I am combining my description of the service and Ambiance as super spectacular and so inviting. When we got there around 10:00 p.m. at night on October 15th the restaurant was jumping. There were two other groups before us that were sat pretty quickly within 15 minutes or so. During the time we were waiting the hostess was extremely friendly and kept giving us updates on when the table was going to be ready and was making light conversation with us as we waited. When we finally got seated you could tell that the servers were definitely busy trying to get everyone's food and drinks out and so the same hostess came to us and said don't worry I'll take your order for you and told us the things that were the most popular which from my pictures we basically got everything she said LOL. And we were not disappointed with the food that we chose. Now we know why they are considered the house specialties. The flavors of the potato fish cheesy goodness dish I cannot remember the name of it was just so warm and comforting. I was worried about a fishiness coming through when you took different bites but no all the flavor is harmonized well with each other. The tuna salad that they made was extremely fresh and again was pleasantly surprised that though it was fish the spices and bread/butter combo that came with it really didn't give any fishiness. It was also well balanced. Now I will say though those other dishes were amazing our favorite hands down was definitely the grilled octopus. It was so tender and almost melt in your mouth. We were blown away by how well it was cooked. For sure I would say if you are in the area and have a good amount of time please check this spot out and give yourself at least 3 hours to enjoy the meal because again we sat there laughing eating and talking with the people around us because it was that fantastic of a Time for roughly 3 hours. read more

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Good food, good wine and service. The Douro is across the street, so the views are great. All the Port houses are within a couple minutes walk. I would have given a (slightly) more descriptive review, but the entire walk along the river is mobbed by tourists, which also makes any place you stop around here for food or drink double price. read more

This is the tourist trap but well used for a snack and drink it's got great choices. Heaters by the tables outside if you can get by one. Very busy during afternoons. The table side chorizo that they light with a flame for you along with a fantastic pitcher of sangria is worthwhile. We did not eat a lot there and weather was awful but it was a fun place to sit and people watch for a drink and snack. We even had a "flash band" set in front of us during the rain! They deserved their tip! Situated right on the main town side of the Douro river it's quite close to all the sites. read more

Found this place while walking along river and recall it was recommended by someone as well. A bit of a wait but not long, maybe 20 minutes with a nice view. Since I do not eat meat, I loved the egg scramble with vegetable option. Warm, heart and very tasty. The beet was delicious and fresh. I highly recommend this place. Nice staff with great atmosphere and food. read more

If your looking for AMAZING AUTHENTIC Portugesse food with an amazing view of Oporto, don't look any further, this is the spot!! We stopped by for dinner around 8pm and this place was packed! Luckily we got seated right away outside and have a SPECTACULAR VIEW of OPorto. The view itself was worth dinning here lol. Honestly the food was a 10/10. We ordered several items of the menu to try such as the the seafood rice, shrimp, grilled chorizo, bread and cheese plate. Everything was of great quality and had so much flavor!!! The seafood rice was the star of the night and was so so good. We also ordered a couple drinks and our total came out to 80 euros. Worth every penny. Overall, I highly reccomend this place when in Oporto. Great menu, good prices. What more could you want from this place. Obrigada Taberninha do Manuel! read more

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Friendly location to visit after a vibrant afternoon walkinVila Nova de Gaia. Of course, this is a perfect place to seat outside, enjoying a perfect view of the river, the Luis I bridge, and Porto on the other side... Our server - Nestor - was extremely warm and friendly, guiding us with great menu recommendations. Food was excellent and prices very reasonable. Can't miss this. Excellent overall!! read more

Taberninha do Manel - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

Taberninha do Manel is fantastic. Truly. There are some places that may leave you wondering if you made the right decision to spend the limited amount of time you've got on a trip going there. Taberninha do Manel will not do that. This place is worth the time. Absolutely delicious. Service was prompt and attentive and the food was fantastic... and who wouldn't want to sit outside looking at the Douro River? Lovely! RECOMMENDED!!!! read more

Taberninha do Manel - Our wonderful red wine - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

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This is a great option for local tapas. The food is good, portions are big, and the view of the riverwalk is excellent if you get one of the outdoor tables. My favorite item was the grilled chorizo with bread and olives. The chorizo had a nice char, the bread had a sticky consistency (almost mochi-like), and the olives were garlicky. I also liked the veal cheeks in port and vegetable a bras. For dessert, we tried a mousse with egg-like custard; it was interesting, but probably not my favorite dessert as it had too much whipped cream (1 star off). The port flight was fun to try, consisting of a white port, rose port, ruby port, and tawny port. My favorite was the white port. This place is good to try a flight if you haven't tried any...unlikely right? read more

