Ikea store in the north of Portugal Except for the sign, you don't really see this Ikea too well from the highway. Your mobile phone's map feature is thus your friend. The Porto metropolitan area does have critical mass on the south shore of the Rio Douro, but there is more critical mass on its north shore. There, the airport, the ship terminals at Matosinhos-Leixoes (which now receive cruise ships), and impressive Norte Shopping are close together in the same general area, as is the Ikea for the metropolitan area. This Ikea sits about halfway between Norte Shopping and the airport. I went to the store one evening after driving down from Viana do Castelo, following the phone's instructions. From the exterior, it's apparent that the store is large and that it is mostly focused on furnishings. It's at the northern end of yet another big shopping center and it can be accessed from inside the center or from the parking beneath it. My objective was to go to its restaurant. I went into the store and immediately found it to be clean, including its bathrooms close to the entrance. Escalators take you up to the restaurant. There were a fair number of people such that one of the queues was full. I found the employees working behind the food service counters and the cashier to be very polite and patient. This tends to be the norm in the north and is more noticeable than around Lisbon and in the Algarve. I ordered the chicken Cordon Bleu platter with mashed potatoes and peas. I also ordered a rice medley they were featuring and a small slice of dark chocolate cake that was on special. It was all very good in terms of the price-quantity-quality rapport. I ate this satisfying meal where the restaurant spills over into the center's central atrium. I didn't think I'd be going back to this Ikea so soon, but I did! I had to return the rented econobox to Porto airport, from which I'd take the Metro back to the city. Before turning in the car, I got a lunch platter with salmon and mixed vegetables as well as a side salad. Again, it was very good. This time, I ate inside the restaurant. At about the lunch hour, it seemed that there might have been quite a few area employees eating there. I found it very useful to have finally visited this metro area's only Ikea. In thinking about its location, it makes even more sense because there are more populous cities such as Braga, Barcelos, and others to Porto's north. The area in which this Ikea sits is sort of strange - more industrial - compared to the office and hotel areas near Norte Shopping. Also, while Norte Shopping does have a nearby Metro station, this shopping area does not. If using transit, that would mean that the last part of the trek would be on one of the bus lines radiating out from the center of Porto. This IKEA - at the very least its restaurant - checks many of the boxes. It offers decent food, good prices, helpful employees, and a clean environment. I also like that they have bins for recycling and, in general, the Europeans pay better attention to this. In short, this store offers the reliability and predictability for which we turn to Ikea. read more

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