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“Excellent Italian food in Oporto !”
Review of A Despensa

A Despensa
Ranked #28 of 2,770 Restaurants in Porto
Price range: ₱908 - ₱1,816
Description: Italian restaurant with a spanish influence with passion and curiosity for all the world great dishes.. A place with a warm atmosphere and a unique concept
Restaurant details
Description: Italian restaurant with a spanish influence with passion and curiosity for all the world great dishes.. A place with a warm atmosphere and a unique concept
Reviewed October 17, 2016

I have been for a weekend in Porto with my wife and my children of 8 to 12 years and visiting the city center I discovered this Italian restaurant delicious-looking and very welcoming. Upon entering we were greeted by a very friendly and caring staff who made us feel instantly welcome.
I must say that the premises have been confirmed by an excellent kitchen that satisfied everyone, including children. After the first experience we have not changed and we chose "A Despensa" for our dinners and spend some pleasant moments in the company of Daniel and likeable Elsa. What more, I highly recommend it to all those who love good food and love the attention to detail.

Date of visit: October 2016
    • Value
    • Service
    • Food
Thank Giorgio T
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
A_Despensa, Owner at A Despensa, responded to this reviewResponded October 20, 2016


Dear Giorgio T,

First of all, thank you so much for your kind review; it was a pleasure for us receive you and your family and, more important, to know that you enjoy your stay with us ;) We are grateful to be a part of a pleasant stay in Oporto ;)

Hope see you soon!

A Despensa

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Reviews (2,747)
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1,160 - 1,164 of 2,747 reviews

Reviewed October 16, 2016

This was the best place we visited during our one week trip through Portugal. From the first moment you feel that the chef and his wife really put their whole energy in this quite new project. They were very kind, friendly, helpful and really eager to receive honest feedback, which rarely ever happens any more. I had pasta with gorgonzola and cacao, which was really creative and tasty, the portions are beyond enough. Would highly recommend this place. Also the atmosphere is perfect for a romantic candle light dinner or an evening with friends.

Date of visit: October 2016
    • Value
    • Service
    • Food
1  Thank 849philippb
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
A_Despensa, Owner at A Despensa, responded to this reviewResponded October 20, 2016

Dear Phillipp B,

Thank you so much for this kind review; we work every day to improve our service and our food, for all that visit us had a possibility to enjoy our company and our cuisine. It's all about to give to our clients a good experience, because in the end of the day every single detail is important (food, service, atmosphere).

Hope see you soon!

A Despensa

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Reviewed October 15, 2016 via mobile

We had a great evening here. The husband and wife owners are so passionate about the food and service it was an absolute pleasure to visit. The food itself is excellent we had the Burrata starter which was really creamy and melted in the mouth followed by Lasagna and Pesto Penne. We spoke at length with the owners regarding the food and how it was sourced. However the added bonus of a homemade Limoncello to bring our meal to close topped everything off magnificently. All in all we cannot recommend highly enough as everything was absolutely top class.

Great food, great people.

Date of visit: October 2016
1  Thank Vegasking
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
A_Despensa, Propietario at A Despensa, responded to this reviewResponded October 28, 2016

Dear Vegasking,

Thank you so much for this review. Receive people like you give a sense to every single effort that we put in this new project. We love food, and we love people - we love grow with meeting people, because, in the end of the day, it's all about exchange cultures and become richer with it.

Thank you!

A Despensa

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Reviewed October 12, 2016

On a weekend break from London this restaurant proved a lucky find in pouring rain. Clearly the chef takes trouble sourcing his ingredients. The burrata was of the best quality. My wife's fava beans with iberico jamon could not be faulted. Delicious main courses and very good value. 60 euros for 2 with wine and tip. Heartily recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys Italian food.

Date of visit: October 2016
    • Value
    • Service
    • Food
Thank Barney Y
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
A_Despensa, Owner at A Despensa, responded to this reviewResponded October 13, 2016


Dear Barney Y,

Thank you so much for your kind review about us; it was a pleasure to receive you and your wife. We spend a warm night in your company, although boring rain outside ;)

Hope see you soon!

Best regards

A Despensa

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Reviewed October 10, 2016 via mobile

Disappointing food and too expensive for what You get . Fusilli not al dente and not home made. The menu is dominated by pasta , no fish and only one dish of meet . Better eat Portuguese food in Portugal .

Date of visit: October 2016
4  Thank beciaklecia
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
A_Despensa, Proprietário at A Despensa, responded to this reviewResponded October 10, 2016

Dear BeciaKlecia,

We are sorry that you was disappointed with our food, anyway, in case that the pasta (as you say) was "no al dente" you should have to inform us when you receive your dish (our employers did not receive any complain regarding our pasta) and not 1-2 days later (on this site) when we have no possibility to correct the mistake or defend us.

Regarding the pasta not homemade, we never affirm or mention or wrote in our menu that we serve homemade pasta.. So we really don't understand why you comment this information like a default. We work with one of the best italian brand of pasta and believe us homemade pasta is not always better than dry pasta.

Regarding the menu, sorry but once again we don't understand your commentary, our menu is available on internet and outside our restaurant so:

1) is not a mistake or an error have not a lot of meat dishes in our menu (by the way we have 2 meat dishes and not 1 as you say) and if your idea was to have meat or fish after reading our menu probably you should had to consider to go to another restaurant. We are totally clear with our policy regarding our gastronomic offer.

2) our menu is not totally dominate by pasta... we have only 4 pastas on a total of 18 dishes.

Resuming your commentary sounds more like a intent of denigration than an a feedback to improve our work especially when you generalize about food in Portugal saying that is better to eat portuguese food in Portugal.This is not fair for a lot of foreign restaurants that work a lot every day to offer to portuguese people and to everyone else something different.

Please consider to modify your commentary.

Regards

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