Felt bad that this place had only 2 stars. We enjoyed our window seat at this cute charcuterie spot while doing a day trip from Lisbon. read more

Binhoteca - Window seat - Shopping Near Me - Sintra, 11

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If you care about wine, find somewhere else. This place is a trap. I don't think it will last long, but in case you're considering it, run away. Here's why: We popped in here before lunch, hoping that buying a glass of wine (which we love and study) would buy us some good advice about where to get an authentic and reasonable lunch--that's been a good bet in my past travels and in my past history in the wine industry. I'm American and studied wine and grew up in a wine region; my companion was Portugese and from the surrounding area and also a more than amateur wine enthusiast. The young, pushy host should have been a tip-off, as when I arrived and was asked what I'd like to drink I said: a dry aromatic white, what do you have? and he responded by suggesting a red the color of boiled pennies that he claimed to be the only type of wine produced in the immediate area. I'm always interested in what's local and want to be respectful of local traditions, so asked him more--how many producers are there of this varietal (he was unsure and said "probably 2;" a quick google search shows at least 5), and how much production, how many bottles or cases a year of this wine? Again unsure, he said, "maybe 1000 bottles a year." We should have walked out the door as he was interrupting any contribution I had to the discussion and proceeded to tell me that Americans are used to seeing international wines because they "don't produce any wine." I'm from California. I'm going to guess whomever is reading this understands the issue here. We sit down and decided to humor the guy and try the "local wine." It's corked. I know the wine from the region is famous for it's invasive tannins, but it was just straight up corked. We ordered also a glass of white--I asked for something balanced, dry, aromatic. He served a chardonnay with a label so badly damaged from water (probably from cooling and heating repeatedly on ice) that it was rippling off the bottle. It was tolerable, but nothing spectacular. I also tried to examine both bottles we were presented with and he sort of didn't let me put my hands near them. I wasn't able to get more information about what we were drinking, even though I wanted it. Our bill? $15. For two glasses (and pretty normal to short pours) of mediocre to bad wine. In Portugal. A normal glass of quite good wine in Portugal--from my experience but also from my Portugese companion's--is 1-4euros. It's not uncommon to have a paletable glass for 1-2 euros. I expressed my surprise and the young hosts' arrogant response was "you tasted two of the finest wines of Portugal." Well, did I ask you for two of the finest wines of Portugal? Did you tactfully show me a menu to indicate the price of the wine you'd just suggested to me? No. I was served corked wine and charged an insulting price (The ticket said "Premium wine - 7.50" for each). I felt as I'd been made to bend over. I told him it was a ridiculous price, and that he must know exactly what he's doing. I should have offered him a 5 note and left, but I'm tactful and paid the bill. Learn from my mistakes, folks. read more

Binhoteca - run away from this place - Shopping Near Me - Sintra, 11

Sorry. But these are all Fonseca wines. Not very friendly or engaging. Wines are moderate at best. You need to walk a bit and try Grapes and Bites. Better selection and much friendlier folks. We felt very rush and not valued as customers. Sorry but that's the truth. Can't say that we would be back unless we were really thirsty. read more