Mercado Bio Restaurant

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#5 of 29 Restaurants in MadalenaEuropean, Healthy, $$ - $$$

What is Travellers’ Choice?

Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.

Mercado Bio Restaurant

Review

At a glance

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Website

+351 292 623 778Improve this listing

About

Travellers' Choice

2024

Organic products restaurant - Vegetarian, fish and meat - Good vibes and food. Our main objective is to control the origin and production of all products. We use local products whenever possible.

Features

CUISINES

European, Healthy, Portuguese

Meal types

Lunch, Dinner

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

FEATURES

Reservations

Seating

Serves Alcohol

Table Service

Location

Rua Carlos Dabney nº 6 Ground floor, Madalena, Pico 9950-327 Portugal

Does this restaurant have a full bar?

Yes

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Hours

Suggest an edit

Closed now

• Opens at 10:00 AM

Sunday

10:00 am - 10:00 pm

Monday

10:00 am - 10:00 pm

Tuesday

10:00 am - 10:00 pm

Wednesday

10:00 am - 10:00 pm

Thursday

10:00 am - 10:00 pm

Friday

10:00 am - 10:00 pm

Saturday

10:00 am - 10:00 pm

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4.5

232 reviews

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158

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Yes

momonella

521 contributions

Good guys!!!!

Aug 2023 • couples

Passing through the island of Pico for a couple of days, following the recommendation of our local guide, we choose to have dinner in this lovely little place. The first thing that pleasantly struck us was the wooden furniture, very simple but at the same time warm and welcoming. Even though we didn't have a reservation, they seated us right away. The menu offers various choices between starters and main courses. We opt for a chickpea salad with avocado sauce as a starter and then chicken curry and legume chilli with rice as a main course. A passion fruit cheesecake and a fruit bowl to finish. With a beer, water and coffee 55 euros. Delicious, light, simple and satisfying food in generous portions. The guys who work in the place are really nice, kind, attentive and always with a smile on their faces. If you want a change from the traditional Portuguese restaurant, this for me is the best choice!!!!

Written 11 August 2023

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

jeff95160

Montmorency61 contributions

Nice restaurant good curries

Aug 2024 • family

A fairly small menu but this is generally a good sign because the products are fresh. On the menu of beef curries simmered in coconut milk, nice but a little dry, excellent Thai chicken curry of the day. Spicy but not too hot. Good Thai rice served with. Generous portions. Also burgers including a vegetarian. Award of dishes around 18€, desserts 4,5€. Beautiful menu of drinks and cocktails. Efficient service and not too noisy and friendly atmosphere. No Reservation possible, so attention is quickly sold out. Very good glass cheesecake with passion fruit.

Automatically translated

Written 10 August 2024

marikim

351 contributions

Limited menu but excellent vegetarian choices

Sept 2022 • none

Stopped in when I arrived and had not planned a reservation. They were quick to seat me at the bar overlooking the preparation area (fun to see them making food) but it got a bit hot. Service was quick- menu limited but complete for all- everything prepared freshly- I chose the coconut/ curry meat and it was perfect though I would have liked a bit more of the pickled veggies to go with it. Wine choice was good (I only had a glass) price with wine was about 20E and I left with a spicy taste and a full tummy. I did not chose the dessert but I do love a Maria Cake and theirs looked yummy and something one should always try before leaving Azores.

Written 30 September 2022

Roam540598

1 contribution

Expensive and underwhelming

Nov 2024 • solo

Expensive and underwhelming. On a Sunday evening in Madalena, there is not much choice. I was the only customer and was immediately told that two of the dishes on the menu were not available. I ordered chicken curry with jasmine rice. I was told it was already prepared and could not have a choice of heat level. The dish itself was not appealing at all to the eyes. I did have to send it back because the rice was cold. The chunks of chicken seemed like processed chicken, but had a fairly pleasant taste. For the €18 for the curry and another €4.5 for a small beer, it was extremely expensive for a very mediocre meal.

Written 24 November 2024

Rosanna B

1 contribution

Didn't like this restaurant

July 2024 • family

The menu is very limited and very small portions and expensive. The waiter that served us was not approachable as when I tried to call for something he looked the other way. When I ordered I asked for something that's gluten free and he told me to take vegetables. They have almost everything spicy so a bit difficult to choose as I said very limited menu. Didn't like the experience.

