restaurante velense - Velas

We ate on a Friday night. The restaurant was almost empty. The only food on offer was soup (lukewarm) and either pork (like shoe leather) or barracuda, quite edible. Only 'red or white ' wine. We had the white and couldn 't drink it.... We had one dessert (indistinguishable) and pretty inedible. Total cost Euros18, but we would not recommend this place for the food or the ambience,

This cheap and friendly restaurant in close to the port in Velas serves good fresh fish and seafood including cataplana. Family atmohere, local wines and very good prices.

We found this restaurant because it was mentioned in our guide book. The bar is just a typical bar but up the stairs next door is the restaurant. maria was a delight we loved her style laid back and very generous with the local cheese and drinks. We went there 3 times for our evening meal she wouldl only serve us the fish which was freshly caught that day, recommended the Frei Gigante white wine from Pico (10 euros! which was excellent. We were given free starters, a free sweet one night (she had a huge group in eating so service was slow but that didn't matter to us anyway . Food was simple but delicious. If you like very smart restaurants and complicated food (not very likely in the Azores! , this is not the place for you. If you like simple good food and quirky, its a delight. We signed the visitors diaries which Maria has , these go back for years and years an early form of trip advisor!

Sometimes you have the craziest experiences. We had two of the quirkiest dining experiences here and loved it both times. First--Maria is a hoot. She 's the bartender, server and entertainer (I think her mother is the cook). You have to walk through the dark, smoky fisherman 's bar to get to the dining room but that just gives the place the kind of character only a sailor can appreciate. Maria decided she had a surprise for us which was her way of letting us know there was only one thing on the menu due to a large party. We had an amazing 5-course dinner, wine and it included a mysterious green drink shot with Maria. The next time we went to sit at the bar and she kept refilling our glasses and giving us treats. She was super kind and friendly.

The owner (a really weird lady) told us: I'll prepare you a beautiful Cataplana, you'll have to wait for a while, but then... Ok, half an hour later, a Cataplana arrived, full of ......Surimi!!!!! We couldn't believe what we saw. Cataplana was full of low-quality fat, small chunks of fish, and tons of surimi. This is the best way to ruin the gastronomical reputation of an island.