Taberninha do Manel - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

Cais de Gaia is a wonderful Promenade. Nice views, lots of tasting rooms and lots of restaurants. We had lunch here and it was really delicious. Took a table outside where our Bulldog was welcome as well. Had some bread and goats butter for starters. Also some very good olives. The Polvo Assado (grilled octopus) and baked Bacalhau casserole for mains. Both excellent dishes. Octopus was grilled to perfection, fresh, tender. Really nice meals. Had a bottle of good white wine with the meal. After the meal we went for two flights of Porto. The "Pack Taberninha" for 18 Euros and the "Pack Porto Prestige" for 28 Euros. There is also the "Pack Port 120 Years" which is all Tawny Port. Good Port, but since we know Tawny well, we didn't go for that one. Our two flights were wonderful. A real discovery was the 10 and 20 Year old White Porto "Dona Antonia" from "Ferreira". Divine. Also the "Ruby Reserve Organic" from "Fonseca" was excellent. A young Porto, somwhere between a heavy wine and Porto. Great for some warmer days I'd say. We had a great time here. Staff was amazing. Friendly, helpful. Made us feel very welcome. A nice place to get some good meals. Or to have some Porto and/or wine. read more

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Great spot to watch the sun set over Porto. Near the Luis I bridge and the winery. We did two different Port flights plus bread + butter and olives. A lovely "sit". read more

Taberninha do Manel - Bread butter and olives! - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

Both the food and the service were excellent. Unfortunately, I didn't catch the waiter's name, but he was very attentive and a pleasure to talk to about the cool 70s/80s music that was playing. read more

Great food and service. Accommodated a group of 5 with only a few minutes of waiting. Shrimp, octopus and clams were delicious read more

Taberninha do Manel - Grilled octopus - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

When in Porto... Tapas galore and so delicious. Too many to choose from but had to add this for folks who are interested. Pictures doesn't do it justice. read more

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One of the best meals I've had in a while. The octopus was incredible, and the seafood rice casserole was full of tasty shrimp, mussels, and clams. What a great way to spend our first night in Porto! read more

Taberninha do Manel - Mediterranean octopus - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

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Pro-tip: Sit outside beginning at 6pm, for both daytime, sunset, and twilight views. Service: 5* Price: 4* Taste: 5* Ambience: 5* Based upon Yelp reviews, we stopped here. This place gets very busy, so plan accordingly. This restaurant is located in the cais de gaia area of Porto. Next to all the Port tasting locations. Below the gondolas. The 4 of each had a meal. The beef and pork stew was delicious. The salad and mussels were also very good. The cod was good. The bacalau cake with potatoes was awesome. The desserts were fantastic. The house red wine was excellent. Service was top notch. We will return. read more

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I enjoyed my visit to Taberninha do Manel! It is in a prime location in Gaia with a view of the market and the river. I came just before lunchtime and was seated quickly - come early because it fills up quickly! There is indoor and outdoor seating but I wanted to people watch. I ordered a cheese plate with bread and olives which was good but not as good as another spot across the river. I also tried the seafood empanadas which were surprisingly mostly nacho cheese and very tiny bits of shrimp. I was disappointed by this - they should put full size shrimps in it if they can for that seafood flavor!! I wouldn't order again. I would say 5 stars for location. 4 stars for service - there were only a few waiters for the entire restaurant and they seemed overwhelmed serving others so it took some time to flag them down. 3 stars for the food. I would consider coming back to try a full meal though! read more

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Fantastic ambient, great prices and wine selection. I went with customers authentic food.

So far my favorite dinner in Portugal! The outdoor patio overlooks the River Douro and is next to several Port wineries. The ceramics that our food were served on really added to the aesthetic!! Portions were big and everything tasted good!! Mixed greens salad had an amazing olive oil based dressing! The beef empanadas were crispy and hearty! Wasn't crazy about the brown bread, but enjoyed the white bread to go with our sheep's cheese (new favorite) and prosciutto! (side note: the prosciutto is done really well in Portugal)! By far our favorite french fries in Portugal! Washing it all down with Green Wine was perfection! Overall so happy with this dinner! read more

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What a great staff, location, code and food. Spent hours having lunch so we represented next day with same joy.

