Terraçu's Winery Restaurant - Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo

Quinta Nova launched Terraçu's restaurant a few years ago. They have almost everything here to amaze their guests. The location and the view of the valley like a dream, vineyards around, beautiful shaded terrace, climatically arranged interiors, well-stocked wine boutique, generally good, sometimes very good - though uneven - food. The only thing that's downside is the service, which is just terrible. The service has no idea what fine dining is, or even just hospitality. Our reservation was checked at the front desk when we arrived, yet a moment after entering the terrace one of the waiters attacked us saying something like "let's start with whether you have a reservation". The fact that the first flank let us through obviously meant little, lol. Later, without presenting the menu, another question was asked: 3 or 5 moments (the offer includes two types of tasting menu). A moment later, the waiter started a tirade about how long the tasting takes, pointing out that we should start right away to make it on time (!!!). What's this gonna be? Slow food on time? So we informed him that we had booked the entire afternoon on Quinta Nova (fine dining takes time, but at Quinta Nova they apparently don't realize it), and we wish 5 moments instead of 3. Waiter's answer? "It's even worse!". Massacre. It's even worse, because you want to order a more extensive menu instead of a shorter one. It was only worse after that. When asked what specific wines are included in wine tasting paired with the menu, a "sommelier" or a waitress who only pretends to be a sommelier started explaining the idea of ​​wine pairing to us, as if she did not understand the question at all. We had to repeat the question twice to get the answer. When lunch finally started, it turned out that the wines and individual dishes were served without any synchronization, and the peak of the absurdity was the moment when the waiter poured the second wine from his wine pairing list into glasses already half full of another, previously served wine. Fatal error! If you can't serve wine in the food & wine pairing regimen, just don't. Then, when we brought the waiter to his attention, he apologized and offered an extra glass of (very good) vintage Taboadella. When we let us know that one of the main courses was totally cold and simply tasteless, the waiter expressed surprise, rattled something and disappeared. When the same thing happened at the next table, where a pair of English-speaking retirees more bluntly stated that the chicken tasted terrible, the head of the hall came out to them and chanted for 10 minutes. We wanted to be polite, it didn't pay off. "Cherry on the cake" is the last wine from a pairing series that was not served at all (it was supposed to be Vintage Port), and when we noticed it, the waiter argued that it had been served. When asked where he could see the port glasses on the table, he disappeared, and then returned after a quarter of an hour, as if nothing had happened with the overdue port, without even a hint of an apology. Besides: in addition to the two americano we ordered, we were served unsolicited tea, and instead of two plates of cheese, one plate and a portion of fruit that were supposed to be just an addition, not a separate portion of dessert. Service - a disaster. Prices - also. Our lousy lunch at Quinta Nova cost 50% more than dinner at Casa dos Ecos, chef Pedro Lemos (1 * Michelin). For example, a bottle of water with a meal costs EUR 10 at Quinta Nova and EUR 3 at Casa dos Ecos. Also, at Quinta Nova, the two courses were simply unpalatable, and at Casa dos Ecos, every plate / bowl / platter and so on is ideal. We only visited QN because we like their wines. And to erase the terrible impression of Quinta Nova, at Casa dos Ecos we had to eat twice (!) In the attachment for the full picture, we add 3 bills - for comparison. The Slow Food certificate awarded to Quinta Nova requires additional commentary. We don't know how this is possible. In Italy, the slow food snail stamp inspires confidence, in Portugal you have to be careful. Quinta Nova is not slow food.