Dining at Tony Pais' Legendary Cafe Zinho - You Can Have It!

Saturday, 27 April 2013 was the first and last time for me and my wife to dine at the celebrated Cafe Zinho.

There is no restaurant parking, and it is virtually impossible to find a space in the high-density residential area in which the restaurant is located.

The greatest drawback is that the restaurant is tiny and the seating so tight that at our table, it was necessary to sit uncomfortably in order to avoid being bumped by anyone that walked by, which happened repeatedly as we were in a busy thoroughfare of food delivery. No other table offered a much better situation and all others were occupied at the busy time we arrived, 6:45 p. m.

The online menu boasts of a daily vegetarian and vegan special entree, but there was no such entree on this night. There was only one non-meat item on the small menu, ravioli with peppers in a tomato/pepper sauce. Our gracious server, Ramon, said that the kitchen could prepare a couscous and vegetable dish if the vegetarian in our party wanted it, and that was what we requested.

The restaurant permits customers to bring their own alcoholic beverages, a nice convenience and savings.

A small portion of bread was served with a tiny amount of rock-hard butter. My mushroom and cheese soup was a large portion, served piping hot, which was great, but it was a puree with no distinct mushroom pieces. I would not have been able to distinguish it as mushroom soup. All of our entrees were attractively presented and were tasty, average size portions. All were served with a small amount of good, fresh vegetables.

It would be helpful if the menu offered some description of the following entree so that the diner with an interest in a chicken dish would not have to inquire about it of the server: "chicken maputo
Roasted w/ piri piri & chocolate scented sauce". Does the average diner know what "maputo" and "piri piri" are?

The lemon tart dessert was a small piece not suitable for sharing, served with two minute pieces of strawberries and a small dollop of whipped cream. It was not flavorful or moist nor worth the calories.

The gracious owner, Tony Pais, stopped at our table for a moment to greet us, a nice touch, and there were quality checks by our server and a manager.

I noticed a number of prominent people from the community dining here, individuals whom I was surprised were willing to spend a good deal of money to be packed into a sardine can of a restaurant. Apparently they consider this to be the only restaurant in town.

The rest rooms are small, one-person facilities, naturally.

An unfortunate surprise occurred when the check arrived and a credit card presented.  We were told that the restaurant accepts only cash and checks, this for a tariff of $148 plus gratuity. It is supposed to be of some consolation that there is an Automatic Teller Machine on site. I imagine less than 1% of expensive restaurants today are cash only.

Cafe Zinho is a highly flawed restaurant, demonstrating that there is more to a fine dining experience than simply offering fine cuisine. If one is able to get beyond the feeling one has when visiting the rest room on a commercial airliner, the diner might enjoy it: not us.