We walked down this quite beach town street and came upon this spot. Does't look like a restaurant…read morebut once we walked in we saw 2 long tables w reserved sign on them. We were greeted by a woman who explained they had just opened for dinner. It was 6:30pm. She showed us all the extra seating and tables kinda on the side of the building. Looks alittle like a narrow clean alley. Very common in Europe. All the food was great. The bread with soft carrots in olive oil. Olives. As starters. We had grilled garlic shrimp, octopus salad, chicken and more. We did not really care for the Portuguese Steak which was floating in a thick heavy gravy. Its a cute place with great food. Had tiny bathrooms and attentive folks working there. I would return again for sure on my next visit to Tavira. Oh and you must try the Oysters. I ordered them grilled. So they were alittle hot. Theeeee meatiest oysters I have ever had!

ZDB is a solid choice for authentic Portuguese food at a reasonable price point. Al fresco dining…read morein the bohemian section of town lends to the charm. Fresh grilled seafood and meat dishes are properly prepared and are a good value. You can easily get away with a starter and split main and not leave hungry. Service can bog down during high tourist season (June through September) but Portugal takes life in small bites - in other words everything slows down. You can spend three or more hours here eating and drinking -- in keeping with cultural norms. Top tip: You can wander the neighborhood and see what others are eating.. The Bishops Square neighborhood lends itself to a look see before committing. We choose this way during slower months. Might want a reserve during high season.

Excellent Portuguese seafood restaurant, serving screamingly fresh offerings from local waters…read more Robalo (branzino or European sea bass) , dorado ( sea bream) or Corvina (croaker) are always good choices. Fresh grilled sardines in season are amazing -- May thru July. Prawn and monkfish skewers (espetadas) are excellent as is the polvo (octopus) prepared in a variety of traditional ways. My favorite here is Polvo la Guerreiro -- basically grilled tentacles served in olive oil with simply roasted potatoes and garlic and a simple salad. Get bread to mop up the garlic infused olive oil when done. The cozy upstairs dining room is charming and service is impeccable. For seafood lovers Portuguese style (lots of olive oil and garlic with local salt) you can't go wrong with O Patio.

Excellent food and service in a classy environment next to the beach. I did not go to the bar but…read morethe inside looks very cute, too. Definitely recommend!

Try to sit in the back where you over look the river and bridge. There is ample seating inside,but…read moreseating outside in back is nicer. Food: Vegetables soup - good vegetarian soup Quiche - vegetables quiche with house salad. I liked the fresh corn in it. Calamari with tartar sauce - it was OK but I prefer something less greasy. Fruit smoothie - tropical smoothie All for about 20 euros.

Tavira Longue is a lovely place which offers something a little different to the many other…read morerestaurants and cafes you will find all over Tavira. It's open throughout the day and well into the wee small hours; hot food is only available during normal restaurant hours but you can get some cold tapas at most other times. If you are drinking or eating in the stylish elegant room, you also get the benefit of free Wi-Fi should you need to get online. After dropping in for a drink a few times during our mini break we decided to have a long, lazy lunch here on our final afternoon in Tavira. We arrived around 1pm to find the little terrace, situated a few buildings down from the Longue itself, fully occupied so we killed some time by visiting the nearby camera obscura. When we returned around 2pm the terrace was almost empty and we got a nice shady table right by the river. I should mention that this is not really a terrace as such, just a few tables and chairs which have been placed on what would appear to be a semi-public piece of ground between the road and the river wall. Having said that it is a lovely spot and sitting here you get perhaps the best views of the Roman bridge and the river Gilao. After a beer and a look at the short but well thought through tapas menu we kicked off by sharing a lovely crostini with fresh local cheese, tomato and avocado. By the time we had finished our crostini time was ticking on and our friendly waiter informed us that if we wanted any hot food we should order now. Well we did, so we cracked on with a plate of calamari. While this was not a patch on the dish we ate at the Brisa, it was pretty tasty but a little greasy. We followed it up with a very nice smoked salmon quiche and some salad. We also had a mixed cheese and meat sharing plate which keep us grazing away through the afternoon. Not too sure what we were drinking other than that is was a white wine I have a feeling it was a bottle of Planalto which would have cost around the 10 euro mark. When it finally came time to pay the bill it was very handy that they accepted credit cards, unlike a lot of other establishments in Tavira, as we were running low on euros and still needed to buy a bottle or two of port for the return to Blighty. All in all a very pleasant way to end our all too brief stay in Tavira.