Great service, food and location. The only downfall is all the smokers around you. That was really disturbing as I suffer from asthma, and people were smoking everywhere. The ciggerette smoke was blowing in our direction, even though we moved tables. We were in a hurry to leave unfortunately. read more

Authentic Portuguese dishes. Must try the empanadas - and don't think twice about the seafood one, our favorite so much we came back a second time for them! We also tried the famous Franchescina sandwich. Have to try one.. can say we did . All in all delicious and the staff super friendly.! read more

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After a nice walk across the Dom Luis bridge, we found this restaurant right by the river. They had a decent amount of outdoor seating, which I highly recommend for dinner during sunset. We got the Empanadilla de Cerdo Iberico y Queso de Serra de Estrella as a starter. It still took a while for these to come out, but they were great. Nice crispy outside and the filling was delicious. For entrees we ordered the Bife de Lombo de Boi and Francesinha. We thought both dishes were good and very filling. The experience was really made by the fact that we were dining by the water while the sun set, with people out and about and boats passing by. It was definitely one of those once in a lifetime moments. read more

Taberninha do Manel - Bife de Lombo de Boi and Francesinha - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

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My dad was on a mission to find *THE* octopus dish he's been seeing pictures of while in Porto, and somehow our google map restaurant search led us here. We should have known by its waterfront, touristy hot-spot location that this wasn't it, fam, but alas. Our experience started out great, as the waitress helped us find an A+ parking spot during our dinner, and a warm, outdoor table where we could keep an eye out on the car just in case. Unfortunately, that's where the good ended. We ordered the Mediterranean Octopus w/ Green Sauce, Manel's Pica-Pau (Portuguese Meat Stew), Seafood Rice, and sangria made with port wine. Our waitress also confirmed she'd bring us some bread along with our meal, which we were fine with. The dishes came out very slowly, one dish at a time. The octopus was very unfresh and fishy, and if you order the octopus from the Petiscos & Tapas section, the octopus comes chopped up vs. whole. This was very much NOT what my dad was anticipating, and a let down. The Manel's Pica-Pau (Portuguese Meat Stew) was fine, but at this point we still hadn't received any bread (nor were we able to flag down our waitress), which was disappointing given it would have gone well with the stew. Lastly, when it had been so long that we thought our seafood rice didn't make it into the kitchen, it finally came out, and it was a bit bland and pretty small for the price. Ultimately, the only good thing on our table from this meal was our sangria. Between the extremely disjointed service, mediocre food, and strange pacing, this was definitely a big miss. read more

Cute restaurant on the other side of the river with views of Porto! Service was quick and dishes were very authentic. It's fun to sit outside when the weather is nice! Loved all the dishes we got, including the octopus salad, fried green beans, and sizzling sausage. read more

I stopped here after wine tasting on a Saturday afternoon. They have a perfect outdoor patio that faces the Douro River. It's definitely very busy but perfect place to grab a traditional meal and people watch on a weekend. I ordered the Bolinhos de bacalhau, a soft cheese and the traditional chorizo. All items were great and large portions, so good for sharing. The only minor inconvenience is that the service is a little slower but if you are not in a rush, it's a great place to leisurely enjoy food and a glass (or bottle) of wine. read more

Taberninha do Manel - Bolinhos de bacalhau, chorizo, soft cheese - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

Food was decent, large portions, good prices. My only issue was how tiny the restaurant is and how difficult it is to sit comfortably with a group. I had strangers shoving into me on my left and another one bumping into my back because our seats were pressed so close together. read more

Best meal we had in Porto! The shrimp with head on was my favorite dish. The seafood empanadas were perfect. The franceschina was nice to try for the first time, but I probably wouldn't order it again. The vinho verde was light and crisp and paired well with the seafood heavy meal. read more

Fantastic food and service. Breathtaking view of Porto. I had Bacalhau de nata and Porto wine. DELICIOUS! read more

Taberninha do Manel - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

Had a great early dinner here! We were seated pretty quickly & got to enjoy the outdoor patio while dining! The inside had a cute tavern aesthetic & the patio was large with a great location for people watching/situated steps from the Douro river. We ordered a bottle of green wine which was nice & cold in the ice bucket they brought us for the rest of the meal! We were craving charcuterie so we ordered some prosciutto which was a large serving & came with this brown bread that was super dense and I loved the spongy flavor of it! We also ordered sheep's cheese to go along with the meat and it was creamy & delicious and also came with small pieces of sourdough so we could make our own mini sandwiches with the meat & cheese!The beef empanadas were filled with a good amount of beef and I throughly enjoyed the corn meal type outer shell! The mixed greens side salad was cheap and large enough for 2 to share! The dressing was a nice tangy oil-based dressing that fully covered the salad. The fries were delicious and had a nice crunchy shell on the outside. Overall this meal was so satisfying and I loved the array of dishes my family was able to share! Our waiter came back to the table often & our food was served pretty quickly! Really enjoyed the outdoor seating and it was relaxing after sightseeing all day! read more

