My first time in a Portuguese Restaurant. Came here for Winterlicious. I ordered all seafood from…read moreappetizers (grilled sardines) and main (grilled squid). Taste good and it's filling. I feel full until the following day. Intimate place. Good for romantic dates. Staff very friendly. Will Love to come back.

Decent spot for Portuguese cuisine in a somewhat upscale ambiance. Menu selection includes various…read moregrilled seafood, cod, pasta, and risotto.

Once one of the top Portuguese restaurants in Toronto, Bairrada seems to have lost a step. I…read morerecently ordered a whole chicken and small potatoes via UberEats after a couple year hiatus, but was a bit disappointed. The chicken lacked the characteristic grill / char marks. The potatoes were bland, as if they were boiled rather than roasted. Or perhaps this was just a lazy attempt at slapping an order together because it was via Uber Eats? As always, their peri peri sauce is among the best in the city and saved the meal. Either way, lots of better options in the city these days.

It has been a few years since I was last here and my last visit wasn't too good but I thought I'd…read moregive them another chance based on their backyard patio. There were four of us and ordered the sangria to share between three of us which was a lot but refreshing. Apps were Lucas Freitas (fried calamari) and Chourico a Bombeiro (flaming sausage). Both were delicious. I forgot to mention the bread and Piri Piri Sauce which came in the form of a large bottle. These were complimentary and it's nice to see a restaurant continue this tradition. There used to be a very crusty artisan bread that was served but over the years that has disappeared and it's a white bread now. Three of us had chicken/chicken breast and one had veal. Even the small portion was very generous. The salad was underwhelming but a pretty presentation. The server got a couple of orders wrong and seemed very distracted. The piece de resistance was the "Portuguese Tarts" which made a wonderful finale to a good Al fresco dining experience.

Ordered the family platter came with a whole chicken and 3 sides. Rice, potato and grilled veggies…read morefor 39.99. The chicken was on the smaller side I'd say but it tasted decent. A bit on the drier side. I enjoyed the rice and veggies but the potato balls were different than I'm used to. It was very dry. Overall service was ok got my food quick. For some reason they have signs saying cash is better and if you pay with card they will charge 10% fee which is insane

The food is absolutely delicious, there excellent Peri-Peri Chicken ... definitely a favourite wth…read morelarge portions of rice & vegetables, grilled sardines ... service friendly & fast , ambiance of a small but shines on Portuguese culture foods , breads .. Thank you

Return visits while in Toronto (2 of 3)…read more I came back to Perla and its appeal, at least to me, is very much still there. You are greeted upon walking in to this family run Portuguese restaurant. This time, I tried a bitoque, a steak with an egg on top. It would be on the list of 10 typical entrees you'd find in a Portuguese restaurant. It was preceded by a salad, for which I selected the Caesar salad option. I followed it up with a dessert which was a goblet with a frothy type of gelatin, pudding, or mousse. The flavor was either passion fruit or guava. I forgot what it was immediately upon leaving because I devoured it so quickly! The frothiness made it lighter, such that it wouldn't weigh you down. By now, you should be able to tell this was a very good meal. A few things round out the experience. The bread was accompanied by a pate' or dip of sorts. It was excellent. I didn't know what it was, therefore I asked. It had tuna as well as a good number of other ingredients. Together, it did not taste very fishy or potent in any way, except incredibly flavorful. Their cuisine is representative of all of Portugal, although Perla's roots are in Northern Portugal. The painted ceramic rooster for good luck one often sees hails from Barcelos, just slightly north of the Porto area. In fact, the fueling and rest areas on the toll road through Barcelos have these modern metallic renditions of the rooster that are minimalistic silhouettes you look right through. I might add a few other things that made me glad I returned to Perla. For one, Lusophones are well represented among the customers. But, more importantly, they fill an important niche for me since so many Portuguese locales miss this mark. They are essentially a reliable mid-range restaurant with a broad enough menu. Here, you can avoid the end points that I don't much care for or seek - the piri piri (or peri peri) chicken places where you accompany your order with a pastel de nata that the "hey, wow man" types (at least on the Plateau in Montreal) tend to frequent and the high-end restaurants where Portuguese leans haute cuisine, a lot is about presentation, and the portions are small. (In Montreal, one such place should immediately come to mind.) I was happy that I stopped by, using the TTC card with which you can avoid the crazy Toronto traffic and parking hassles. The College Street streetcar practically stops in front of Perla's door. It all adds up. The team running this restaurant puts their hearts into their work. I am going to go with 5 stars, with each one representing a letter in the word P-E-R-L-A.

