Yeatman - Vila Nova de Gaia

Like other reviewers on this page, we have been fortunate to eat at other 2 star Michelin restaurants around the world and feel that this one does not warrant it 's stars. Firstly the ambience is soporific from the first 3 courses in Dick 's bar where...the lighting is so dim you have to use the torch on your phone to read the menu and the pianist feels like he is one short hop skip and a jump over the balcony away from ending it all such is the melancholic choice of music. In the main restaurant the jarring of the colour scheme and old world painting with modern furniture is extraordinary and I don 't mean in a good way. The next 12 courses (as there are a couple of 'surprise ' ones not listed) take so long to come out that we lost the will to live and asked to leave with 4 courses still to go. At which point the service which had been slow up until then became overtly hostile by 2 of the waiters. Our reservation was at 8.30pm and we finally gave up at 11.20pm. Alongside the menu, customers can choose from two tasting menu wine lists. The premium one was €250 each for 6 glasses of wine!!!! We opted to choose our own and were baffled to find that the most expensive wines per glass were €20 making the premium lists pricing inexplicable. Even the more budget pairing list was €125 per head. The food was good and the oyster in particular was really good but just good not spectacular and the the length of time the whole thing took and the lack of imaginative presentation and theatre made for a disappointing experience.

Amazing experience from start to finish! From drinks and amuse-bouches in the bar area looking out over the city, right through the 12-15 course tasting menu (including a dish served at the chef’s table in the kitchen! we enjoyed every morsel. The paired wines were...well chosen and expertly explained with an alternative provided for me as I don’t like dessert wines. The food and service were simply flawless and so very deserving of the restaurant’s 2 Michelin stars

The Orangerie restaurant was used for breakfast where an excellent buffet breakfast was available and also in the evening. The evening dining menu was not extensive but the food was good especially the fish dishes however as the restaurant didn't seem to be well used the atmosphere was lacking. When we chose wine the waitress provided a card detailing the wine and vintage/ vineyard which we thought was a great idea.

When you pay top dollar you expect top quality settings, food and service. The Orangerie gave you the best setting but then unfortunately a mix of good service with bad. I had to remind and correct the staff multiple times. Drinks were served after the meals were finished. My excellent John Dory fish soup/stew was served from a large pot and the waiter gave me a tiny portion. I was very surprised when the waiter came back an hour later and served me more food from the same pot when we all had finished our meal since long. The food was generally quite good but not exceptional. A few dishes was sub standard. My wife is allergic to carrots, which we of course pointed out, but still they served her a salad with carrots. We did not bother to order deserts.

We booked lunch here last week as a consolation prize, having failed to get a dinner reservation for the gourmet restaurant. It was a quiet day and we were shown to a lovely table on the terrace where only a few other tables were occupied. The terrace faces north over the city of Porto and was cool and shady on a hot day. The view is spectacular. We both chose John Dory with seafood which was delicious and generous. We each had seconds from the cast iron pot and could have had thirds, if we hadn't opted to leave room for dessert and a glass of port. Our meal was preceded by a tasty amuse bouche, described as deconstructed sushi and completed with a selection of home made petit fours, although we didn't order coffee. No. It's not cheap, but we came away feeling we had had a special experience.