Written 22 July 2024

Pascale G

12 contributions

don‘t go! Across the street you‘ll be better

Apr 2023 • couples

horrible place! The place was empty every time we passed by but we gave it a try because of the good reviews (we really don‘t understand where they come from, maybe from tourists who don‘t appreciate traditional portuguese or azorean food and are happy they found something average, fast foody style). We went there at 18h25 to book a table for dinner and found members of the crew (elder grey haired woman and a younger black haired one) smoking outside of the entrance. My husband kindly asked if we could book a table for 20h00… „we open at 18h30, you have to wait to make your reservation“ …ok, not quite professional but we patiently waited those 5 minutes and got into the restaurant again where a different girl told us that they accept no reservations „just come at night, we always have free tables“ !? I found it quite disrespectfull to make us wait only to give us that information and would have gone somewhere else (across the road to Cinco i.e.) but my husband wanted to give them a try… decision he immensly regreted later on! So we came back around 8 and, as a matter of fact, they did have a table since we were the only clients. Nothing cosy, no table cloth, no table sets, empty tables. The waiter was kind and polite, nothing to complain but the two „cooking“ ladies behind the counter looked at us in an agressive, disturbing manner and kept talking about us (not in a friendly way). My husband doesn’t appear so but he is a native portuguese speaker and he couldn‘t believe his ears. The waitress with the glasses gave us big smiles in the face but behind the back she joined the gossip shreks. The menu was quite small (5 appetizers, 5 main and 3 desserts) which is in general a good sign, but here 3 dishes were already not available anymore! No bread left, at 8 o‘clock..? What a mismanagment! Anyway, we ordered, the food came very quickly and it was ok but nothing special at all. My husband ordered more rice because he was still hungry although we had a starter. While we were eating, the waiter and the waitress watched their mobile phones (ok, they had nothing else to do in an empty restaurant) and the gossip sisters kept on gossiping, being joined from time to time by the dishwasher lady who spend her time eating the customers candies, gossiping and going for a walk. We planed on having a dessert to fill the stomach but we felt so uncomfortable that we didn‘t even finish our mediocre wine (we took it along because we didn’t want them to have it) and ordered the bill. Another surprise, we payed as much and even more than we paid in other tastier restaurants where we had starter, main, dessert, wine and water. It is for a reason that you always find a table here while all the other restaurants are overcrowded….

Written 5 April 2023

rui3977

Lisbon624 contributions

Reheated food

Apr 2024 • solo

Clearly the worst meal I had during my stay at Pico. When they gave me the list, they told me that there was a "sweet and sour pork" (?) dish that I chose. They brought me a plate of meat and rice and a bowl of salad. The dish was clearly overheated from the microwave, the rice was sparse. The meat was delicious and the salad was also acceptable, but at a completely exaggerated price. The service also left something to be desired.

Written 2 May 2024

Jim Z

Saratoga Springs86 contributions

Tasty, but Small Portions and Pricey

Mar 2024 • couples

Glad to have vegan options after days of eating fish. Creative menu (Asian fusion), but small portions and very pricey for what we got: Two small spring rolls, salad with chickpeas and avocado mash, and gado-gado. Staff was very friendly and we were able to order our meal for take-away. Price was 31 Euros. Probably better to buy food at Continente or SolMar and cook at the AirBnB, but we were tired after climbing Pico.

Written 25 March 2024

DREGS

Grafham386 contributions

Not the usual Azores welcome

July 2023 • couples

When greeted with “if it gets busy you will have to shift and sit by the bar”, no wonder we did not feel welcome. There is a limited menu and two of the choices were not available so the choices were limited to a curry, a pork dish or a very hot dish. The atmosphere in there was ok but I was surprised to see the restaurant is number 3 in the town. Food took time to come but the staff were rushed and presentation nothing special. The curry and rice was pleasant and the pork, curry and cabbage dish was ok. People did come when I was taking my last mouthfuls and I think we were expected to move then and there. Instead we moved up the long table and welcomed the couple joining us and finished our meals. We decided against another drink or course and staff were keen to have us pay and go. We did.