Great spot for Portuguese food! One thing I will say, is plan to sit and enjoy your stay. It can…read moretake a little while for food and service but it's nice. It's a more relaxed vibe. I had the grilled calamari appetizer and the veal for my main. Our group also went with the server's recommendations (including my choose to get the veal). We were all happy with what was recommended. They brought us some bread but it was toasted and really hard. I didn't love that. The food took a bit and was nice but not the most beautiful. It was very tasty though! Our server was incredibly nice and our glasses were never empty. She took extra care when splitting the bill for us and we had a great time.

I was in Toronto for the 200K Princess Margaret Ride to Conquer Cancer and after 2 long days of…read morebiking, I was on the hunt for a fantastic meal and Chiado did not disappoint. It was the perfect capstone...nice, upscale, delicious Portuguese food and seafood. Based on the availability on the website, I was concerned + discouraged that I would not be able to get a table, but I was able to walk in and get a table without any issue. I started my meal with the Tiger Shrimp appetizer (Gambas Mozambique). They were accented with a delicious piri piri sauce and the overall flavor was phenomenal. Clams were my first choice, but they were out of them. For my main, I tried a special white flaky fish that they had from the Azores that resembles a perch. It was delicious! For dessert, I had the vanilla meringue dessert. It was good but by this point I was so full. The slice was huge, but the meringue just melted in your mouth. I really liked the wine list....they had vinos from the different parts of Portugal. I sat in the front part of the restaurant and enjoyed looking out the windows to people watch. Service was great! I highly recommend Chiado!

We got to experience, private dining. Our Christmas party/ end of your celebration was held here…read more We had fresh appetizers. For dinner I had the risotto. The wine was impeccable. We found out that the owner has his own vineyard, which was absolutely stunning. I recommend this for an intimate setting !

I've ordered the family combos from here a few times. I prefer the BBQ chicken over the grilled…read morechicken (which I found a bit dry) *Note, if you want grilled chicken in the combo, you have to order in advance. The french fries are so good. I think they're double fried, which make them crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They do not hold up well for leftovers though. The rice and potatoes were okay. The potatoes were kind of bland. I prefer the rice over the potatoes. It would be nice if there was a creamy sauce with the potatoes or something, but I know the rice and potato combo is quite traditional. My boyfriend loves the sauce, but it's a bit spicy for me. The soup that comes in the combo is friggin' delicious fresh homemade chicken soup. The buns are good, the salad is pretty basic. You do get a lot of food for the price, and is a very affordable family meal. I LOVE suckling pig. In the Philippines we call it lechon. You can order it from here, but you have to order the whole pig. Unfortunately, way too much for my family to eat, but I'd love to try one time. The location is very small, and you often have to wait, so I would order in advance whenever possible. They have some individual lunch combos which I'd like to go back to try. Very good prices on those.

I ordered combo #1 from Churrasco of St Clair. When I got home, I found the chicken to be dry and…read moreflavorless.

The space is intimate and cozy, and perfect for lingering over shared plates and drinks. The staff…read moreare genuinely friendly and caring, and they're great at guiding you through the menu, especially when it comes to cocktail recommendations. The tapas are really good, though dishes did come out a bit on the slower side. But honestly, it fits the whole experience here: order a few cocktails, enjoy the atmosphere, and let the night unfold at its own pace (within the seating time limit of course). One of those spots that makes you want to order just one more plate. We got: * Half Octopus * Mussels Escabeche * Jamón Croqueta * Shishito Peppers * Sea Bream Ceviche & Chips * Grilled Beef Tongue & Mojo Rojo * Sobrasada & Foie Gras

