Douro Castelo Signature

We usually avoid hotel restaurants so we can get out to more local places, but this one exceeded everything we expected. We ate there one night, were so impressed that we booked again for our last night in Lamego. Tony runs an elegant culinary gem, with impeccable service. I've been less impressed at some Michelin locations. It's a high-end hotel and spa, and our stay was just wonderful.

The breakfast was the best of our trip, and the rooms were good. This is a nice hotel with big ambitions. It was hard to find the front entrance and even harder to get the car up to drop off our bags. The restaurant was pleasant and the servings huge. The octopus was a highlight, and the beef Wellington was well done.

The welcome was warm and the service excellent. The hotel is still being upgraded, but what's been done so far looks impressive, with real care put into the facilities and furniture choices. I thought the lovely owner was being too hard on herself by drawing attention to the ongoing work. The facilities and staff service were great, so there was no need for that.

The rooms are quite nice, with balconies and good views, and Lamego is a useful base for exploring the Douro Valley if you'd rather not stay at a remote vineyard with few places to eat out. The hotel seems fairly new and sits in a reasonably good city location. Still, there's a humid smell, and the balcony light can't be switched independently. Breakfast was pretty good, though sometimes slow. The experience left us disappointed enough that we won't return or recommend the hotel. The bigger problem was management and service. Some staff speak very little English, and there were serious issues. On arrival, the small garage, which fits only a few cars and will shrink further when the new SPA is built, was full. The receptionist directed us to free weekend street parking, but that turned out to be wrong and we got a fine on Sunday. Paying for parking wasn't the issue. The bad information cost us the fine and hours trying to sort it out. We asked the hotel to cover it. The receptionist couldn't decide and called the hotel manager, who asked us to email instead of speaking with us directly. We emailed and received a promise of a refund, but more than three months later, and after several follow-ups, nothing had been paid. I won't post the emails for privacy reasons. We're deeply disappointed. If they didn't want to pay, that was their choice, but management should have faced us. We also tried the restaurant after the receptionist sold it as the best in town. We booked for 7pm, but upstairs there was nobody to greet us and the dining room was dark. We waited by the pool. After about 5-10 minutes, we heard kitchen noise and went to check. The employees seemed surprised to see us, then gave us the welcome drink we'd not yet had and asked us to wait. At about 7:30 we were seated, and there was only one other guest all evening. The wine we chose wasn't available, so the waitress suggested another and poured it from an already opened bottle. House wine was fine, but later they billed us for a whole bottle when we'd only had two glasses, and we noticed much later. Veal croquettes were really good, and the vegetarian dish was fine, but the chef's selection wasn't available either. The steak was below average, almost burnt outside and not tender enough. The restaurant left us unimpressed.