Santa Maria - Funchal

Really nice authentic Madeiran food in the heart of the old town. We chose to eat outside to maximise the experience and weren’t disappointed. Good menu and good service. Would recommend!

We popped in without any research as we liked the look of the place sat one street back from the ‘front’ in the old town. Nice decor and atmosphere with attentive and friendly staff. The food was excellent and amazing value for moment. We had the covert starter which consisted of bread, cold meat, olives and pesto. It was an absolute bargain at just €4.75 for two. The menu does give a great description of the dishes, so after a few questions we settled on Black Angus Steak on a stone and Linguine with Ricotta in a mushroom sauce. Both of them were fantastic and cooking the steak on the stone provided a bit of theatre to the whole evening. The house red and house white both went perfectly with our dishes. The deserts were gorgeous too. We’re considering whether to go back again tonight it was so good! Highly recommend

#dairyfree and it didnt faze them at all. Servings were generous and tasty

A must do when in Funchal. The painted door street. Lots of great artwork to look at, some shops and loads of restaurants. However we did feel like we were in Turkey as all the restaurant workers were trying really hard to talk you into eating in their establishment. It got a bit tiring saying no thanks all the time.

We were very disappointed in the restaurant. The presentation of the food was good but the cook needs to learn how to cook. Pigs cheeks should be trimmed of gristle and slow cooked until they fall to bits. In our case neither was true. The other main we had was octopus, again tough because it hadn't been cooked properly. We should have known better, Rua Santa Maria is a tourist trap and not a place for food lovers. The restaurants don't care as they know you won't be back.