27 May The Best Piri Piri Chicken We Ate in Algarve — Honest Opinions After 11 Days and 5 Restaurants
One thing we tried to do during our 11 days in Algarve was to avoid eating random international food just because it was easier.
So over those 11 days, we ended up trying around 20 different restaurants and focused almost entirely on traditional Portuguese food or dishes that felt representative for the region itself.
Of course, we ate the famous pastel de nata, but we also tried things that were much more local to Algarve itself, like Dom Rodrigo — a traditional dessert originally associated with the Lagos area.
Beyond desserts, we spent most evenings chasing local food: piri piri chicken, cataplana, grilled fish, soups, bifanas, francesinhas and small family-run restaurants that looked like people from the neighborhood actually ate there.
That became our rule almost instinctively:
if a place was full of locals casually coming in for one specific dish, we wanted to try it.
Sometimes that led us to fantastic meals.
Sometimes it didn’t.
But by the end of the trip, piri piri chicken became the one thing we kept comparing everywhere we went in Algarve.
Not because every place made it differently — honestly, many looked surprisingly similar at first — but because the atmosphere around it, the charcoal smell, the spice level, the sides, the people around us and the overall feeling of the restaurant changed the experience completely.
And after trying it over and over again across Algarve, a few places genuinely stayed with us.
Our idea was actually very simple.
And honestly, for the first time in a long time, we arrived somewhere that — at least on paper — felt extremely touristy, so we didn’t have huge expectations when it came to food.
Before the trip, Algarve looked to us like the kind of destination people mostly associate with beaches, resorts, summer holidays and crowded restaurants trying to serve everyone at once.
But over those 11 days, that perception slowly changed.
In the next articles, I’ll leave our honest impressions about the food we tried across several Algarve towns, the traditional dishes we ended up liking the most, the restaurants that genuinely felt memorable, the ones that felt overrated, the prices, the atmosphere and all the small details that actually matter when you are travelling and trying to decide where to eat.
Because in the end, some places were not necessarily spectacular because of the food alone.
Sometimes it was the feeling of the restaurant. Sometimes it was the people around us. Sometimes it was a smoky roadside terrace full of locals waiting for takeaway chicken.
And sometimes it was simply the fact that after a long day in Algarve, that meal was exactly what we hoped it would be.
And yes, I know.
Considering this is an article series about Algarve, maybe it would have made more sense to start with seafood, grilled fish or cataplana.
But instead, I chose to begin with piri piri chicken.
Because by the end of the trip, it somehow became the food we associated the most with Algarve itself.
It was also probably the dish we ate most often during those 11 days and the one we ended up comparing constantly from one town to another.
Some places served it dripping in sauce and aggressively spicy.
Others kept it much simpler, with more smoke from the grill than heat from the sauce itself.
And honestly, that’s exactly what made it interesting.
The more places we tried, the more we realized that piri piri in Algarve is not just about the chicken itself, but about the whole atmosphere surrounding it.
Our Algarve Piri Piri Ranking
1. Jurasqueira Praça da Armas — Lagos
2. Churrasqueira Recife — Faro
3. Frango Piri Piri Grenaldo — Lagos
4. Franguinho de Albufeira — Albufeira
5. Albufeira Churrasqueira Gourmet — Albufeira
Jurasqueira Praça da Armas — Lagos
After trying five different piri piri places in Algarve, two in Lagos, two in Albufeira and one in Faro, this was our clear number one.
Absolutely superb.
My fiancée doesn’t eat a lot of chicken in general and usually isn’t that impressed by it anymore, but here we both ate with huge appetite. Everything was genuinely delicious.
One of the things we appreciated immediately was the menu itself: half a piri piri chicken, fries and a canned drink for around 9 euros.
And honestly, in a period where prices everywhere seem to rise uncontrollably and travelling becomes harder and harder for many people, this place felt like an actual best buy.
Not only because the chicken was extremely good, but because the portions were also generous and the overall price felt fair.
Of course, you can order much more than that. Entire chickens, multiple portions, salads, fish, cod, desserts and several other products are available as well.
But what stayed with us the most was definitely the piri piri chicken itself, which for us was easily the best we tried in Algarve.
The staff was constantly smiling, joking around and very friendly. The place was clean and the atmosphere relaxed.
We ended up eating here twice during the trip.
Another huge advantage is the takeaway option. There are a few tables inside and I think there is also some seating upstairs, but taking the food to go almost became part of the experience for us.
You just need to be careful because the piri piri sauce spills extremely easily.
But then you can take the chicken somewhere near the lighthouse, near the ocean or on a beach at sunset and simply eat quietly while looking at the sea.
For us, this was by far the best piri piri chicken experience in Algarve.
Churrasqueira Recife — Faro
This was our second favorite piri piri place in Algarve and honestly, the difference between this one and our number one from Lagos was extremely small.
The chicken here was superb. Really, really good.
The fries were also excellent and overall the food felt very balanced and satisfying.
The price was somewhere around 8.5 euros for the chicken with a side dish, but without a drink. Honestly, not a problem at all, especially considering the quality of the food.
The restaurant itself is relatively small, but very pleasant.
It felt exactly like the kind of place where locals regularly eat and tourists simply happen to discover it by accident.
For us, that was actually one of its biggest advantages.
