Uma Casa

We had a truly delightful dining experience at Uma Casa. The service was top-notch, the food was absolutely delicious, and the ambiance was wonderfully relaxed. The cocktail menu is delightful. The menu selection stood out, offering a fantastic assortment of Portuguese flavors that we thoroughly enjoyed. Uma Casa is a fantastic spot for a memorable dinner outing.

Our early dinner in Uma Casa was ok, the food was hit-or-miss, seafood lovers enjoyed the experience greatly, and the sardines dish was the highlight (while the chicken was very salty, the salad and the cocktail we tried were blend). Our server unfortunately overcomplicated things and despite us asking her to just bring everything as it was ready, she chose to divide the meal into 3 parts, which caused an awkward situation of 3 people waiting for 1 to finish a dish, or one person not eating at all till mains were served. The atmosphere is nice and this feels like a cute neighborhood spot, but we will not be coming back...

The brazed boneless short rib was a delicious main entree and super tender. I also enjoyed the octopus with the chimichurri finish but the garbanzo beans seemed a bit lacking in flavor. The caldo verde (green soup) reminded me of home cooked soup which was very nice. The vibes were great, with great decor and design. I've never been to Portugal so I can't say much in the way of authentic design but I imagine that was the aim for the vibe and it felt great. As for drinks, the sangria was fragrant but lacking in robust fruity flavors. I would recommend trying their Porra Tonta which is apparently a traditional cocktail and very delicious with lots of passion fruit flavor.

Great food. I had the tomato and sweet potato as a starter, then the delicious Porco à Alentejana for main course and also tried the Pastel de Santa Clara for dessert. Dessert was on point with sweetness and had a yummy ice cream with it. The pork was delicious with clams on top, amazing potatoes, definitely a hearty comfort food. I tried one of their drinks, “Porra Tonta” if I recall it well, it was very light and refreshing. Only thumbs down go for how noisy it gets in the restaurant, acoustics could be better but foodwise is very good.

The main reason I wanted to go there was to try their pastéis de bacalhau, traditional Portuguese codfish fritters, caldo verde - Portuguese Green soup, Sardinhas Grelhadas - Grilled Sardines. Pastéis de bacalhau - The texture of bacalhau was so spongy, stringy. What a perfect combination of potato and cod! Potato flavor is not overpowering. it was perfectly juicy cod with well preserved saltiness. Caldo Verde - as it boils, it gets more intense. hint of sourness, starchiness of potato make your belly warm. It was great starter! Sardinhas Grelhadas - i love the way they grill(or broil) the fish. I am not sure if they have Churrasco cooking method. anyway, I know that one of the hardest thing of grilling Sardine is to get rid of the odor, unpleasant fishy smell from sardine. Sardine that was so meaty, juicy, oily, has lots of grilled flavor. Arroz De Marisco - Seafood was so freshly good! Unlike Spanish Paella, It is not completely reduced. it is almost like thickened rice and seafood stew. There was so much seafoods - clams, cod, shrimp you can taste in one plate. Frango piri-piri - it is like more Mozambican food. But It was so remarkable!! The last but not least, Their aioli is so second to none such as Cilantro aioli, spicy Piri-Pri aioli.

The sheer amount of noise made conversation very hard but that's the main ding, which isn't bad. The service was good & props to the kitchen for accommodating special requests. Everything quite delicious with a very elegant & modern take on Portuguese food. My short ribs were heavenly & the pasteis de bacalhau was light & crunchy take on the bacalauitos I'm more familiar with. The Arroz de Pato was wonderful, the saltiness of the duck breast injecting a bright note of flavor into the rice fritter. I highly recommend.