Taste

[HampshireRich]

Why on earth do you have to jump on the old free advertising bandwagon, why is it a problem for you

Do you think Steen runs this forum for free and a bit of fun? - it costs money, and that is raised by revenue through advertising. A lot of comapnies do that if you care to look at the front page and others, so why should restaurants get free advertising?

This section is for consumer reviews - not a place for free adverts.

Having said that, Taste is a good restaurant - and I also like having a drink at Rascals - and to even out the contributors to this thread, I've never eaten in Ma-Ja's but I'll give them a mention.

[widge]

Do you think Steen runs this forum for free and a bit of fun?

Interesting question, what does motivate Steen to run this forum ?

[Bruce Wallis]

I agree with Sue, I think this use of the forum as free advertising for restaurants is wrong and should be stopped.
Nothing against the restaurants involved, they are just jumping on a bandwaggon that Ma-Jas was allowed to start.

Maybe Steen could start up a "Restaurant specials" section,on the front page, for which a small charge would be levied.

I remember when Kteee was moderating she used to get really arsey with people "fly-posting"

Rascals ?

Them too!!!

[tastecarveoiro]

Well, we are sorry to aparently have caused such a fuss about using the forum as free advertising - it is just just people always kept asking us about our events and as our guests kept mentioning the forum we thought it would be helpful to put the info there (specially given that many other places do the same)!

[tricky]

Perhaps Steen could 'sell' banner ads to the restaurants, however I don't really see the harm in them promoting their special events from time to time.
It maybe selling but its also informative for holidaymakers to Carvoeiro. We talk about supporting local businesses and keeping them open, so perhaps its Steens way of helping

[Bruce Wallis]

Perhaps Steen could 'sell' banner ads to the restaurants, however I don't really see the harm in them promoting their special events from time to time.
It maybe selling but its also informative for holidaymakers to Carvoeiro. We talk about supporting local businesses and keeping them open, so perhaps its Steens way of helping

I couldn't agree more!

I think Steen should be able to create a front page banner on the forum, so that restaurants and bars, for a very moderate charge, can advertise special events and menus for all forum users to see immediately they log on.

Times are hard, and any help these businesses can get, should be made the most of.

[Bruce Wallis]

I had to smile, yesterday..........

We walked into Iceland, in Guia, and the first thing I saw on their public noticeboard was an advertising card for Ma-Ja's.

Nice one Jan!!

[EMM]

They must have welcomed you with open arms, there are reports on another forum about the decline in business at Iceland.
They have reduced their staff numbers as contracts expired .
Prices are now cheaper for many products in the Portuguese supermarkets.

[HampshireRich]

They must have welcomed you with open arms, there are reports on another forum about the decline in business at Iceland.
They have reduced their staff numbers as contracts expired .
Prices are now cheaper for many products in the Portuguese supermarkets.

Perhaps no-one is buying their frozen fish?

[tricky]

I had to smile, yesterday..........

We walked into Iceland, in Guia, and the first thing I saw on their public noticeboard was an advertising card for Ma-Ja's.

Nice one Jan!!

I agree, well done Jan... Stick those cards wherever you can, you are obviously great at promoting.
In fact why not put them in some obscure places and see who on the forum notices them.

[Gary/Gaynor]

I agree with Tricky and Bruce, with so many businesses set to struggle in the coming years maybe set up a restaurant/bar advertising page so that these small businesses survive. We can see opening times, special offers and promotional evenings (Three for Two would be good ) Agree that for a nominal amount Steen may be pleasantly surprised on how many takers he gets. What we don’t want to see is run down boarded up places in our little town. Keep small business alive I say every which way we can for next year.
Gaynor

[Bruce Wallis]

I wrote on this forum 2 years ago that TASTE would struggle to succeed, being away from Restaurant Hill, and away from the usual passing trade, unless it produced both food and service at a sufficiently high level, to persuade clients to walk the extra few metres to seek TASTE out.
In that time TASTE has changed ownership twice.

Last night, we made our 2nd visit to the "new look" TASTE.

The food is excellent.
The wine most reasonable, and,
The service is excellent.

TASTE is now definitely worth walking that few metres more for.

The new owners are young, enthusiastic and care about what they do. Try it.

[logicbob]

We have and we like it a lot, so much so that we are having Christmas dinner there for our first Christmas in CVO.

[joelyont]

hi

This is our first post, we've been going to Carvoeiro since 2005, at least once a year, sometimes twice, but just not gotten around to contributing here before, though we often read the forum.

We discovered Taste whilst looking to see see what had happened to the funky bed and breakfast place with pool in reception that we'd seen being refurbed on a previous visit and noticed that on the menu at Taste (next door) was a vegetarian pasta dish that my wife fancied, as you can imagine eating out in Carvoeiro as a vegetarian isn't that easy, okay most places have something but it's very samey.

So we went to Taste on 2nd November, our last night, if anyone remembers that day it rained....like really really rained but as we were about to leave Sesmarias the rain stopped, so we opted to walk to the village as we usually do. Half way way the heavens opened and by the time we arrived at the restaurant we were soaked through, we were quite early and the first ones there so we got the table right by the log burner which helped us dry out and was a definite bonus.

The food and service were excellent, couvert, starters (along with a bonus canapé between courses), two mains, three canecas of lager, two glasses of rosé and a dessert for €57.70

We will not hesitate to return, the pasta stuffed with gorgonzola and sprinkled with toasted pine nuts was apparently excellent, as were my ribs, these ribs, in my opinion were better than Oasis, and I love their ribs too.

A definite 5 stars out of five from us, it will become a "must go to" restaurant for us from now on.

Joe & Deb

[ditzy]

A friend from Lagos came over to Carvoeiro for dinner on Saturday night, but after a heavy lunch I wasn't sure how much food I would manage. We settled for Taste and ordered a couple of tapas dishes to please both of us. We had the spicy prawns and the calamari with aioli, both were delicious, and a couple of the glasses of wine each. My friend still had room for dessert so opted for the strawberry cheesecake (also lovely, she said). We hadn't booked but got a nice table by the fire and the service was, as always, exceptional, despite being busy and poor Ciprian running up and down those stairs! One of our favourites, and run by lovely people. Give it a go if you're yet to try it.