Don't think, just walk in. EXCELLENT!!!!! Everything from the service to the food is perfection.

Got screwed real hard at this place. Came gere with my family, 2 kids 3 adults. Waiter told us he would check in on us how much food we could handle after 3 dishes. Well he didn't, and the fourth dish he made 5 full portions of lobster pasta, big plates even for us, and same size for the kids. We could of course's not finish this by any chance, let alone the kids. So by this move he doubled our bill, and that's what I call a good scammer. If you decide to go here I suggest you not trust the staff here. read more

Gorgeous seafood on the tank but the way it was prepared completely underwhelmed. First of all, this is a Michelin rated restaurant, and the prices reflect that. It is wicked expensive for Porto, by far the MOST expensive restaurant we ate at in Porto. Been much, much Fancier and tastier ones. It was recommended to us by a chef, and it is also featured on Bourdain's parts unknown, so perhaps our expectation was way too high, but boy did it disappoint, I could not even finish my plate. Atmosphere: other than the impressive seafood and fish tank, the decor is super outdated and corny, not up to par with the prices. The complementary bread served was over toasted bread so soaked in oil it was dripping. When we saw the prices, we decided not to go for $300 for 2 and instead selected crab appetizer and Arroz com Lobster (which the very, very nice waiter, I gave to say, convinced us to have vs the Arroz com Mariscos. Let me start with the crab appetizer, for those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest, it was a very generous portion of Dungeness crab meat, wow, impressive, that was the best part of the meal, except for the potion that was drenched in a very bad tasting and not complementary mustard sauce that completely over powered the crab, the rest was just nice crab meat in Mille-feuille cup that was also over-cooked, dry and completely tasteless, perhaps we were not meant to eat them. Now the lobster Rice, wow, what a disappointment, the lobster was huge, have to give them that, but the rice was completely overcooked and it was more of a lobster rice soup than Arroz com Lobster. The Lobster, although huge, was completely overcooked, hard and tasteless. Dessert, chocolate lava cake, skip it or pick something else, It was not worth the extra calories. This was the ONE AND ONLY, disappointing food stop in Porto period and unfortunately the most expensive and most highly recommended. If you go, I'd suggest, go all out and pick the seafood tower, or at least stay away from Arroz com lobster if you don't want a soupy consistency. Our final bill was close to $250 euros, with a $30 bottle of wine, split Arroz com lobster, split dessert and appetizer, that was by the way, selecting the cheapest things we could get on the menu. I personally will not go back and do not recommend. Now, we have eaten at some of the most amazing and expensive restaurants in the world and the price is absolutely not the reason I'm giving this place such a bad review. But the combination of bad tasting food, high cost, underwhelming atmosphere is simply hard to overcome. I really do stay away from giving places a 1 star, but if it was not for the good service by our server, I would definitely rate this a 1 star. I was grossed out by the taste of the food until the next day. There are a lot of selections in Matosinhos, I'd suggest you research a few before you settle for this place. There is soooo much amazingly good seafood in Porto. I just wish they were able to make the amazingly good looking seafood they have in the tank taste fabulous and up to par with the prices. read more

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It's never that I write a review while I dine. I guess the exception is warranted. I am at a fish house in Porto Portugal. It is unassuming entrance. I felt like I was at pike place in Seattle. Live crabs and lobster. Fish on ice. Fantastic display. So your first step is pick your fish. I did. sea Bass. And they prepared under salt. We also picked brown crab as an appetizer. Sorry I had to tell the little guys. They were moving. Bravo. Sorry crabs. I don't need to make this long. I will simply say this. Advertisement should read: do you like a fantastic location? . Do you like fantastic service? Do you love fantastic fish? Do you love ambiance like no other? Then you must reserve a table. If not your a moron. Sorry. My words were the result of a few bottles of some great Portuguese wine from Douro. This is a 5 star must do for foodies. read more

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Incredible seafood specialty house with amazing choices of seafood we are not familiar with. Hake. Fairborn. Rock sea bass. Lamprey. Percebes, which are rock barnacles harvested by rock Cliff climbing at low slack tide. Tiger prawns firm Madagascar. And uThe wait staff is incredible, as is the building. But we choose poorly and none of had an exceptional meal. My red prawns were ok. Sussanas lamprey was unimpressive. Sherryls sea bass was baked in rock salt and was the most tasteful. The oyster were fantastic. A local crab as a sauce made along with the crab meat was impressive. Still recommend this elegant dining experience but we didn't choose well for what we expected. The waiter was excellent thru out. read more

