João Alves & Marques Lda

We were very surprised of the quality of food there and the most important of service. Very friendly and honest restaurant and staff (not trying to cheat on tourist :-). The best experience so far for us in Portugal!

What an incredible place! The food alone is super fresh and perfectly cooked and seasoned. But the staff and the owner are what made this place over the top! We have the dourada grilled, barnacles, sardines, and the grilled sausage and everything was spectacular. The owner treated us like regulars even inviting my dad into the kitchen to watch him cook!

We were recommend to this restaurant, although there were many next to each other, this one did not disappoint. They cook the sardines on the charcoal grills outside on the street.We started with small sardines which are deep fried, like whitebait, then beautifully fat and succulent grilled sardines as a main. Very simply cooked but just the best.

Back again after 2 years and still great. Unfortunately sardines were out of season but the mackerel was to die for. Same great service and friendly atmosphere. Can't wait for my next visit.

My date took me to a local restaurant steeped in tradition in the Matusinhos district of Porto. The first thing you encounter when you walk through the front door is a refrigerated case with the day's catch, an assortment of many different types of fish and seafood. Everyone is invited to pick the fish he wants for dinner. We selected a "dourada" just the right size for the two of us, and the friendly counterman insisted on giving me a taste of what else was in store: a marinated fish ("biquerao") preparation known as escabeche. Delicious, and as soon as we were seated, a large platter was put before us together with bread and olives. Guests dine a very atmospheric room... complete with large TV sets at either end of the room so no matter where you sit, you won't miss a minute of action on the soccer field. (Porto's team is quite famous, and it's fans are fanatic.) I tuned them out of my mind with no trouble at all. The dourada was perfectly grilled and skillfully deboned at the table by our waiter, and I can only say 'thank God' for that. It came with delicious boiled cabbage and small potatoes, and a mixed salad we ordered extra. Everything but the desert (more on that later) was truly delicious, and I fully enjoyed the the room, the ambience, the food and the service--very professional but informal and traditional. For desert we shared a creme brûlée, "lait crema" in local parlance, which my date adored and gobbled down quickly, but I was very put off by the intrusive taste of burned milk. Oh, well, it hardly mattered to me after so much enjoyment.