We just spent eight glorious nights exploring the Azores, including the tranquil and lush Pico…read moreIsland. We ate at many restaurants including some iconic and widely recommended gems. None of them compared to Garrafeira da Vila. The four courses we had were perfect down to the finest detail. We dipped the last of our yummy bread basket to sop up the broth which held the fresh caught shrimp. The beef was like butter and the salad was the freshest I had on three islands. How does Julio do it? He is also a charming and engaged host. We will be back!!

If you are visiting Pico, add this restaurant to your itinerary! Decorated with a mix of modern…read morestyle and the perfect touch of the island's history, the atmosphere is perfect to enjoy a wide variety of wines and tapas. The Gambás, the Linguiça á Moda do Pico and the Lombo de novilho á Regional were all delicious. For wine lovers, the vast selection of wines offers red, white and rosé options. We had the Adega de Palmela Premium Moscatel Galego Roxo, crisp, refreshing, and just the precise amount of sweetness. Bom Apetite!

Wonderful place! Friendly and great food. I love this place and I am a regular. The chef came to…read moreour table to make sure we were happy a couple of times. Great fun place.

Amazing food!!!! We preordered the steak meal and it was so so good!!! Best food, service and…read moreambiance. We will be back!!!! Thank you

This is an AMAZING restaurant. First.. the owner and his daughter and ALL of their staff are…read morewonderful people and very fun and gracious. The food... you will not find more amazing flavorful dishes and variety of local delicacies. Next... the atmosphere is so fun it is a local's hangout. We met locals and foreigners alike and everyone enjoyed their time with each other and great conversations. It's hard to put into words the experience and it all starts with the owners and staff. My wife's father is from Pico and we are from America. I took her there to visit family and to see this wonderful island for the first time. Tasca o Patrica is a MUST on your check list in Pico.

Thank you. Tasca crew, for the perfect service and the delicious food! We were the first to be…read moreseated tonight, and treated like royalty the entire evening! We tasted the ocean tonight with fried octopus, fresh cracas, grilled lapas, grilled shrimp, and seared tuna, and the lava rocks with our local Syrah! Simply De-Lish!

This was our go-to restaurant for meals. It was on the pricier side with meals ranging from 80-120…read morefor 4 people. That being said, it didn't disappoint. The service was exceptional and the cafe itself is very cute. We didn't have reservations, but it was a slow time of the year. Definitely recommend their pork sandwich and lapas.

Excellent food & service. We had grilled octopus, beef a cinco, grilled prawns, & passion fruit…read morepannacotta for dessert w/cappuccino. The well seasoned dishes were one of the best on Pico & service was friendly & quick.

The food was good at their weekend brunch. That being said, it was pricey at $28 per person. They…read morecharged the same amount for the kids, and they hardly ate anything. I'd say $12-15 for kids would have been a fair price and earned them an additional star. The restaurant itself is large and open. It's right on the water.

Pastries were delicious! They take credit cards and the service was wonderful. The view is lovely.read more

Another hit on Pico! The service was amazing! We were the only ones at the restaurant, as it was…read morepouring rain outside. We had tea, soup, the bread basket, and four entrees. The entrees were okay, but everything else was amazing!

Bright and airy cafe with super comfy chairs. Relaxing…read moreenvironment for tea and cakes. Short 10 min walk from Madalena city center.

Small place that looks like it was decorated from a country western surplus shop. Indoor seating is…read moreat pinic tables and benches. Fun atmosphere. Place was mostly locals on a Thursday night. A good sign in general. The menu had a number of local faves like bife regional or as they call it bife dos taberna, octopus, squids, etc. Generally, food in Pico is fairly well seasoned with salt. This place took salt up another notch. The steaks, fries, and squid was too salty. However, the fresh cheese lacked any seasoning. So three stars for over and under seasoning.

I was very happy and a bit surprised we got into this place just by walking up. It was very…read morecrowded which is something we hadn't really seen at other restaurants around town, surely a good sign. Most places in the Azores are casual but this place is the exception and begs you to at least dress up a little bit. The restaurant is very nicely designed and has a nice blue hue to it which is very calming. To continue the calm theme, try to get a table on the covered patio which is gorgeous and looks out over the sea. We got the fish soup, Portuguese sausage, prawn and fish skewer, and the octopus is garlic and olive oil. The fish soup was great. It had great flavor, perfect amount of saltiness and nice pieces of fish, although one should watch out for small bones as I had a few in mine. The sausage had an interesting flavor but it went well with the sweet potato that was with it. My mother got the prawn and fish skewer. I only had one bite but I thought it was just ok. She seemed to enjoy it though and the presentation is not to be missed. I got the octopus in garlic and olive oil and although I don't have a picture of it let me tell you, this was the best octopus I've ever had! It was super tender, not rubbery, and incredibly flavorful. The only drawback is that I wish they would've done something more as a side instead of just plain potatoes. They weren't bad as they soaked up the garlicky olive oil but something more surely could've been done. Overall I really enjoyed this place. The service was slow but the food was good and the views were great. It was just a nice atmosphere in general to enjoy a nice meal.

