Caravela - Ottawa

Being a native Portuguese I was excited about the new P. restaurant in Orleans, unfortunately after five visits (and giving them benefit of the doubt) I must say that I cannot recommend this restaurant to my friends. Our last visit (Aug. 14) was the worst, the food was poorly prepared, soggy and tasteless. I'm afraid if there isn't a significant improvement in the level service and Portuguese cuisine then i don"t expect to see this place survive much longer. Bottom line, the service and cuisine must be inline with the menu prices otherwise I expect to be rating a new restaurant at that location in the near future. .

We recently attended a luncheon that was hosted by some friends we met in Portugal last winter. They chose the Caravela Restaurant located in the eastern part of the city. It's a small place within a large mall complex. The inside is delightfully decorated with murals and photos of the Azores Islands located off the Portuguese coast. The menu has many wonderful dishes that we remembered from our trip. We started with an amazing Portuguese kale soup with chorizo. This was followed by a Bifana or marinated pork sandwich. My partner had The chorizo sandwich. Both were delicious. Our dining companions enjoyed, chicken Piri-Piri, grilled salmon, and sea bass. Everyone enjoyed the pasteis de nata, the incredible Portuguese custard tarts for dessert. The service was outstanding! We were 25 people in total and were very well looked after. It was a nice way to enjoy a Portuguese meal while reminiscing about that wonderful country. Note: If you're going with a group, reservations are recommended.

Caravela reminds me of dining in Europe. It's a great addition to the ever-changing Orleans dining scene, which has improved greatly over the past two years. They have excellent piri piri chicken, wines, liqueurs, and hosts. I highly recommend the espresso and brandy after your meal.

My husband and I visited Caravela for the first time on July 16. It being a Sunday evening, it was fairly quiet when we arrived since there were only a few other people in the restaurant, but the atmosphere was intimate and inviting. Our Portuguese server was very friendly and helpful, and I even got to speak with him in Spanish (he was fluent and I have lived in Spain but do not know Portuguese.) As a starter, we ordered the grilled octopus, which was delicious. My husband ordered the Piri-Piri chicken and I had the fish of the day, sea bass. When our main dishes arrived and we had our first tastes, we were amazed by the quality! The fish itself, served whole, was succulent and couldn't have been better, while the chicken was very tender and juicy. My only suggestion for improvement would be that the side dishes could be a bit lighter, since the vegetables were drenched in oil. To top off an already great and filling meal, we decided to share a Baba de Camelo (meaning "camel drool.") We were told by our server that we had chosen one of the most typical and popular desserts. I can understand why he said this. Once we dipped our teaspoons in the smooth, velvety caramel mousse, we knew instantly that we had a new favourite. Throughout our dinner, we felt like we were in Europe. We are lucky to have such a gem of a restaurant in Orleans. We will definitely return and bring friends and family.

Dinner with my Italian wife who is demanding. The restaurant is a bit hard to find but worth it. Seats about 50. Very nice interior. Pleasant staff. Appetizers were sausage in red wine and cod cakes. Cod cakes were the definite winner - excellent. Also fine suggestion on a Portuguese red wine. Mains were fish of the day (seabass) and pot roast. My wife enjoyed the fish very much. The pot roast was tender with an excellent gravy. But hey, pot roast is pot roast. Our feeling on the vegetables - often identified as soggy as if coming from frozen in earlier reviews - was that they were fresh, just overcooked. Surprising but.? A couple of Portuguese tarts and coffee did the trick.Nice evening, nice experience. Will probably return. This is Orleans after all and the two new Italian choices are inferior to this.