Very bad experience!!! We arrived before the time we had reserved, and from there the bad attention from the girl at the entrance began, we left at her suggestion and when we returned we waited sitting in front of the bar where the same lady who received us is... and where we could observe their bad attitude, gestures, and their displeasure towards us… Although we thought about leaving, we didn't because at that time it would be difficult to get a reservation. And we decided to stay. We sat down, ordered the food and it came, he asked us if we wanted any appetizers because the food would take a while, we didn't want appetizers...and I don't think it's mandatory!! We certainly waited a long time. The food was nothing special, my husband ordered the meat medium rare and it was very cooked. The attitude of all the staff was very strange, some with scared faces, others grim-faced and only two of them were a little more friendly. We paid the bill and when we left... they were all gathered at the bar and looked at us with real hatred!!! What an unpleasant moment! I still don't believe it is how people who work with the public behave in such a discourteous manner. At that moment confirm to us that it was something personal!! I hope these types of reviews make you reconsider and improve your treatment and attitude with your clients. Since in the reviews the treatment of the staff and the taste of the food are repeated a lot, which is not what is expected.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Larry Benrus
We experienced the tasting menu on our visit with another couple. We are all from the USA. The meal was a wonderful experience. The service was impeccable, and the atmosphere was elegant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Oscar Legorreta
I visited the restaurant on 06/04/2024. My girlfriend and I tried the tasting menu and beyond words, I can only say that the food and service are worth every € spent. The choice of dishes and snacks is incredible, and the monkfish dish blew my mind, it's simply magnificent. The pork belly is another dish that exceeded my expectations and the desserts were wonderful. Looking forward to meeting Gastro and returning to Elemento soon.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Luke Louca
This place was amazing from the service to the atmosphere and the food . I had the venison it was tender and delicious. .Even the bread with the parsley butter was very good..The flavour combinations definitely confused my palette but that what fine dining.is al about . Great restaurant caters for gluten free customers I highly recommend this restaurant you will not be disappointed is a bit more expensive then the average restaurant but the quality is there .Ps I would have liked to try the al carte menu but everyone on the table must order it which was a shame . I think this was the best service I ever experienced
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Lola Lewis
Such an amazing eat tonight.. high quality food, excellent service, wonderful waiters, and overall, would definitely recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Johann Drapel
Exceptional moments, address not to be missed in Porto. Eating at the bar is lucky, you are literally in the kitchen. Very attentive staff
I would like to preface this by stating that I have my fair share of fine dining and tasting menu experiences. We were really looking forward to this meal as the restaurant had an original concept and we had been looking for suckling pig.
We had reservations (party of 3) and when we called, they did not ask us what our menu plans were (a la carte vs. tasting menu). We arrived 5 mins early and upon checking in, we were again not asked about our menu plans. The host simply greeted us kindly and took us to our table.
Our server came to us with the menus, stating she will return to take our order - again, not stating anything about the menu. She provided us a generous amount of time before returning. We had not reviewed the a la carte menu since we knew we wanted the tasting menu, but upon requesting this, the server informed us that they were out of the suckling pig and just asked us if we were still interested in proceeding with the tasting menu. Since this was the main item we wanted, we were thrown off by the news and we kindly requested a few more minutes to review the carte menu. The server did not make any offerings or suggestions for this inconvenience, instead, she said that if we wanted to still do the tasking menu we would have to start it now or else forfeit the tasking menu altogether. Due to the pressure, we agreed to proceed. If they had simply asked us on the phone if we wanted the tasking menu, perhaps they would have prepared enough pigs for their reservations. If they had told us at check in that they were out of the pig, we would have more carefully reviewed the menu. Or if they had given us more time or even offered some recommendations, it would have changed the experience.
The first few dishes were decent and consistent in presentation, almost identical on each of our plates. The two mains were venison and lamb (replacing the suckling pig). Except they served my partner the venison twice just in a different cut and presentation when the rest of us got the lamb. We assumed an honest mistake and raised our concern with our server who did not apologize but said she will check. Quickly she returned to affirm that it was lamb and that our assumption was wrong. We simply acknowledged her. My partner did not want to press the issue, but he was the one who planned the dinner and the one that was mainly looking forward to the suckling pig, so I knew he was the most disappointed with how the night was going, and I found it unfair that his was the one that was in error. After dessert, I realized that since we took pictures of our dishes, perhaps it would help the staff realize that this was in fact a mistake (also because it was TINY. I feel like the least they could do was just offer to re-serve the right one.) I gently called the server and showed her the pictures, and she said she would check again. Within minutes, a different lady approached us and immediately stated firmly and briefly that we were wrong and that she assures us that what was served was lamb. I was a bit taking aback by her approach, since this was our first interaction with her and she did not even ask what our concern was on any level. I decided to explain myself anyway, and that it was odd that all the dishes before were consistent and identical at each presentation, except this round. Also even if it was the same meat, why was his portion SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than myself and the other guest’s and different tastes. She insisted that it was the same. We were left with an awkward silent stare. The staff was well aware our experience was less than ideal, yet we were charged €300+ and it was the most expensive of any of our other dinners in Porto (including some Michelins). We left extremely disappointed. This restaurant is far from star level and need to put a lot of work in their hospitality side of the experience. They had many opportunities to rectify shortcomings yet we were still failed by many levels of their staff and were not once acknowledged or compensated.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Frank Trividic
Very disappointing. Not catastrophic but frankly not up to par. Where I was expecting tender and tasty meat, the Iberian pork turned out to be dry and tasteless, and the accompaniment unremarkable. On the other hand, I really liked the dessert combining chocolate, coffee and white asparagus. Very random service in terms of smiles.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Carsten Aksnes Gjesdahl
Top notch, some of the starters were a bit bland. The dessert was good, but could have had a little more acidity. Super atmosphere and fantastic service.
