Tapabento

Probably as good as it gets in Porto. We ate here twice in three days (lunch and dinner) and loved it. This place is crowded and very humble inside, but the food is worth sacrificing a little of your personal space. You may end up visiting with your neighbors– it’s a fairly social setting.
For something out of the ordinary, order the razor clams. They’re delicious with some vinho verde and bread. The potato and onion pie was unlike anything else I’ve eaten… hearty and full of flavor. The goat cheese and tomato salad with honey, walnut and basil is also excellent. Desserts are unconventional and amazing (peanut mousse/​foam– wow).
The waitstaff really hustles to please you. And the owner may stop by your table and give you a warm hug and thank you. She’s just terrific.

This has been one of my favorite dinners in Portugal. The place is simple and not pretentious at all but the food is extremely good. You do need a reservation for dinner. I will come back any time !!

Tapabento is popular and for good reason. Not only was the food great, but it’s one of the few places open on a Sunday, a lesson we learned quickly when we arrived in Porto on a Sunday morning to a ghost town.
It was so busy when we arrived for our 8:00pm reservation that people without reservations were getting turned away and the host turned people away, struggling to provide alternative places that people could go for a bite. On second thought, maybe she just didn’t want to name another restaurant.
While the dishes are great for sharing, they weren’t as «tappas» as I’m used to in terms of size. They weren’t complete dishes in themselves, but they weren’t that small either, so if you could be content eating just one thing, you might be able to survive off one or two dishes.
To my friend’s disappointment, they were out of razor clams and oysters by the evening. We had the following dishes:
– Mediterranean sausages plate with bellota ham, ceccina, pinhao bacon, and tomato toasts.
– Fresh mussels with curry sauce
– Sautéed organic Portobello mushrooms in garlic and thyme
– Foie-​gras, backed sellery, drunk pear toast
– Some type of fried pepper
– Three drinks (two of which were wines)
The sausage plate was good, although to be honest, I couldn’t tell you the difference between that and any other charcuterie board I’ve had in Canada.
The mussels were good (and fresh, according to my friend) despite me not even liking mussels. The curry sauce was on the watery side and not as strong as I’m used to curry sauces to being, but it worked with the mussels.
The Portobello mushroom dish was extremely simple, but delicious nonetheless.
I didn’t have any of the foie-​gras, but it earned compliments from the rest of our table.
Despite it being a full house, they gave us a four-​person table and when we asked if two of our friends who were also in Porto could join us, they were more than happy, telling us that the table was ours and we could do whatever we wanted.
Service was quick (especially by Portuguese standards, which we learned throughout the rest of our trip was really relaxed) and the servers were warm and friendly. Averaging out to $ 30/​person (CAD), I was satisfied with the quality and amount of food and drink we got.
Is it in the city center? I’m terrible with directions. But it was only a 15 minute walk from our hotel, which itself was a 10 minute walk from the city center, so I’m going to say that Tapabento was conveniently located.
It has two levels; we sat upstairs. In my brief walkthrough of the main floor, I think I prefer upstairs, which felt much more spacious and well lit with the balcony windows.
Ambiance, food, price: it was all great by me and I’m glad at least this place was open on Sunday.

This is one of those places you find by happenstance that you know you will remember forever. 1^st of all before you continue reading this review if you are in Porto or visiting any time soon STOP reading now!!! Now call and make a reservation. We wandered in at about 930pm on a weekday and the place was packed. Lucky for us the kind hostess asked us to wait and we were seated within about 45 minutes. There are only several seats at the bar so waiting and staying out of the way of the very busy staff is a bit of a challenge. The place is cosy (read small) but nicely decorated and clean. Once seated we were immediately approached by a lovely waitress who took our drink order and returned promptly with the drinks. We asked her what her suggestion was as far as how much to order and what was good. She was very knowledgable about the food, it’s preparation and where and when the ingredients had been purchased. There was three of us and she said 4 tapas and one entrée would be more then enough food and she was right! We ordered the fish soup, tuna on guacamole toast, the potato pie, mussels (all tapas) and the pork cheek entrée. Where to start? The soup? Great! The tuna on toast was mind blowing, the potato pie was a solid good but maybe a bit greasy and the mussels were good although a tad salty. The pork cheeks were OMG amazing! But they are made with an octopus sauce and there is a tentacle so if you can’t eat or don’t like seafood be forewarned. The seasoning on all the dishes was pronounced so for example fresh coriander was a common theme. We didn’t have room for it but still ordered dessert and although we were pretty full already the pain of being stuffed after consuming one of the best desserts EVER was well worth it. We had the peanut butter mousse and it was awesome. So in closing, awesome food, excellent service and a beautiful restaurant all for 55 euros will go down as one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Plan a trip if you don’t have one planned already and GO TO THIS PLACE!

