"I go to a lot of Portuguese restaurants in London. Why? Well, I like to practice speaking the language but mostly because the fare is fresh, tasty and relatively inexpensive. I 'd heard a lot about Manos Grill before the pandemic and decided one day I 'd give it a go. I don 't know, maybe something happened over the pandemic months but it 's not what I expected. The service is quick and pleasant enough and scrupulously clean, but something is lacking. No table covers, even paper ones. Nothing like the photos. I asked for soup and a 'jarro ' (or caraffe) of red wine to accompany the Costeletas de Borrego (lamb chops) I was about to order. The server went away and came back saying there was no soup and they didn 't do wine in caraffes, only by the glass or bottle. I asked for a glass of red 'reguengos ', a fairly popular table staple, which was delivered to the table along with some excellent lives and bread. I was asked how I 'd like my lamb and I said 'rosado (pink). The lamb was exceptionally well prepared and succulent, served with a slice of lemon, green beans and split roast potatoes. However, compared with other London Portuguese restaurants, it seemed to be presented without care; there was no olive oil, salt, pepper, on the table, no additional vegetable on the plate, such as, say, carrot and no garnish of any kind, simple herbs or otherwise. had a second glass of red and noticed the difference from a wine box. That 's not to say it was bad, but not what I was drinking. I asked for a third glass and before I could say 'not from the wine box please , half a glass had already been poured. I told the server what I was drinking and the wine was swiftly changed. So far so good. I asked for dessert and chose arroz doce , a sweet rice dessert sprinkled with cinnamon. This came straight from the fridge and was presented on my table in the same plastic container in which it had been made. Although it was good, I thought to myself couldn 't they at least present it as if I was a valued customer? I had two coffees and a fairly standard Bagaso (Portuguese clear liqueur). Coming to pay the bill, I noticed that they had applied an extra glass of wine, which when pointed out to them, they removed from the bill. All in all, a bit of a disappointment. Prices are slightly higher than other places in general and I wondered to myself if they 're trying to claw back some finance having been closed for a good part of the pandemic period. And unlike other restaurants, although the service was friendly and prompt and the food fairly good, one got the feeling that they were too busy doing other things to be attentive enough to their customer. Overall, £40 for a main, a dessert, three glasses of wine a bottle of mineral water, two expressos and a digestif was more than I imagined I 'd have to pay, possibly £5 10 more than most other places I frequent. From the food quality I 'd experienced, I 'd say it was a fairly good cafe, but a restaurant it ain 't. Will I go back? Probably not."