Very nice and cosy atmosphere. Concept with fire-cooked dishes is great and very promising! Selection of dishes is very nice, though it is a shame they don‘t have a single vegetarian dish (even as a meat and fish lover I would like some vegetable based dishes to give variety to the menu). Unfortunately the dishes did not live up to the beautiful presentation and high expectations. The dishes were quite bland and barely had any wood/fire aromas. For example, we had a piece of meat with barely any char/fire marks. It‘s a shame because some parts of the dishes tasted good, you can tell the chefs have potential. The food is also presented wonderfully. Just not brave, no punchy flavours, nothing to remember. Also small „mistakes“ — bread slightly dense, beurre blanc lacking acidity, meat rare instead of medium rare, veggies almost raw (we like them crunchy but that was too far). The service was unfortunately not very friendly and missing charm and hospitality. We felt rushed throughout the dinner, and the servers were not able to give a description of any of the wines by the glass on the wine menu (despite there being only 10 or so wines by the glass). Also too many of the dishes arrived at the same time, so they turned cold while we were eating. In the end, we paid 5x as much as we did for our lunch earlier and we left disappointed. Bottom line: huge potential, nice place, food does not live up to the expectations, service sub-par.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
MaríaJosé Núñez Fernández
It's good, correct food, good product Staff a bit serious
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Ting Yi Chan
Food is great, a lot of effort put into each dish but my god... we had the €90+ dinner tasting menu (because you can ONLY have the tasting menu when you are a group of 5+, which is fair) but to think that would speed up the process... nope that lasted 3 hours... The wait between our mains and pre-dessert was 20mins alone... I was falling asleep ? The service is extremely slow for the price point... Don't think I will recommend or come again... Dessert needs some rethinking too the cherry and cheese combination does not work
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
Tomas Arrojo Novo
Spectacular dinner with a great tasting menu made with good quality and cooked all on a grill.
Very bad experience!!!
We arrived before the time we had reserved, and from there the bad attention from the girl at the entrance began, we left at her suggestion and when we returned we waited sitting in front of the bar where the same lady who received us is... and where we could observe their bad attitude, gestures, and their displeasure towards us… Although we thought about leaving, we didn't because at that time it would be difficult to get a reservation. And we decided to stay. We sat down, ordered the food and it came, he asked us if we wanted any appetizers because the food would take a while, we didn't want appetizers...and I don't think it's mandatory!!
We certainly waited a long time. The food was nothing special, my husband ordered the meat medium rare and it was very cooked. The attitude of all the staff was very strange, some with scared faces, others grim-faced and only two of them were a little more friendly.
We paid the bill and when we left... they were all gathered at the bar and looked at us with real hatred!!! What an unpleasant moment!
I still don't believe it is how people who work with the public behave in such a discourteous manner. At that moment confirm to us that it was something personal!!
I hope these types of reviews make you reconsider and improve your treatment and attitude with your clients. Since in the reviews the treatment of the staff and the taste of the food are repeated a lot, which is not what is expected.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
We experienced the tasting menu on our visit with another couple. We are all from the USA. The meal was a wonderful experience. The service was impeccable, and the atmosphere was elegant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I visited the restaurant on 06/04/2024.
My girlfriend and I tried the tasting menu and beyond words, I can only say that the food and service are worth every € spent. The choice of dishes and snacks is incredible, and the monkfish dish blew my mind, it's simply magnificent. The pork belly is another dish that exceeded my expectations and the desserts were wonderful.
Looking forward to meeting Gastro and returning to Elemento soon.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This place was amazing from the service to the atmosphere and the food . I had the venison it was tender and delicious. .Even the bread with the parsley butter was very good..The flavour combinations definitely confused my palette but that what fine dining.is al about . Great restaurant caters for gluten free customers I highly recommend this restaurant you will not be disappointed is a bit more expensive then the average restaurant but the quality is there .Ps I would have liked to try the al carte menu but everyone on the table must order it which was a shame . I think this was the best service I ever experienced
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Such an amazing eat tonight.. high quality food, excellent service, wonderful waiters, and overall, would definitely recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Exceptional moments, address not to be missed in Porto. Eating at the bar is lucky, you are literally in the kitchen. Very attentive staff
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Awesome food! Beautiful ambiance! Excellent service!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I would like to preface this by stating that I have my fair share of fine dining and tasting menu experiences. We were really looking forward to this meal as the restaurant had an original concept and we had been looking for suckling pig.
