Convento Das Vinhas

Alright. I’m Swedish, well traveled and quite dainty when it comes to eating out. I’ve had my bad and good meals at restaurants.
And this restaurant hardly make up to «average».
This review was made in low season in November.
+ The staff is very very friendly and speaks both English, French and German as far as I heard.
+ The food comes quickly
+ The fish is made with knowledge.
+ They will present the raw fish of the day for display.
+ Large portions. Seems common here in Madeira.
+ Free parking lot beside the restaurant. Though not that big.
We ordered fish of the day; today grilled sea bass, and the traditional Scabbard fish with passion fruit sauce and fried banana.
For picky persons — note that the fish of the day is grilled and served completely whole (boyfriend hates plucking bones, at the same time being stared at).
For both dishes we got cooked vegetables and french fries.
Fish of the day was grilled perfectly but with no particular flavour that made you feel like it tastes special. Just, tasted grilled. Still good though. The scabbard fish really felt like a humdrum coarse made a hundred times and for tourists only.
Ordered two desserts which actually felt more taken care of than the food. But really, I don’t want to see them displayed en masse in a glass cupboard out in the restaurant before ordering… What’s the deal?
— Found cockroach at ladies room. The light didn’t work either. Had to use the men’s room. Felt so so. The toilet quality is also of importance when judging overall experience.
— We were first promised parrot fish as the catch of the day. Turns out it’s not available and we had to take the sea bass, the waiter not being updated.
— Boring to always be served the universal french fries to every meal no matter what dish you choose!
— The cooked vegetables were totally overcooked. Would never even serve that at home. Which chef does this! Surprise me. And down shifts my over all experience quite a bit.
— We didn’t seem as interesting for the staff when they found out we didn’t want to order any alcohol. And as fast as we got the food it felt like the service kind of disappeared. The larger restaurant where hardly even half full.
Over all quite a low experience. Felt like an ordinary restaurant doing food by routine, not by commitment.