There are times when a restaurant seems to be the creme-de-la-creme from Yelp! reviewers, and turns out (in our reality) to be like we entered a parallel universe, where the opposite happens. Kind Kitchen turned out to be one of those places, sadly. It was a bit of a walk from the Ribeira; however, the reviews were extremely positive and it was a beautiful evening, so the half-mile stroll (at first glance) appeared warranted.
The place was fairly busy when we arrived (a good sign, perhaps?), and the wait-gal who greeted us seemed friendly and showed us to our table (next to the front door), then was gone. She was off to help other tables, and we never heard from her again. After an inordinately long wait for someone to show up, my other-half had to hail another waitperson to at least start us with something to drink! (NOT an auspicious start, sadly....)
Being a 100% vegan restaurant, there was no questioning for restrictive ingredients, which is always a nice thing for plant-based/vegan eaters. Thus, the menu was extensive, with a wide variety of choices to be had. We decided to share a starter of Korean BBQ tofu; I ordered the burrito for my main. When the starter arrived in a bowl (large chunks of yummy-looking BBQ-coated tofu)--which we had stated to the waitperson that we would be sharing when ordered--there was no individual plates offered (nor was there any waitperson to ask for them--we just "assumed" (Oh, no, that word!) small plates would be arriving; which didn't), so we simply ate out of the bowl, which wasn't the most convenient, especially with sauce oozing off the individual pieces. That said, the starter was very tasty; although, the "Korean" sauce wasn't spicy as one would expect if you've ever eaten Korean food. Nonetheless, as stated, it was a filling starter. My burrito main dish was decent, but "nothing to write home to Mom about," as they say. (The hubs wasn't particularly happy with his seitan chimichurri steak; but that's for him to review.) The service remained absent, on par with the rest of the meal. Again, when it was time for us to check-out, we had to stand-up and find someone to pay the bill. Okey-dokey....
Naturally, when all is said and done, we won't (and didn't) return to Kind Kitchen during our Porto stay. Fortunately for them, they can live off their laurels from other customers.... read more