The best place in Porto! We found this nice place on our first evening here and although we hadn’t ordered a table, they invited us to sit at a table until 8:30. The atmosphere if the room with the open kitchen was amazing. And the service was great, too. You could see that the staff cared for each other, and they liked to laugh and were really friendly. Food was also very good. You really have to go here, when in Porto!

What a lovely place! The finest food we had during our Porto trip. Everything was spot on. Quality of the food is high. And ‘runny’ cheese with cocunut chips. Who would ever think about combining those? I loved it! Friendly staff too! Highly recommend this place.

Such a great Portuguese tapas place! We only wanted a light bite to eat so got a selection of 3 tapas but then we tasted the tuna on avocado and had to order another plate — it is sooo good! Definitely recommend booking ahead if possible — this place is popular and gets busy!

Get a reservation! The staff was very friendly and very accommodating. We had the goat cheese/​tomato/​greens/​honey salad, the mushrooms, cheese plate, meat plate, and the peanut butter mousse with butterscotch and nuts. Everything was great, but we especially loved the goat cheese salad and the dessert. The staff was very busy, but still were very aware of us and took time to be friendly. Highly recommended.

We followed the suggestions from Unilocal and found this hidden nice place. Cosy, original, good food and friendly staff. We were only two, so they recommended 2 tapas each, which was fair, as they are quite big portions (as all places in Portugal). I would love to try others, but we would need to be a group to share several different tapas. I loved the original way to bring the bill «in the book».

Fresh food, great ambiance and good prices. This restaurant was recommended by the Intercontinental Hotel concierge. Best if you order several different tapas and share.

This was so good out of the way but worth the trip
Local but we are visiting and our host took us

This was a treat of the senses and must go to into Porto, Portugal. A friend recommended this hidden Gem on a side street. Honestly, this restaurant is on my Top 5 ever best restaurants and the price is beyond reasonable. The Desert Peanut Mouse was Devine! We had so many dishes and one was better than the next and not one was bad.

This was my favorite restaurant in Porto! I had five plates here and they didn’t disappoint. My favorite plate was the foie gras, I almost cried. The peach made it sweet, the bread at the bottom made it crunchy, the foie gras itself looked like a patty because there was so much of it. Another great plate was the mousse dessert. The caramel was thick and creamy. You will regret not coming here!

Wow! So glad they were able to accommodate us as we didn’t have a reservation (definitely recommended) and we were lucky enough to sit at the bar. There were three of us –my husband and I started with the fish soup– excellent! My daughter had the bread with the tomatoes and garlic and the potato pie which she loved. I had the special which was a filet mignon– perfectly cooked with a port wine sauce and hubby had the fish and seafood curry-​outstanding! We are so glad we were able to experience this delightful place! Oh and the walnut brownie and the white sangria were oh so good — and special thanks to our waitress who greeted us and found us a seat.
We will definitely recommend.

Had lunch here with my girlfriend before leaving Porto, location super convenient, staff are so friendly.
The restaurant was really cute, get there earlier so u can sit on the second floor, or make reservations, coz this place gets packed.
Food was excellent, one of the best meal I’ve had in week long trip. The foie gras was omg, my favorite was the peanut foam dessert, rich peanut flavor but it feels so light it doesn’t feel like you’re eating anything.

A must go in Porto. We had an amazing evening at Tapabento. Even though we didn’t had a reservation we catched a tiny spot at the entry. The prices are low and the food is amazing. The menu offers a great choice and the mood in there is just friendly and cosy. With the open kitchen you can watch the chef and staff preparing your dishes.

Realmente merece todas la reseñas que tiene de cinco estrellas porque el sitio es LO MÁS. Hemos podido comer aquí nuestro último día en Oporto y ha sido todo un acierto. ¡Hemos salido encantadas!
Como estaba de visita con una amiga vegetariana, nos costaba un poco encontrar dónde poder comer algo que no fuera perritos calientes, franceshina, carne, o alguna combinación de todo. Pero aquí pudimos disfrutar de unos platos sin carne pero con sabores muy, muy ricos. Y eso que no es para nada un sitio vegetariano, solo que tienen una muy buena variedad de platos con y sin carne.
Nosotras pedimos la ensalada griega (grande y deliciosa con una tapenade de oliva negra buenísima), los Portabellos con ajo y sal (de los mejores hongos que he comido desde hace mucho), y mi amiga pidió un plato de pimientos de Padrón (a mí ya me aburren y no quería). También nos llamaba mucho la atención la cesta de pan con mantequilla de jengibre, y a mí la tosta de tataki de atún con guacamole y arugula, pero resistimos.
Y para terminar, ¿un postrecito no? Pide la espuma de cacahuete… ESPECTACULAR. Al principio nos dijeron que no se podía pedir porque estaba cerrada la cocina pero nos pusimos a rogar y cedieron. Y menos mal porque ¡¡¡qué riqueza!!!
Apuntado para cuando vuelva a Porto, totalmente un acierto de sitio. Y nada caro: toda esa comida más una botella de Alvarinho por 10 €, nos costó unos 40 €.