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With my career being in restaurants, food is kind of my reason for living. When I visit a new city, I like to eat across different levels of dining. For dinner on my last night in Porto, my 2 Portuguese friends and I went to Restaurante Esplanada Marisqueira which I gathered to be THE special occasion expensive seafood restaurant in Matosinhos. My lovely friend was NOT happy I was spending more money on her (look at her FACE! Oh man, I'm in trouble.) The mayor of Porto and the mayor of Matosinhos and their wives were at a table on the other side of the dining room, and I was excited to be living large. My friend Tiago walked with me up to the raw bar counter where we talked with one of the chefs about seafood unique to European/Portuguese waters. They brought out what looked like a dungeoness crab (I'm guessing its species but I'm no expert!) which walked up and down the counter like a top heavy body builder. I think we ate him later. We also got to see several kinds of shellfish, 2 kinds of lobster, and a giant prawn. This is Tiago's favorite seafood restaurant in the world, where he has been coming with family since his youth. That's a lot of expectations! Happily, the restaurant delivered on it's reputation for the highest standards. Everything we were served was amazing. The bodybuilder crab (I'm pretty sure that's the species - or maybe it was a Lance Armstrong crab, on the juice) was served steamed, white crab meat cooked to perfection and not a second over. In its shell was creamy, succulent crab dip. We had small clams cooked in white wine and butter, and soaked up the sauce (and the crab dip) with toast. Despite being pretty full already, the 3 of us split Açorda de Marisco, one of the house specialties, amazingly rich and delicious Portuguese bread soup studded with gems of shrimp and other local seafood. If I had to try to summarize my dining experience at Restaurante Esplanada Marisqueira, I would use just one word. It's the same word that I reflexively muttered when the waiter wheeled out the incredible dessert cart, and in fact, I will go ahead with this one word to summarize my entire first visit to Portugal: damn. read more

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Had the shellfish soup and the royal seafood tower. Requested the prawns to be grilled instead of steaming. Food was wonderful and the atmosphere was very nice. The menu states that the seafood tower was for two, but we felt like it was for four. Langoustine was very fresh and the percebes were on point. read more

This was a very fine establishment. My wife and I were a bit nervous seeing the high prices, but I managed convince her to try it out. I mean when the entryway is just plastered with Michelin recommendations for 6 years in a row, it's got to be good. And it did not disappoint in every way. The service was excellent and very professional despite our cost-conscious ordering. We had a waiter who spoke English with us and he was extremely polite and helpful. When we asked about recommendations on what Port wineries to tour he not only had some suggestions, but even brought out a 1985 bottle of Port to show us an example - such a good sell I almost got a glass there and then. I ended up getting Sole which was absolutely delicious. It was cooked perfectly and presented very nicely. My fish also came with a whole bunch of rice which I wasn't expecting. All in all the fish and rice portion only came out to 18€ which for the quality and service was a great price. read more

Esplanada Marisqueira "A Antiga" - Fancy place. - Diners Near Me - Matosinhos, 13

Amazing place if you looking for high quality seafood. Lobsters, shrimp amd everything else here is fresh all day everyday. Great choices in wine and other spirits. Its an expensive place. read more

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This is definitely one of the best seafood restaurant I've been to. We ordered the assortment of seafood for the whole table and so glad we did that. Everything was delicious even the rice and French fries was awesome. Ambiance was just right. This restaurant is definitely where locals go to and so glad my love's cousin is from Porto and brought us here. read more

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I'm on vacation from Seattle and read good reviews about Esplanada. My initial could not have gone any worse. My wife and I were seated and then completely ignored for 20 minutes. No beverage order was taken. No explanation of the menu (which is quite pricey). We simply got up and left. The hostess and waiter just stared at us. No apology, no questions about what we wanted, nothing. It was one of the most bizarre dining experiences I've ever had. read more

Best food we had in Portugal. The price was expensive, but very reasonable for the level of service and exceptional food.