Casa Madeira

I'll have been in hundreds of times, when for years I worked nearby. It's a Portuguese institution. Strong morning coffee, breakfast meetings, fresh sandwiches made up to take out, heaving boxes of pasteis de nata back to the office. A favourite, and known to others as my private "office". The cafe is under the first Vauxhall railway arch, a deli and restaurant under the second. Staff are quick and dry - make an offhand comment once and it's a running joke. They're busy turning the service, but their warmth is there and is earned. Wide menu, behind the counter and on the tables. Cooked breakfast with chips if you want them; baked potatoes slathered in beans, cheeseburgers with a nip of salad, baps made up for a long lunchtime queue. Across the pavement, fresh air and a terrace between the arches and the Albert Embankment. For a longer lunch, I've had chicken Kyiv and lasagne in the restaurant, both hot, generous and good. The till is at the end. Everything else comes to you.

Randomly walked past this bistro without knowing it. After our visit to Garden Museum we decided to go back for dinner. We were served with bread once seated on a charge of £1.95 per person. Many choices on the menu - we ordered a kale soup, grilled octopus and beef steak sandwiches with chips, and a virgin bloody mary. The octopus was delicious and served with loads of veggies. The sandwich was value for money. We must come back for seafood and desserts. Another table was celebrating birthday with a cake from next door. The atmosphere was great.

Love the food at Casa Madeira. Staff is very friendly and helpful, a nice variety of Portuguese goodies to try. Both takeaway or seat it, sweet or savoury. I recommend stopping by if you’re in the area.

The food was fine — especially the baby chicken and seafood rice, but some dishes were overpriced for the portion sizes. The bread was served without asking and charged per person, which didn’t feel great. The service felt rushed and we were pressured to leave, despite a 20% service charge being added. Would not rush back.

An absolutely outstanding experience at Casa Madeira, a Portuguese restaurant that truly delivers on quality and hospitality. The T-bone steak was more than amazing — perfectly cooked, full of flavour, and clearly top quality. What really made the difference was the service. The staff were incredibly attentive, friendly, and welcoming from start to finish. They even took the time to play and interact with my son, which made the experience even more special for our family. And don’t leave without trying the pastel de nata — the traditional Portuguese dessert. It’s absolutely delicious and well worth it. It’s rare to find a place that combines excellent food, authentic Portuguese flavours, and genuine hospitality at the same level. I will definitely be coming back and highly recommend Casa Madeira. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Very good restaurant! I have visited here 5 times. Always good service with good food! Will be back again x

Second time that been here - although a few years since first outing. Starters were good - had prawns, calamari and chourico (Portuguese sausage - served flaming). Main courses mixed - the bachalau was ok but quite bony and piri piri chicken ok - but frankly prefer Nandos or Casa do Frango as bigger portions and tastier. White wines mixed - difficult to find a nice dry white. Prices generally felt too high for quality

I went to this restaurant this week with 5 friends who I eat with about every 6 weeks. I had read the reviews good and not good so was unsure what to expect. I found a vibrant and busy restaurant under the arches by Vauxhall station. The room was quite noisy both because of the people and the trains overhead. I am a very picky eater and like very simple meat dishes my friends vary and like many different types of food. 2 of us had melon and palma ham others had avocado and prawns and whitebait all the portions were large and apart from the melon having little flavour we were all happy. To follow I had well done lamb cutlets (5!) and chips others had pasta sea bass (huge) veggie burger and I have forgotten the rest all the portions were vast and several of us could not finish not because it was not good but it was just too much. The staff were friendly and helpful even if they did sometimes forget to bring the extra bottle of wine. Overall we all enjoyed the meal which we thought was good value for money.