The only real reason we placed it slightly below Jurasqueira Praça da Armas in Lagos was the portion size. The amount of chicken felt a bit smaller and if we had to compare the taste directly, I honestly think there would be at most a 0.5 or 0.75 point difference between them.
That close.
It is absolutely one of the places where we would eat again without hesitation.
So if you are staying in Faro and want really good piri piri chicken, this is definitely a very solid choice.
Frango Piri Piri Grenaldo — Lagos
Our third favorite piri piri place in Algarve was Frango Piri Piri Grenaldo in Lagos.
A little different compared to the first two places.
The biggest difference was definitely the size of the chicken portions. Out of all five restaurants we tried, this was by far the largest portion.
The fries were also good and overall the meal was very satisfying.
When we first arrived, the place was completely empty. But interestingly, while we were waiting for the food and shortly after our order arrived, more and more people started coming in.
And almost everybody seemed to order the exact same thing: piri piri chicken.
That usually tells you enough.
The restaurant itself is small, both inside and outside, but pleasant and relaxed. The service was good and the overall atmosphere felt comfortable.
The price was slightly higher compared to the first two places, somewhere around 12.5 euros, but considering the amount of food, it still felt reasonable.
The interesting thing is that we probably would never have ended up eating here if Jurasqueira Praça da Armas had been open on our last day in Lagos.
That was the day we wanted to eat piri piri one final time before leaving and since our favorite place was closed, we ended up discovering this one instead.
And honestly, we can say without any hesitation that the chicken we ate here was very good.
Franguinho de Albufeira — Albufeira
Franguinho de Albufeira takes the fourth place in our ranking.
The restaurant is located well outside the old town, a little further away from the main tourist area.
Our impressions here were a bit mixed.
We ordered a soup and piri piri chicken. The soup of the day did not impress us very much. The portion was small and honestly not something that deserves huge attention.
The restaurant itself is relatively large, the service was very good, the young staff members were friendly, people were pleasant and overall the atmosphere was nice.
When it comes to the chicken itself, I think there was also a bit of a shock because we came here after eating at the number 1 and number 3 places from Lagos and we were already used to larger portions.
Here, both of us felt that the chicken was small. Probably the smallest piri piri chicken portion we had during this trip.
In terms of taste though, honestly, there is not much to complain about. Very ok, very decent, actually quite good and it deserves its place in the ranking from a taste perspective.
The problem for us was the quantity.
At around 8 euros plus fries or rice, the portion simply felt too small.
At Praça da Armas I could finish a portion and feel full, while here, even with the soup, we were not very impressed by the amount of food we received.
Overall, a good restaurant with good piri piri chicken, but a very small portion.
Albufeira Churrasqueira Gourmet — Albufeira
For this restaurant we once again searched for something outside the old town, further away from the tourist areas, the kind of place where people casually drink a beer, eat something simple and where 90-99% of the customers seem to be locals.
The restaurant itself is small, with two or three tables inside and a few outside, exactly the kind of place that promises a lot from the beginning.
The staff was very nice and the atmosphere pleasant.
When it comes to the chicken itself, honestly, we did not have many complaints. The chicken was good.
The problem for us was the sauce.
Our impression was that the sauce used for the piri piri tasted very similar to a supermarket sauce, similar to some sauces that we also use at home.
And because of that, the experience did not feel special anymore.
In the other restaurants we genuinely felt that piri piri taste that we ended up loving during the trip, while here we simply never had the feeling that we were eating a memorable piri piri chicken.
That is the reason why we placed this restaurant on the fifth spot in our ranking.
Final Thoughts About Piri Piri in Algarve
If we really stop and think about piri piri chicken, it is simply one of those foods strongly associated with Portugal.
Years ago, around eight years ago, when I first ate piri piri in London, I ordered it simply because I wanted something spicy. At that time, I knew absolutely nothing about its history or about how popular this dish actually is in Portugal.
After this trip, things changed a little.
If there is one thing I can say with certainty, it is this:
I would return anytime for Jurasqueira Praça da Armas in Lagos.
Without any doubt, it was the best piri piri chicken I have ever eaten.
I would also absolutely return to the place in Faro. Very fair, very good, very correct overall. The distance between it and the number one spot is actually quite small.
But realistically, if I had to choose five times between them, all five times I would still choose the restaurant in Lagos.
There is simply something special there.
During this trip we ate piri piri both in restaurants and as takeaway, searched for smaller places, places where most of the people eating there seemed to be locals, with queues of people waiting to take chicken home for dinner.
And honestly, I think our little experiment worked extremely well.
Would I try more piri piri places in Portugal in the future?
Absolutely.
But with one small problem:I honestly don’t think many places will manage to reach our number one from Lagos.
And maybe one final piece of advice.
Yes, eating piri piri chicken in the restaurant is perfectly fine and part of the experience.
But honestly, if you are not a messy eater and you are careful with the sauce, I think one of the nicest things you can do in Algarve is to take the food away with you.
Find a beach, a cliff, a quieter place near the ocean, sit somewhere isolated and simply enjoy the sunset with a really good meal.
Some of our nicest memories from Algarve were exactly like that.
Just one important mention:
if you do this, clean absolutely everything after yourself and leave the place exactly as clean as it was when you arrived there.
If you want to read more about the full itinerary we did in Algarve you can read here
Also, if you are interested in our accommodation and the places we picked as bases for our trip, you can read here
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