DOP - Porto

We had a wonderful dinner in this beautiful restaurant on our first trip to Porto, with marvellous service from Phillipe and wine advice from Victor. We were co... read more We had a wonderful dinner in this beautiful restaurant on our first trip to Porto, with marvellous service from Phillipe and wine advice from Victor. We were contemplating the tasting menu €120 when Phillipe suggested building our own by sharing two starters and two main courses before going our own way at the pudding stage. All our choices proved to be outstanding. We started with squid tagliatelle carbonara the 'pasta ' was actually strips of squid and the 'bacon ' was made from smoked squid cheeks who knew squid had cheeks? , then had Galician style octopus with confit potato and a paprika mayonnaise sauce. Our first main dish was sucking kid with harissa and 'textures ' of Jerusalem artichoke; our second was superlative suckling pig with braised endive with orange and a little pastry cone stuffed with a suckling pig cream far nicer than it sounds . My wife 's pudding contained the requisite chocolate. We started the meal with cocktails created by the excellent barman, a glass of white each with the squid and then a 2015 Tictac Merlot from the Lisbon area which matched the next three courses perfectly and a sticky each with the puddings. The bill for this feast was just under £250 they do not add a service charge . After dinner we were taken to the kitchens to meet the chefs and given a tour of the wine cellar where I would be happy to hunker down for a few weeks with a corkscrew and a wine glass if the Bomb should ever drop. Just three downsides to a fairly perfect evening: an obnoxiously noisy party of eight, continually shouting their heads off despite the staff 's remonstrations; some pretty meh music being played; and the meal taking over four hours to serve. The waiters explained that this delays arose because the same noisy table of eight had arrived just before us and were all having the tasting menu this really shouldn 't happen in such a big, high end place. However, the current incarnation of DOP has only been operating for a short time, so I am sure these are just teething problems.

Food was great but what made our dinner most memorable was the service provided by Phillips! He is a true professional. He’s attentive, knowledgeable, courteous... read more Food was great but what made our dinner most memorable was the service provided by Phillips! He is a true professional. He’s attentive, knowledgeable, courteous, and instinctive as a server. I’d return to have him as a sever more so than anything else.

I have no idea why this restaurant has a Michelin recognition. The ambiance is noisy with too loud music and open doors to a noisy street.The food is good but n... read more I have no idea why this restaurant has a Michelin recognition. The ambiance is noisy with too loud music and open doors to a noisy street.The food is good but not sensational. We decided to choose for the a la carte menu with 2 starters each and main corse. I had a glass of sparking wine, My partner who don't drink alcohol was offered nothing but stil got an aperol spritz ment for the next table. We also received an Burrata that we did not order. The rest of the starters was OK though I don't know why they camouflage the steak tartar as a rather bland hot dog. I had red wine by the glass and spent most of the meal with an empty glass while my partner was well into the 2. starter before he was offered anything but water. Waiters were running around like headless chicken and when they ordered the dessert menu we asked for the bill, which by the way was the only thing associated with fine dining. Porto has several excellent restaurants, this is not one of them

Michelin star must be added! this place is too good, everything from coming inside the restaurant to leaving is top class, i love this place, i love their food,... read more Michelin star must be added! this place is too good, everything from coming inside the restaurant to leaving is top class, i love this place, i love their food, and most importantly; i love the staff, as they made me feel like i’m at home! thank you so much!

Great restaurant with extremely high quality food and presentation highly recommend the ceviche and salmon. The only thing I would critique is the service they... read more Great restaurant with extremely high quality food and presentation highly recommend the ceviche and salmon. The only thing I would critique is the service they are regularly coming to the table to upsell you, even after politely saying no