Written 6 July 2023

barneyb

Romsey122 contributions

Good Chicken Curry

Oct 2023 • couples

We both had the Chicken Curry and shared a passionfruit dessert which were both delicious. The service was positive although there did seem to be some hustle at the back of the restaurant from what seemed to be people speaking to the chef. In all a very nice meal, one of the better ones on Pico.

Written 30 October 2023

Murakami

3 contributions

Oh man, that bio market

July 2021 • friends

We were groceries shopping in Madalena to get provisions for our hike to Pico mountain. The store as a wide selection of seeds, dried fruits and cereals. The store also offers a sustainable way of acquiring the products through self-services plastic dispensers. As soon as we set our eyes on the “super frutas” mix, we gleefully attempted to collect it. The system works through a leverage which, when the handle is pulled down, allows the content to drop into the bag. Much to our awe not on single item moved, remaining in this massive moist, sticky&stuck clump. Since we to’ roughy agitated the machine, in order not to mess with the mechanism, we kindly asked the cashier for help. She approached the entire dispensary and, after a brief glance of hesitation at the wall, she proceeded to mercilessly punch to plastic jars. Noticing her endeavours were in vain, she turned to us and through some sort of gibberish, helplessly told us of her impossibility to fulfill our request. We then turned to the other dispensers which behaved in the same way except for a few dry nuts. Our attempts to collect other items were left to little to no results. Turning to the nearby shelfs we had a limited array of products. Amidst which I selected a jar of preserved red cabbage. Wondering whether it was fermented or not I consulted the label which left me with no useful information, so I proceeded to make my inquiry known to the same cashier. She cluelessly looked at the aforementioned label, analysing all details in an attempt to pickwickinaly repropose to me, the same given information of the label, with no less no more explanation. She handed me the jar invited to consult her colleague whom was working behind the kitchen counter, and looking at me as if it weren’t remotely within her competence, told me to forward the aforementioned cashier. I then grabbed a pack of Portuguese style package wondering whether it was ready for consumption and consumed without cooking. Since I couldn’t acquire the so needed information from the label itself, I asked the same cashier to shed light on my doubts. She willingly read through the label as it were her first time, failing once more to extrapolate the slightest bit of information. Going back to the mechanical dispensers, we managed to collect some “amendoim”: salted peanuts, which successively revealed themselves to taste like nail polish remover: “acetone”. Approaching the cashier’s desk, our credit cards weren’t working because they weren’t portoguese, the bill was grotesquely expensive and the demanded price for a shopping bag was 1€.

Written 27 July 2021

Beatrice B

7 contributions

Good vegetarian place

Aug 2023 • solo

Excellent place in the center of Madalena! the food is simple but tasty, very suitable for vegetarians/vegans but with some dishes on the menu with omnivore alternatives. I've been twice and I've always had a good time, the service is fast and friendly. Good alternative to classic local cuisine!

Written 26 August 2023

Pan M

2 contributions

Terrible attitude

July 2021 • couples

Restaurant looks nice and also food is good. Just staff (probably owner) attitude is strange. It looks he prefers bigger and local groups so even though we came and ordered first, bigger group was served first and we have to remind our order. But soup and wine never made it to out table 🙁 So probably avoid in case you are just couple or speak english. There is very good cafe and restaurant just across the street.

Written 4 July 2021

Ralph S

5 contributions

Delicious evening Indonesian food on the island of Pico

June 2024 • couples

Looking for something different from all the delicious Portuguese food, this restaurant is recommended with delicious Indonesian dishes. We had taken the rendang and gadogado and this tasted exquisite. Staff is friendly and everything goes nice and relaxed. Had a very nice evening here!

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Written 22 June 2024

Anna

Germany20 contributions

Delicious but small portion

Aug 2022 • couples

The place is really cozy and the service friendly. The food was delicious but I can only give three stars, as I was still hungry after a main dish and a dessert. So I advice you to also go with a starter. Paying over 16 Euro for a dish and staying hungry was not a satisfying experience.

Written 11 August 2022