Restaurante Gavião Novo

It’s a very luxe place. It is expensive but it is 110% worth it. The house wines, white and red, are very smooth, the food is amazing. I got the seafood rice and it was amazing. It’s a portion for two and you get 2 and a half plates worth, the fish to rice ratio is perfectly balanced, not too much rice just to try and fill you up. The squid, muscles, and the rice were cooked to perfection, not a fishy taste off it at all. The service was sublime. We were made feel so welcome and taken care of all of the time, we were never left with an empty plate or an empty glass. The only thing was we were outside and were little flies, but I don’t think that’s in control of the restaurant. If you’re coming to Madeira, a seafood fanatic and don’t mind spending an extra bit, definitely recommend coming here!

Amazing service here, we had meat but they’re well known for fish. The servers are adorable, highly recommended 👍

Very Disappointing – Wouldn’t Recommend We came here as a group of five, excited to try different dishes. Unfortunately, almost everything we ordered tasted bad. The ESPETADA was the worst — none of us could even take more than one bite. We asked for a discount because two dishes were completely inedible, but they only gave us 10% off on those, which was just 3.50€. It felt like a small gesture for such a poor experience. The only one eatable dish was mushroom pasta. Carbonara and risotto were really bad, the worst in my life. Just take a look at the photos of our dishes. The presentation says a lot about the taste. We won’t be back, and we wouldn’t recommend this place to others.

The food is not necessarily better than in other places in Madeira, but for sure it is a lot more expensive. The portions are small compared to what other restaurants offer. We were sitting outside and next to our table there was this person (maybe the manager or the owner, as he wasn't serving the tables and would give instructions to the staff) who would loudly approach every person and invite them to eat there. When you are sitting there and have to listen to the same speech all over it's just annoying. He managed to bring some new clients, but he also managed to provide an unpleasant experience to the clients that he already had. The service was great, our waiter was very efficient and friendly.

The food was very delicious, we ate octopus with garlic and fish with banana, that melted in your mouth with amazing flavours. The service was also impeccable. We recommend it!

We came here for the first meal during our 4-day trip in Funchal. The scabbard fish definitely delightful, we also enjoyed the octopus very much as well as the prawn and fish skewers. Service was attentive.

Visited Gavião Novo for a cozy dining experience in the central area. Enjoyed the delicious prawns as a starter and found the house steak dish satisfying. However, mixed grilled fish was slightly overcooked. While the ambiance is cozy, it could use a refresh. Prices felt a bit high considering dish quality and presentation. Overall, a mix of positives but room for improvements.

Was unsure toward the end whether to give this a 2 or 3* but the time it took to pay helped my decision. The staff were friendly, however service was extremely slow. We waited over 40 minutes between our starter and main and watched several people get served before us who arrived after. The food was average at best, lacked flavour, had to add salt to everything. We bought one small bottle of wine and ended up needing a second because of how long the food took. It was overpriced for what it was too, a classic tourist trap I’m ashamed I fell for. Out of the 3 members of staff we spoke to when asking about the food, only one apologised. Wouldn’t visit again and told someone waiting for a table to not bother.

We booked a reservation a few days in advance. When we arrived, they asked us to wait 20-30 minutes. After 30 minutes, they setup a table on the opposite side of alley in foot traffic for us. They had two empty tables the entire time then several tables opened up. They said they were waiting on a group of 9. We left without eating after being bumped a few times by people walking by us.

Great seafood restaurant. The pulpa was garlicky with a little bit of a spicy kick. The prawn was terrific with a spicy aioli. The most unique dish was the fish. They covered it passion fruit and put a banana on top. Every unique--and tasty--flavor combination.

Decent little place on restaurant street close to farm market in Funchal. Nice service, friendly staff. Has inside and outside seating. I would recommend fish soup and items from regular menu rather than chef's specials. We visited twice in Feb 2017.