Restaurante O Valentim

Excellent. We had a range of food including grilled calamari, grilled octopus, steak, grilled sea bass, salad, sardines, and potatoes. All of it was delicious. We heard about this place from our concierge at The Yeatman and it did not disappoint. Reasonably priced as well.

We had a delicious grilled sea bass (called «roballo» in Portuguese) that tasted as if it had leapt out of the sea onto the grill. We also had grilled squid that was less successful but still very good. And an excellent mixed salad with grilled onions, peppers, lettuce and tomato. This area of the docks is about 20 minutes drive north of Porto in a very lively area called Matosinhos that has maybe 20 fish restaurants along the docks. (You cannot actually see the sea even though you are very close.) From the Tripadvisor reviews we thought O Lusitania would be the best of these but we thought it was closed and so reserved at O Valentim instead. Having looked at all the restaurants along that stretch of road we realized we had lucked out. O Valentim looked way better than the others and it is difficult to believe that any have fish better than O Valentim. There is also an S Valentim that doesn’t seem quite as good and an S Anthony where food looked less good as we walked by. They all are grilling out in front in big charcoal pits so you get a pretty good idea of what the fish looks like. We ate in some of the best restaurants in Lisbon (Quermesse, Cantinho do Jose Avillez, 1300 Taberna) and although this place only does one kind of thing and isn’t as sophisticated, we had as enjoyable a culinary experience.
I use 5 stars only for the Michelin star level restaurants so 4 stars is a very appreciative review for me.