Fast, Smart, and always buzzing with info
Essential Alvor
An Italian Classic Reborn with Portuguese Charm
Al Dente an old family favourite, regenerated into a brand new experience. Great new decor and fantastic menu.
Tips for Visiting
📍 Al Dente Restaurant
Estrada de Alvor
📞 +351 282 119 999
🌐 al-dente.pt
💡 Tip: Book ahead in the evening — it fills up quickly!
My family and I have been using the Al Dente restaurant for many times over the years, but in those days, the menu was slightly dated and the food lacked a little something. The pizzas were good, but most of the other dishes did little for me. Before COVID we just stopped going to the restaurant.
Back in the day, the restaurant itself was a small square brick building, and the outside area was just a covered space and sometimes, especially at night, it could be a little chilly. We had noticed that they were having some work done, but we never went there.
This year, my wife promised to take me out to eat for my birthday, and we decided we’d go to Al Dente as I was longing for a bruschetta, which is one dish I missed. So we had to go for lunch as we had work commitments. So off we went. We got a parking space right outside. I was in my wheelchair, and there were two steps up to enter the restaurant. But fear not, as we approached, one of the waiters rushed out and basically took me into the restaurant and seated us.
First Impressions
To our great surprise, the outside area was a wooden structure with real windows; the whole restaurant looked lovely, it had been themed more toward an Italian style with black & white photos of gangsters, etc. The restaurant had been bought and taken over; one of their first jobs was to improve the style and comfort of the restaurant. They had wiped the slate and started again, and the improvements are outstanding.
The Renovation & Atmosphere
The furniture was a great big heavy table with equally nice chairs. Gone was the self-printed menu, and now a pretty, stylish document. The menu had a lot of new dishes, which looked very interesting.
Food & Flavours
We basically knew what we wanted. Well, I did. Ana went for a pizza, I went for the bruschetta, this was now a new style of dish; there were six fingers of bread topped with fresh tomato, garlic, olive oil and basil, that was accompanied by balsamic vinegar. I didn’t take the vinegar, but it was fantastic. For the first time, Ana tried it, and she was instantly in love with it. I savoured every mouthful. I was a happy man.
The waitress then appeared with a pizza for Ana and a Calzone for me. The portions were very large and we struggled to eat them all. The bread dough was fresh and perfectly cooked. We took our time eating these dishes; the flavours were great and all freshly cooked. We tried for about half an hour to eat both dishes, but it was just not possible, so we asked for a takeaway box.
Lunchtime was comfortable in the restaurant with plenty of seating, but we have heard that it gets pretty busy in the evening. One of our sons has been there a couple of times. The first time, he had to wait for 20 minutes to get a table. The owner has a seating area outside. Now, he books a table every time he goes, just like his parents; he loves the experience.