Il Mercato - LINHO

Located at Penha Longa Resort. It is mainly a tapas bar but some entries have enough food to call it a full meal. Your waiter will let you know. Food was very good and ambiance is nice. Some strange costume is that they take away your bottle of wine and the waiter will refill your glass. (bottle not left at the table). If you eat with your eyes and enjoy nice ambiance with excellent service this is your paradise. If you hate small portions stay away from it. Very professional staff.

I love Italian food and am fortunate to live in an area where I'm spoilt for choice on Italian Resturant's some of which are excellent. As such on our first night in the resort we opted for what we thought would be a simple tasty meal. This turned out to be far from the reality. Unfortunately the 'Italian' is nothing of the sort. I'm still not sure what it is trying to do, probably be too clever. There were some bizarre combinations: prawn ravioli with a mushroom sauce.....I actually chose this dish because I thought it sounded intriguing, what turned up was as confused as I now think the dish sounds. It was made worse by a heavy 'brown' sauce....presumably some sort of mushroom stock....I'm still not sure. Whatever it was it meant that the delicate fish and ravioli were annihilated flavour wise....a culinary disaster/crime. My friends meals were no better. The only saving grace was that the staff were attentive and helpful, this was true of the whole hotel and our entire stay. In summary, this restaurant also doubles as the breakfast eatery for the hotel, which perhaps gives a pointer to the problem, it is not a dedicated Italian restaurant, it's just 'playing at it' in the evenings to utilise the space!

We really enjoyed our dinner here while staying at the resort. The food was good and the desserts were even better. The atmosphere was also very good, lots of family with children, some sort of a meeting going on in a more reserved area. The only thing that wasn't the best was the service. Even though they were nice, they were very confused and seemed quite lost.But in all, we'd go there again.

The return to this place was a pleasure! From the start that you really feel welcome. The food was beautiful and the presentation just perfect. Love it!

Great food, good location. Environment is also great. Went on a sunday evening and it was amazing...