Rating this a 4/5 overall because I did enjoy my experience here, but I will say the food itself…read morewas more like a 3/5. Came here on a Thursday night and was surprised at how busy it was for a weekday. Despite that, the service was excellent! Staff were friendly off the bat and very attentive after each dish was finished, making sure to wipe off the table or exchanging the plates which I was really impressed with despite how busy they were. We decided to go with their tasting menu where you gave them a price range you wanted to stick to - I believe it was $85-$200, and you can mention some dishes you definitely want to try and they curate the rest for you which I thought was so unique! I loved the idea of that. The dishes we really wanted were the octopus, bone marrow and scallops. The only standout dishes to me were the scallops, and a salad I cannot remember the name of but was so shocked at how good just a simple salad could be. Other than that, the other dishes were still good, but nothing extraordinary to be honest. The octopus was a bit too charred which was disappointing as it was what I was looking forward to the most. The tasting menu we got also had mainly vegetable dishes (other than the ones I just mentioned), so was hoping to get a few more meat dishes. This is definitely a great spot for vegetarians as it had a lot of veggie dishes. I would still come back to maybe try some of their other more meat focused dishes. Overall, I still had a great time and can't stress enough how lovely our waitress and the rest of the staff were!

So great! I had the…read morewaffle stuffed with brisket and took a pint of ice cream good! Amazing!

This Portuguese place was absolutely amazing. We tried various tapas and they were all excellent…read more Good services. Will certainly be back when in the area.

The service and ambiance were good but the food didn't taste worth the price…read more My friend got the grilled chicken main course and didn't expect so many bones in the dish and each potato he had was either overcooked, just right, or undercooked. My other friends shared the piri-pork chicken tacos and the portions were so small inside the taco for each one to cost $6. I got the saffron paella which is supposed to be a dry dish but the texture was very moist and it was too hot to enjoy. The only item we enjoyed was the pastels de natas but each piece was $4 and again it personally was too hot for me to enjoy when it reached the table.

Delicious tapas! Gorgeous interior. Wonderful service. Can be a little loud with the club…read moreupstairs but it didn't bother us. Would definitely recommend!

We were told before ordering that service would be slow. When we paid, we were asked how was…read moreeverything. "You were told service would be slow," we were reminded. Upon leaving and waiting, we were approached and apologized but in the same breath we were warned service would be slow for one reason or another. As a customer, I then would give some concessions but everyone was clearly upset it was almost 4 hours. It would have been better if the customer service was present. But when we one of us went to grab the water decanter to refill water three times even while our server watched us and kept walking - that was a no, no. The food was okay and perhaps suffered from staffing issues but when you're paying 100 per plate I would like a better dining experience. The best thing we had was dessert but we waited almost an hour for this. One almost fell asleep waiting. The atmosphere clearly suffered from the tables around us. We could hear how upset people were and they asked for their food to go. I could hear the table next door in Portuguese want the bill. They wanted their dessert and it just wasn't coming. We were in the same boat. Had at least the customer service been positive - our table would feel better. We asked for help with our table that kept shaking but that didn't happen. Not fun to eat while table is shaking. We watched while everyone had received bread so we asked. She clearly wasn't pleased we requested this. Her facial expression read upset while her eyes rolled up. I was a honestly regretting asking. Then when she brought it to our table, she firmly planted that plate on our table and walked away. That's not very kind at all. It was one of the most upsetting evenings.

Spoiler Alert: it sucks!…read more As a Porkchop (Portuguese) myself, taking my porkchop mom out for Mother's Day, I haven't been this disappointed in ages. This was worse than when Portugal lost to Greece in the 2004 Euro finals. I spent just shy of $400 for 4 people, without wine, and the food was below mediocre. Octopus ($50) was over cooked and bland. Lamb Shank ($45) was a good portion but over cooked and bland. Piri-Piri shrimp app ($40!!) was ok taste wise, but again, a bit over cooked. 5 average shrimp for $40...$8 per mother f'n shrimp. What on earth did these shrimp do to get that price tag? Cure shrimp cancer? Win shrimp Nobel prize? I drop stupid amounts of money on food every month, and it doesn't always work out, but this was a brutal experience. I feel like I got scammed by my own brethren. The pictures on IG look good, but the food is not good and the prices are outrageous. It was like a tinder profile with tons of filters and only the face shown....you know how this story ends. Just go to Mercado Negro or Piri-Piri and thank me later.