Petiscos "Downtown" - San Jose

Went there on a Saturday night with reservation. It was completely packed and we had to wait to be seated. We were seated after a short wait. The server was very hospitable and friendly. He informed us that we could combine both the ala carte and the set menu instead of both of us having to stick with a particular menu. So we did a combination of 1 set menu and a few ala carte dishes. The bread that was served with olives, olive oil and butter on the side was very dense, almost having a density of a dense pound cake. Then we had the grilled shrimps which had unfortunately a mushy texture. Otherwise it is rather tasty. The flamed chouriço tasted nothing out of the ordinary but definitely had a visual appeal when brought to the table with the flame still burning. Next came the octopus which was also tasty but on the verge of tasting a slight mush as well. Then we were served the duck rice which had a piece of rather fat looking pork belly that I did not try to taste since it looked rather bland, although I usually do love pork belly. The rice was tasty but greasy and the duck meat tasted bland. Since I was still hungry with all the servings being kind of small, I decided to order the garlic shrimps which was raved about by other reviewers. I did enquire with the server before placing the order as I wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to taste mushy and it didn’t. He did ensure me that it shouldn’t and if it did, he would take it off the check/bill. Since the pastel de nata sounded really popular on the reviews, and I recalled that someone complained about it running out, I told the hostess to save 1 for me. I was glad I did not ask for more as it unfortunately did not taste like the Portuguese egg custard tart pastry that I was used to having. The custard part of the pastry had a consistency similar to a thick jam than that of a custard and the taste was way too sweet for me to savor the taste of the egg custard. I had enough Portuguese egg tarts pastry in my life to safely say this was my least favorite here. As for the chocolate mousse I can’t seem to quite put a finger to the taste, but again, the mousse did not have a light enough texture and the chocolate mousse tasted like it was made with a cheap diluted milk chocolate. Overall, I think the kitchen did not meet the mark on almost all the dishes in terms of the taste profile. I definitely think the food was overrated. I would actually consider it overpriced due to the quality of the ingredients and the quantity of each dish. The environment was very lively and bustling even without loud music…everyone was talking loudly in an enclosed space and the noise level was quite deafening. Towards the end of the night, you could see the tables that were vacated in the dinning area were left with dirty dishes which was quite a sight I had not seen in a restaurant before, especially since I could clearly see several staff congregating by the bar and chatting. I can see 2 out of the 4 were probably bartenders but can’t understand why the other 2 would stand around the adjacent bar area instead of trying to clear up the mess; almost like they were deliberately trying to avoid cleaning up the tables. I see only 3 other servers running around serving the customers in the entire big dinning room. This is a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant, but it definitely doesn’t live up to the standards. The only plus of this restaurant was both the server and the hostess who attended to us were very friendly and hospitable. Unfortunately I have to conclude that the food and restaurant are overrated based on this experience and I can’t recommend.