Qué buena noche, excelente demostración por parte de su gente desde el momento que te recibe la Dueña hasta él camarero que con respeto y dedicación se esmeran para darte todo lo que este lugar tiene, de la comida ni hablar impecable todo lo que ellos nos recomendaron no falló nada. Muy recomendable

Eine Empfehlung meiner Vermieterin Sofia in Porto. Leider hatte Sie das Kreuz an der falschen Stelle gemacht, und so lief ich erst rechts am Bahnhof Sao Bento hoch, danach links vom Bahnhof, und ich fand das kleine Restaurant. Eine sehr freundliche Bedienung, die auch Englisch verstand erklärte mir, außer Venusmuscheln sind alle Gerichte verfügbar.
Auf der Karte fand ich dann Meerestiere wie Schwertmuscheln, das erste Mal habe ich die überhaupt gegessen, und ich muss schon sagen, lecker zubereitet mit Knoblauch gebraten ein Gedicht.
Zum Essen bestellte ich ein Bier, Super Bock trinkt man in Portugal, das zischte am Mittag. Danach ein Teller mit den Schwertmuscheln, dazu gab es ein Körbchen Brot.
Die Portion reichte zum Mittag völlig aus, der Fleischanteil bei Schwertmuscheln liegt bei 60%, viel höher als bei Miesmuscheln. Kostet 13,50 € im Restaurant, in der Markthalle O Grove bekam ich 1 kg für 13 €.
Aber auch woanders in Spanien zahlt man für dieses Gericht um die 14 €.
Wäre ich länger in Porto geblieben, wäre ich dort ein weiteres Mal eingekehrt.

If our flight hadn’t cancelled due to a pilot strike we never would have had the chance to experience this great restaurant. Oh how I wish we had discovered it earlier than our last night in Porto! We showed up late in the evening (after 9pm) so there were some menu items already sold out and the place was packed. It took quite a while to get our menus and a first drink order in but after that, this place was unstoppable. Arguably one of my top three favorite restaurants in Porto and possibly one of the top five steaks I’ve ever eaten!!!

Yes! THIS place puts Porto’s other Unilocal 5 star restaurants to shame. THIS is the food we hoped to find in Portugal: Intimate, authentic, exceedingly friendly, and bursting with bright, fresh flavors of the sea and garden. If I could finish every evening here for the rest of my travels, I would be a happy person indeed.
Tapabento is basically in an alley beside the train station. Call for reservations if you can. We had to wait for a table, but it was so worth it. The hostess could not have been more friendly, and once we were seated, our server Katarina was perfection — so friendly and so helpful. You can tell when a server just loves her job and takes pride in the food she’s about to serve. The choices were overwhelming, but Katarina kept us in check so that we ordered just the right amount.
Where to begin? The fish soup would be a good place. Don’t skip it. It was homey and chock full of shellfish. Excellent. Shellfish? You won’t find a better platter of clams on either side of the Atlantic. I would love to know what variety these little tender clams were, but I doubt I could find them back home anyway. Potatoes? The dull sounding «potato pie» was recommended by our server and it was a complete treat, delicate and layered with onions — a refreshing break from the ubiquitous Portuguese potatoes that seem to be served everywhere here. Even simple salads here are a bright spot.
Desserts were fine. The mojito sorbetto was divine. However it’s the tapas that are the star. We loved this place!

This place isn’t very big and pricey but being a tapas bar this is expected.
I tried the fish soup, which was delicious. The sausage with apple sauce. While I wouldn’t get that again, it was worth trying. The apple sauce compliments the sausage well and without it the sausage would be too strong. I had the Kaffir for dessert which was absolutely delicious. Very rich and perfectly balanced with the flavours of lime, mint, berry, ginger and pistachio. A must try.
They did get super busy halfway through my meal but the service was attentive before that.

Sat at the counter for dinner and ordered the Duck Magret which I believe to be the most expensive dish on the menu. Served rare on the server’s recommendation, it is quite delicious. Probably the best preparation short of sous vide I have had.
Good service.