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Very busy, and now I know why. I stopped for coffee and beef empanadas. The best empanadas ever. Light, fluffy, and full of flavor. All with an outstanding view of the harbor. read more

What hype? Absolutely worth the wait on a random weekday night! Situated right outside the Calem wine cellars, this spot has the perfect location to welcome those looking for a filling meal post-wine tour, and we were no different. There were ~10 parties ahead of us in line and the wait was roughly 30 minutes or so, but definitely worth it. The seafood rice featured incredibly rich and delicious flavors, but the star of the show by far was the octopus. Going down as the best octopus I've eaten in my life (so far), the flavors were out of this world! The meat tasted like...meat, not seafood while remaining tender and juicy. Washing everything down with a porto sangria made for a really memorable night on the riverfront in Porto! read more

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We really enjoy the time here, the sangria was really good, the cod and potatoes dish was good but it's very filling, if you have apperirizers you can share the dish. If you arrive by 7 you won't have to wait long. read more

Taberninha do Manel - Sangria pitcher - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

Wrapping up my time in Porto, my final dinner of the trip had me at Taberninha do Manel. Service was a little off. It was just difficult getting things started but once someone finally spotted me and saw that I still had a menu, it was all perfect from there. I had two plates for dinner. The octopus was excellent. The dish is served cold and has plenty of grilled octopus in a flavorful sauce. The cubed pork was served hot and was also tasty though bathing in oil. I took much of the great bread from the pork plate for the octopus sauce. Port wine on the menu here and several different varieties. I had two and they were great. Not a very expensive meal at all. [Review 9918 overall, 1496 of 2018.] read more

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We came by here for dinner after a long day exploring Porto, but sadly we didn't have as great an experience here as the other reviews did. Getting seated took a ~45 min wait but the restaurant is located right next to the river with lots of attractions nearby, so not an issue. For food, I got the Portugese meat stew and my friend got a salad. The meat stew was a lot of meat and very little stew, as you can see from the picture, and was way too salty for me. I didn't appreciate the waiter telling me I had to finish eating it. My friend's salad was OK, but note that there aren't many decent vegetarian options available. For dessert, we started off with a chocolate pudding-like dessert that was really sweet, which didn't pair well with the very sweet Ruby port that the waiter recommended. After a bite each of the chocolate, we requested a different dessert - this time, the coconut panna cotta, which was not bad. When the bill came, they charged us for both desserts even though we barely tried the first dessert (which I do understand, customer isn't always right sometimes lol). Willing to believe we just had a one-off bad experience, but service was generally off, and there's also plenty of other restaurants in the area to try! read more

Taberninha do Manel - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

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Service was impeccable. Offered great suggestions. Wine list exceptional and the food was fresh and tasty. I had a beet salad and friend had mixed salad. Then I had the shrimp and he had the baked cod. We didn't have a good dinner the night before somewhere else and this definitely made up for it! read more

Taberninha do Manel - Shrimp - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

Simply amazing authentic Portuguese food with ama amazing view of Porto from the riverfront. The award winning sheeps milk and honey with bread was to die for. The pic o pao stew was so tender and flavorful. Can't recommend enough. Go here rather than the touristy spots on other side of river read more

Taberninha do Manel - Portuguese Near Me - Vila Nova de Gaia, 13

Food, ambiance, and service were great. Wonderful experience overall during my visit back to Porto. Portugal after so many years.

Beans with huge mushrooms are tasty. The francesinnesca sandwich too Smokey, & Not as good as Lisbon On the water dining but too breezy and cold so inside. read more

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Excellent restaurant to visit in Porto. Yummy cheeses and tapas! Try the shrimp and don't forget the bread to dip in the delicious sauce

On my last full day in Porto, I did a bit of wine tasting across the way and then found this place for an early dinner and man, it was tasty!! I had a difficult time getting seated initially - the lady working outside pretty much just ignored me, so I walked inside and the men there were helpful at getting me situated. The waiter who helped me lived in New York for some time, and thankfully a lot of people do speak some English, so I was able to get some recommendations and have a little chat. I chose the francesinha with the fried egg and fries, a white port mixed drink, and then ended up getting this marshmallow fluff egg custard type dessert that was divine. It's a bit of a heavier meal but it really hit the spot. I highly recommend! read more

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