We had reservations (party of 3) and when we called, they did not ask us what our menu plans were (a la carte vs. tasting menu). We arrived 5 mins early and upon checking in, we were again not asked about our menu plans. The host simply greeted us kindly and took us to our table.
Our server came to us with the menus, stating she will return to take our order - again, not stating anything about the menu. She provided us a generous amount of time before returning. We had not reviewed the a la carte menu since we knew we wanted the tasting menu, but upon requesting this, the server informed us that they were out of the suckling pig and just asked us if we were still interested in proceeding with the tasting menu. Since this was the main item we wanted, we were thrown off by the news and we kindly requested a few more minutes to review the carte menu. The server did not make any offerings or suggestions for this inconvenience, instead, she said that if we wanted to still do the tasking menu we would have to start it now or else forfeit the tasking menu altogether. Due to the pressure, we agreed to proceed. If they had simply asked us on the phone if we wanted the tasking menu, perhaps they would have prepared enough pigs for their reservations. If they had told us at check in that they were out of the pig, we would have more carefully reviewed the menu. Or if they had given us more time or even offered some recommendations, it would have changed the experience.
The first few dishes were decent and consistent in presentation, almost identical on each of our plates. The two mains were venison and lamb (replacing the suckling pig). Except they served my partner the venison twice just in a different cut and presentation when the rest of us got the lamb. We assumed an honest mistake and raised our concern with our server who did not apologize but said she will check. Quickly she returned to affirm that it was lamb and that our assumption was wrong. We simply acknowledged her. My partner did not want to press the issue, but he was the one who planned the dinner and the one that was mainly looking forward to the suckling pig, so I knew he was the most disappointed with how the night was going, and I found it unfair that his was the one that was in error. After dessert, I realized that since we took pictures of our dishes, perhaps it would help the staff realize that this was in fact a mistake (also because it was TINY. I feel like the least they could do was just offer to re-serve the right one.) I gently called the server and showed her the pictures, and she said she would check again. Within minutes, a different lady approached us and immediately stated firmly and briefly that we were wrong and that she assures us that what was served was lamb. I was a bit taking aback by her approach, since this was our first interaction with her and she did not even ask what our concern was on any level. I decided to explain myself anyway, and that it was odd that all the dishes before were consistent and identical at each presentation, except this round. Also even if it was the same meat, why was his portion SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than myself and the other guest’s and different tastes. She insisted that it was the same. We were left with an awkward silent stare. The staff was well aware our experience was less than ideal, yet we were charged €300+ and it was the most expensive of any of our other dinners in Porto (including some Michelins). We left extremely disappointed. This restaurant is far from star level and need to put a lot of work in their hospitality side of the experience. They had many opportunities to rectify shortcomings yet we were still failed by many levels of their staff and were not once acknowledged or compensated.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Very disappointing. Not catastrophic but frankly not up to par. Where I was expecting tender and tasty meat, the Iberian pork turned out to be dry and tasteless, and the accompaniment unremarkable. On the other hand, I really liked the dessert combining chocolate, coffee and white asparagus. Very random service in terms of smiles.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Top notch, some of the starters were a bit bland. The dessert was good, but could have had a little more acidity. Super atmosphere and fantastic service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Very nice and cosy atmosphere. Concept with fire-cooked dishes is great and very promising! Selection of dishes is very nice, though it is a shame they don‘t have a single vegetarian dish (even as a meat and fish lover I would like some vegetable based dishes to give variety to the menu).
Unfortunately the dishes did not live up to the beautiful presentation and high expectations. The dishes were quite bland and barely had any wood/fire aromas. For example, we had a piece of meat with barely any char/fire marks.
It‘s a shame because some parts of the dishes tasted good, you can tell the chefs have potential. The food is also presented wonderfully. Just not brave, no punchy flavours, nothing to remember. Also small „mistakes“ — bread slightly dense, beurre blanc lacking acidity, meat rare instead of medium rare, veggies almost raw (we like them crunchy but that was too far).
The service was unfortunately not very friendly and missing charm and hospitality. We felt rushed throughout the dinner, and the servers were not able to give a description of any of the wines by the glass on the wine menu (despite there being only 10 or so wines by the glass). Also too many of the dishes arrived at the same time, so they turned cold while we were eating.
In the end, we paid 5x as much as we did for our lunch earlier and we left disappointed. Bottom line: huge potential, nice place, food does not live up to the expectations, service sub-par.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
It's good, correct food, good product
Staff a bit serious
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Food is great, a lot of effort put into each dish but my god... we had the €90+ dinner tasting menu (because you can ONLY have the tasting menu when you are a group of 5+, which is fair) but to think that would speed up the process... nope that lasted 3 hours... The wait between our mains and pre-dessert was 20mins alone... I was falling asleep ? The service is extremely slow for the price point... Don't think I will recommend or come again... Dessert needs some rethinking too the cherry and cheese combination does not work
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
Spectacular dinner with a great tasting menu made with good quality and cooked all on a grill.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Just amazing! Top service and cuisine
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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