Great option for outdoor dining with a great view of the ocean in Pico/ Madelena. Octopus, shrimp,…read morePeixe-porco and Veja were the highlights. Reserve in advance to lock in outdoor seating (on the right side if looking out to the ocean. Left side doesn't have a good angle on Horta)

This was our second trip to the Azores but our first time to Pico. We are seasoned foodies and…read morecooks back home in NY....Translated ( not impressed easily... lol) So discovering Atmosfera was a breath of fresh air, or in this case fresh pesto! Cynthia and I combined are 125% Italian so the thought of fresh pasta etc. got us in the car and our way. This place is kind of hard to find. Great property with sweeping views in almost every direction including Mt Pico which I had climbed earlier that day. Let me preface the meal by saying the Azores aren't known for world class cuisine. We love it here, but didn't find any gourmet options on the biggest island - Sao Miguel. So it was surprising that tiny Pico Island would be the place where we finally found a proper gourmet meal prepared by a passionate Italian chef and staff. We had the pesto pasta & the bolognese sauce. The wines were local with some good and very affordable Italian options. The service is personal and warm. Desserts were outrageous; Lemon Meringue Pastry shortbread concoction Panna Cotta We enjoyed so much we returned the following night and ordered some new offerings... Carrot Onion soup - Absolutely amazing with polished presentation ( see pic) Pork Shank- Cynthia ordered this as I normally don't order pork. She let me try it and it stole the show... tender, moist with perfectly prepared roasted potatoes on the side. This dinner was so satisfying we had to skip dessert. We had a different server who was extremely courteous & polished ( which was not our experience at most of the best restaurants on Sao Miguel ). The only negative we felt was the bread. It was served room temperature and just ok. You gotta give a pass for this however , as the Azores aren't London, NY Paris, Rome or San Francisco. In one word.. Delizioso! We hope to return soon

I'm giving this place 2 stars because the location is nice and there's a pretty view…read more We were very disappointed with this restaurant. It claims to be Italian food but I don't find the food here Italian. There's 2-3 Italian dishes and that's it. We ordered 2 appetizers, the cheese board and shrimp cocktail. They were pricy appetizers so I was expecting a large cheese board and a traditional shrimp cocktail with large cold shrimp and cocktail sauce. Instead, we got 6 small slices of cheese, 2 thin slices of pear and 1 walnut. We also got 4 hot over cooked shrimp, a questionable sauce which was not cocktail sauce over a salad... I don't know what that was but it was not shrimp cocktail. The appetizers were very disappointing. We ordered 2 pastas. The waitress raved over the noodles being homemade. I've had homemade noodles before and they're very soft... I didn't find the noodles soft. The sauce also wasn't very good and kind of bitter. We were excited about this place from the reviews but unfortunately we didn't find it very good. With the prices reflected on their menu being on the higher side, I guess we expected more. Advice : appetizers are meant to be shared. 6 small slices of cheese and a few thin sliced pears and 1 walnut isn't enough. Google "restaurant cheese boards" and "shrimp cocktail" and see how they're typically presented at restaurants. Also, shrimp cocktail is something which is very popular and is expected to be a cocktail sauce with chilled shrimp which aren't over cooked or warm.

Another visit to Faial left us craving past joys of eating at this Gastro pub! We happily showed up…read moreafter calling for two days without reaching someone! We had finally received Facebook response to say they were still open. Though the server was new to us and very timid and lagging in some professional aspects- the food was an explosion of flavor. Pros: Food. Location. Seating. Wines. Areas to improve: Speed of service. Response to phone calls. Options for food (we ate the same for two years)

Wow, this was an amazing find in Horta! The ambience was pleasant with nice jazz in the background…read more At first we were disappointed that the two items on the menu we wanted were no longer available. However, we were super happy with what we chose. Every dish we tasted was amazing! The fish soup & seafood salad were so good & the coconut fish was unique but fabulous! Who would think walnuts & pinapple would go so well together? The prices were also very reasonable for the quality of food. We are only in Horta for 4 nights but plan to return at least one more time.