| Address | 8401 Connecticut Ave., Chevy Chase, MD 20815 |
|---|---|
| Phone | (301) 652-8684 |
Tavira is a lovely restaurant with a nice ambiance and good lighting. The staff is simply amazing--attentiveness and sharp detail bring me back again and again. The food is exquisite and the desserts are mouth-watering--try their poached pear--just fabulous. The music is world-class--Peter Fields is there the fourth Friday of every month. A virtuoso guitarist, Peter plays Portuguese and other Mediterranean popular songs with great skill and passion. When I was there last, one of the women listeners was quite disappointed that he would not be there the NEXT week. Duarte runs a great establishment and is a lovely man in person. Go, enjoy, and be transported!
This restaurant would be great as a first date or special anniversary place. Not a place to bring children or parties larger than 6 people.
The basement of a bank isn't where'd I'd expect to find a real treat, but what a treat it was. My wife and I spent our honeymoon in Portugal so we decided to have our 1-year anniversary dinner at Tavira. It was a Tuesday night and we were one of 3 couples. Needless to say it was quiet. I would have prefered a more lively atmosphere, or at least some wonderful Portuguese music to provide some ambience, but oh well. The decor could have used some help as well. OK, a LOT of help. There were a lot of tacky items scattered about and it was overly bright. But our server, per our request, did dim the lights over our table which I thought was pretty cool.
That said, let's talk about why we really came here, the food. To me, Portuguese food has very little spice, but a lot of natural flavor. It must take very fresh ingredients and a skillful chef to pull it off well. We could not have been happier with our seafood stew, octopus appetizer and fabulous Port (selected by our server). I will conclude by saying our server was charming and informative and made our visit a real memory.
I was blown away by Tavira. We ordered the red snapper for 2 baked in sea salt. It was brought to the table steaming hot, where our delightful waiter prepared it for us. Haven't tasted anything that good in a long time. The bread pudding for dessert was divine. Wait staff helpful and friendly. Wonderful appetizers. Can't say enough. You will be skeptical that this wonderful restaurant is in the basement of a bank building. But don't miss it.
The service was wonderful, the wait staff was so friendly, knowledgable and helpful. Food was delicious and well crafted. This is a gem of a restaurant and deserves more attention from Washingtonian restaurant goers.
