THEN....the food, NOT the waiter is the main talking point!

Good luck

Mitch's/Medina

Re: medina

Nice Surprise