Esplanada Santa Marta

Not quite what I expected as we sat and the longer we sat, the more I was able to soak in.
But let me start, as this is the only quick walk-​in eatery in Cascais that is in walking distance between the town and Boca de Inferno we decided to grab a bite before arriving at our destination, situated next to the Santa Marta lighthouse.
Sat down and ordered two grilled fish dishes.
Grilled Sardines and Grilled Sea Bass. Both served with a salad and steamed potatoes.
Food was okay, took quite some time, but was edible… simple, salted and grilled. Nothing much more to say. Sardines are what sardines are expected to be, lots of small bones that you have to work through in order to get to the meat and the sea bass meat was white and flaky as you would imagine it.
But as I was waiting for our bill, my wife went to use the restroom. As I sat and waited and observed, there were several things that began concerning me. I would see food items being recycled… yes RECYCLED. Then cups… Let me explain one of the occurrences. A table ordered a post meal cup of port wine, did not finish it, the table was picked up, the half-​empty shot glass of port is then placed aside in a serving area. When another patron orders port, the half-​empty glass is filled and served to the next patron. If the patron does not finish it again, the port wine was seen poured back into the same bottle… SooOoOoOooo, how many times has that bottle been recycled through different pours, to different patrons. I could only imagine what else gets recycled…
Service is slow, you are left unattended for quite some time. You’re on your own on this one…

MERCI
Cadre idyllique, produits de grande qualité, service familiale multilingue, mini prix. Ils m’ont refait découvrir le goût de certains poissons !!!
Prenez y la morue si c’est votre première fois, mais sachez que tout le reste (oui, TOUT le reste, nous avons fait toute la carte) est tout aussi bon !
Accompagnez de sangria blanche et puis perdez vous dans cette vue depuis ce petit balcon.
Pas de réservation, une attente de qq minutes (ou pas si vous êtes chanceux), le patron vous y accueil en portugais/​fr/​esp/​anglais… Une table sera dressée pour vous avec des croquettes de poisson, un fromage de chèvre, des toasts et du pain. Et quand vous demanderez l’addition, c’est avec le porto du patron qu’elle vous sera remise.
Le bémol ridicule, qui en est même mignon; ils font tout de même preuve de mauvais goût avec ces parasol «Ola».

Best grilled sardines so far. Tones of salt and crispy. We had the grilled calamares too and they were ok.
You find the restaurant on the left hand side, right after the marina, right before the little stone bridge, if you are coming from Cascais.
On the downside, there were quite a lot of tourists and the restaurant did not take cards (cash only) but overall: Great place for lunch in the shadow a hot day. Make sure to go for a swim before or after lunch.