Best meal I had in Portugal; one of the best meals I had in my life period…read more Stumbled by this place after a beautiful day at Tavira Island. My brother and I split the fried shrimp in garlic sauce (they weren't actually fried) and I split the octopus rice with my cousin. Both were otherworldly The shrimp was subsumed in a garlicky, hot bowl of pure flavor and the shrimp were tender, fresh and tasty. I was digging my spoon through the sauce looking for remaining strands of garlic even after the shrimp was all gone The octopus rice came out in a massive bowl of scalding like soup. This too was incredibly flavorful and we downed the entire bowl which could have fed all four of us For desert I split a slice of Algorvean almond cake and espresso. The cake was delicious and not too sweet Our server was super sweet and gave great suggestions. This place is all about the food and stays true to the flavors of the Algorve. The place is right by the ferry so it's easy to find

Another fan of the garlic shrimp. My wife wanted to share mine and it was hard to give up any of he…read moredeliciousness. Her salad was not as great but the bar was already set pretty high at that point.

Today for lunch I decided to go over to a little restaurant for lunch with my family. We decided on…read morethe place because of the 1 vegan option and close to where we were. Personally I got the chicken kabob and I thought it was very good. The chicken was a bit burnt but the veggies and lemon and of course the shrimp was very delicious overall. The restaurant doesn't have lemonade fyi as we ordered it and got a 7 up instead. The appetizers were okay, the bread was a bit hard but the olives and cheese were good. The French fries with the chicken kabob was very good and overall I enjoyed the meal, a little slow service but after the wait it was good. Once we finished our food though we had to wait a while to pay. Overall a nice meal if you want a kabob or something vegan!

Friendly staff. Excellent fish and seafood, generous portions and very reasonable prices. Good…read morelocal wine. Exceeded expectations defnatly a place to go back to.

The shrimp appetizer was yummy (12 euros), unfortunately the couscous with veggies was bland,…read moreveggies cooked within an inch of their life (mush) and served barely warmed. I tried some of my dates pork in a port onion reduction--- that was both tasty and served hot Service was solid. We arrived as the place opened, and got a nice 2-top without a reservation. Others were not as I lucky and were turned away.

Without a reservation on a Sunday evening we stopped at this small restaurant on a popular square…read morein Tavira. Since they just opened we got a table but most were reserved so get a reservation if possible. I started with a glass of local wine which was relatively cheap but the drinks at this place were no bargain. We started with their peeled prawns in piri-piri sauce. The sauce was tasty but once again I was fooled by what they considered peeled in this part of the world. Messy. For my main I got the pork tenderloin braised in a port wine and onion sauce it was delicious but it took almost 45 minutes to prepare (so they claimed when we inquired on where our food was after a long wait). The side of fried potatoes was very good. My wife got the vegetable couscous which was not very exciting but she said "that's what I ordered". Service was good. Overall prices were reasonable but we noted that taxes were not built into prices like some restaurants...

Dined here numerous times. Outstanding! For my money, consistently the best restaurant in town…read more Fellow diners and friends always put O Tonel in the top 5 in Tavira. Cuisine is Portuguese with style. Try the lamb shank or duck confit. Perhaps the best I have ever eaten in country. Ambiance is cozy and authentic without being ostentatious. Service is prompt and courteous and not intrusive. Good price to value ratio. Like most eateries in Portugal, you can stay as long as you wish. I can dine here every day and not be disappointed or bored with the well curated menu and wine list. Don't miss this tried and true winner.

My husband and I passed by this restaurant when it was setting up for dinner and it looked like it…read morewould be a really cute dining experience. We came back right when they opened for dinner at 7pm and were lucky to grab a table as a walk-in. (The walk-in table was indoors; the rest of the tables, most of which were reserved, were outdoors.) A majority of the patrons had reservations, and many walk-ins after us were turned away or asked to make a reservation for another day. The food was amazing! I got the oysters as recommended by the server. They tasted so fresh and were great with a chilled glass of the house white wine. My husband is a vegetarian and got the pumpkin and goat cheese puff pastry--it was also very tasty. After paying the bill and exiting the restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised by the live music playing outside. We were enjoying it from inside the establishment and thought it was coming from a speaker this whole time! Overall, we had a wonderful evening and would recommend this restaurant to friends and family.

Tapas joint with Al fresco seating. Casual ambiance, decent selections. Needs more attention to…read moredetail, like its competitor. across the street.

Great service, delicious food (try the shrimp curry in creamy sauce) and pleasant ambiance. Fair…read moreprices, great location and also has outdoor seating.

Amazing food! Had octopus and Seabass. All was cooked to perfection. Simple and quiet service. The…read morecook came out and checked on us a few times and even gave us a cooked oyster for an appetizer.