Central Cafe Carvoeiro - Lagoa

This spot is great if you like watching people go by and you can see the sea in the far distance. You would easily be able to spend the whole day here. Just order 1 drink and you're good for 40 minutes of people watching before it'll come and if you make the mistake of ordering food it'll take even longer to arrive. We only went in, despite the exhorbitant prices, because they served pizza for my son and we wanted something other than that. He has tried 3 other pizza restaurants nearby and loved them but he had one bite of this one and said it tasted funny and it made him feel sick. Our food started off ok, garlic mushrooms and garlic bread were fine but too big a portion of mushrooms, and believe me, I am generally into big portions. Now I never want to see a mushroom again. We counted six sad looking prawns in the pasta dish. I had a completely tasteless chicken kebab with an insultingly small portion of peanut sauce, accompanied by shrivelled dried up chips and a strange tasting salad that no amount of oil and vinegar could make edible. The kebab came on some kind of gibbet that the skewer hung from. Foolishly I expected it to be sizzlingly hot but it was only tepid to the touch and I had no problem picking it up and putting it on my plate. Incredibly it took them over an hour to serve up cold food! I gradually choked down the kebab by asking for more sauce (which also was pretty bland). I asked for the bill but you have to go inside to pay. They can't, apparently, print a bill until you have paid! Generally slow service from staff who clearly don't want to be there and hate pesky customers that come in and spoil their day, tasteless food and many tables left stuff on their plates that they couldn't bring themselves to force down. To sum up, it is the Fawlty Towers of Carvoiero restaurants. Do yourself a favour and avoid it. After experiencing this I genuinely don't think I ever want to chance eating out somewhere new ever again. The bill at 96 euros was the dearest we have had so far for dinner and we only had 2 diet cokes and a water to drink. The next dearest was 4 euros less and that time we had two portions of Fillet Mignon.

Lovely staff who were clearly run off their feet. However they told us it would be slow and the amazing black pork was worth the wait. Overall a good experience just felt sorry that the owners cant source more staff to prevent the ones there getting a hard time.

Looked like a nice location but quickly went downhill by poor service. Waited 40 minutes for a bottle of wine to be served. Eventually food appeared but that coincided with cockroaches appearing on the wall and seating of our table (inside) to which the staff reaction was to carry on serving food and try and kill a cockroach with a cushion. We left. There are so many better, brighter and more hygienic locations .. don’t eat here.

We called in here for dinner and initially the service was excellent attentive and professional. The food arrived reasonably quickly and portion sizes were good and the food was ok, my tuna steak was slightly overcooked but nothing major. We finished our food and were going to order desserts but one staff member was busy on their phone and the other was busy chatting. We waited for minutes and then the manager came over and collected our plates and we chose to leave rather than spending longer. Bit of a shame really.

To visit portugal, visit for a high time, so had no experience where to and to visit. came here when she looked really nice from the front. really friendly staff. really good food. highly recommended. Chicken satay kebab was presented excellently and the burger was also fantastic. highly recommended. only hope for the last terrible 2 years for all who cancel dinge (we live in Spain and know how hard locks covid is 10/10