Restaurante Essência

Finally a restaurant that has a good offer of vegetarian dishes. Everything is well chosen and delicious. The service is paying attention and doing a really good job as well.
It is not the cheapest restaurant in Porto for sure but it is worth the price. I can only recommend it to everyone that is looking for something more special.

Absolutely fantastic vegetarian food. The service was amazing and the atmosphere out on the terrace was so chill and nice.

Would fully recommend to anyone visiting Porto.

Our favorite dinner experience in Porto hands down. The waiters were lovely, kind and attentive and the owner was very good to us as well!

A bit out of the city center but absolute worth the (east and inexpensive) Uber to get there.

And the food! For vegetarians and meat eaters alike—a wide variety of options. Would highly recommend the scallops and the lemon dessert. And sitting outside on the patio!

Lovely vegetarian restaurant (there are non-vegetarian options). Friendly and welcoming staff. The food was delicious with interesting flavours and beautifully presented. We had 3 courses - it's not incredibly filling food but I would say portion sizes were adequate. Most importantly we had a great evening here.

Omg!!! What an incredible meal. We were looking for innovative inspired cuisine and this restaurant really delivered. It was a welcome option from the heavier food offered in Porto restaurants. It’s a bit out of the way but we’ll worth the Uber ride

Vegetarian visitors and locals of Porto, this is your restaurant! Absolutely excellent in every way.

This place does not represent everything that makes Porto Porto, but this can't be expected of a vegetarian restaurant. Portugal's culinary history lies, after all, mostly in meat and other animal products.

But for locals and visitors specifically looking for the very best in vegetarian cuisine, this should be your go-to.

We enjoyed the pumpkin soup, mushroom risotto, gnocchi and especially the exquisite Douro wine.

Service is sublime and prices are perfect. Situated outside of the historic city centre, but easily reachable if you stay there.

Highly recommended!

My husband and I ate here today and everything was absolutely delicious. Unique ingredient combinations, beautiful presentation, and welcoming, friendly service - if I lived here I’d be a regular!

Me and my husband are on a holiday in Porto. This restaurant was on our list to try out, and it got bumped up because it also was recommended by a Porto local, and we were super pleased we made the time for it.

The location is not near the tourist attractions or the centre, so taking an Uber was about 5-6€ each way. We ordered a bottle of red wine, starter to share, a main each and dessert to share and it costed about €60.

Upon arriving we were shown to a table in their upper rooms, the place is lovely with pleasant ambient lighting. The waitress who served us was very friendly and polite although she didn’t speak English, we were able to communicate with some google translate help. She was super respectful of leaving most of the time for privacy and also being attentive when we needed. So 5* for the services !!

The food was excellent, me being vegetarian, most of the trip my husband was eating along with me in vegan places. This place serves excellent options for vegetarians and sea food options. Super happy about neither having to compromise.
The quality of food was excellent and portions and plating perfect.

Would definitely recommend to anyone in or visiting Porto :) well deserved 5stars
Thanks Essencia for the memorable evening.

Simply the best was written in my travel guide. And that was true: excellent vegetarian food. Pleasant ambience. Great adventurous menu.
Friendly (though sometimes hurried) staff. Nevertheless. You will feel welcome here.

Great and delicious dinner! The atmosphere is really nice, the service is so attentive, gentel and helpful and of cause the meals are delicious. They offer creative vegetarian and also vegan plates. But in case someone really wants meat or fish - this is also possible But absolutely not necessary. Prices are moderate, too. I can only recommend this place!

Came by because it had vegetarian food. The experience was superb. In addition to vegetarian options they also had a chicken quiche that was unepectedly excellent. The presentation of 'prato do dia' for both of of us was lovely, the service was great.Would highly recommend this place

Amazing - if you're vegetarian and in Porto, make the effort to go. Photo shows one of the non-veggie options (scallops with beetroot tagliatelle), which was apparently just as good as the veggie food. Highly recommended.

This was a wonderful experience, we had a fantastic evening. We are vegan and gluten free.
Thank you so very much for your excellence in food presentation and combination of flavours.
The wine and coffee were equally as good as the food.
The service was perfect.
The ambience so relaxing.
This has made our holiday really special.
Once again thank you for your efforts in making a special eco friendly experience protecting our environment.

Very good vegetarian restaurant with an extensive number of good options!
We’ll repeat without doubt!

Food and service on a better level. We loved to be here and would always come back when in Porto. The Restaurant is a 40 minutes to walk from the city center, so I would recommend to take an Uber for that, it's really worth the way.

This restaurant exceeded my expectations so much. I already had high hopes but the food was the best food I’d had in Porto and the hospitality cannot be compared. It is a beautiful family lead business and they make the visit very personal and cater to your needs. All staff there are very attentive and kind. I struggled finding a vegetarian restaurant for my parents but they thoroughly enjoyed this restaurant, and what was more amazing was they also offered a section of non-veg food which pleased the whole group. Dessert on top of this was brilliant! Would highly recommend and will definitely be coming again!

A truly special evening with unique and beautifully prepared dishes. We had 6 dishes with 6 wines (between two) and each one was stunning, well balanced and packed with flavour. Unique home grown produce and exceptional service. Would recommend to everyone, simply stunning.

Absolutely delicious food, and such nice service/staff. So nice that they have a vegetarian focused menu but that also has a little non-veggie menu. Couldnt recommend it more for a lovely group meal out in Porto :)

Had a wonderful dinner here. The staff were brilliant at serving our group of 12, and managed people's dietary requirements very well. The menu is a great combination of vegetarian, vegan and meat options. They also made a fantastic caipirinha!

Excellent restaurant. Great food yet cheap, options for everyone (veg or not), nice and helpful staff, skilled with languages, good wine and fruit juices, very nice terrace. Wonderful place all around.