08/03/2026
Thank you so much for the kind words. It means so much to us.
This started with a $50 gift card.
It ended with me learning just how much Fall River history sits behind the doors of Sagres Restaurant.
After Pete Griffin won our $50 giveaway when Visit Fall River MA reached 5,000 followers, I asked the community to help decide where he should eat.
The votes came in, and Sagres Restaurant came out on top.
So I went down to Columbia Street to purchase Pete’s gift card.
That’s where this story really began.
I got talking with Victor DaSilva, who honestly couldn’t have been a nicer gentleman. During our conversation, he told me Sagres is celebrating 50 years in Fall River this year.
Fifty years.
That sent me digging.
Sagres dates its beginning to 1976, when Antonio DaSilva and his brother-in-law, Amadeu Cerqueira, took over the restaurant at 177 Columbia Street.
Both men brought years of restaurant and hospitality experience with them from Portugal.
Antonio had worked as a chef in Lisbon’s hotels and restaurants. According to Sagres’ history, he eventually became head chef at Casino Estoril before bringing that experience to Fall River.
Together, Antonio and Amadeu helped build Sagres into a restaurant that became closely connected to Columbia Street and generations of local families.
The garlic, olive oil, seafood, bacalhau, Portuguese steak, pork and littlenecks, and recipes that reminded people of home all became part of its identity.
Sagres became one of those places where families celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, communions, graduations and ordinary dinners that became memories.
Then, on July 7, 2013, an electrical fire began in an apartment above the restaurant and destroyed the building.
After nearly four decades in business, the family had to decide what came next.
They were encouraged to move somewhere else.
They stayed on Columbia Street.
After nearly two years of rebuilding, Sagres reopened at the same address on June 16, 2015.
Antonio passed away in 2019, but his work and recipes are still part of Sagres today.
His sons, Victor DaSilva and Manuel Ferreira, continue carrying the restaurant forward, with Manuel serving as head chef.
Antonio’s name and influence can still be found on the menu through dishes such as Peixe Antonio, Chef Antonio’s picante preparation and Portuguese flan made from his recipe.
But there’s another part of this story that says a lot about the people behind Sagres.
When it was time to pay for the gift cards, Victor wouldn’t let me.
I insisted.
He still refused.
Instead, he donated them back to the community that has supported Sagres for the past 50 years.
So congratulations again to Pete Griffin. You officially have a $50 Sagres gift card coming your way.
And thank you to Victor, Manuel and the entire Sagres family for continuing what Antonio and Amadeu started, rebuilding on Columbia Street and giving back to the city that has supported them for five decades.
Fifty years in the restaurant business doesn’t happen by accident.
It takes long days, family sacrifices, loyal employees, generations of customers and a commitment to keep showing up.
What do you remember most about Sagres?
And what should Pete order when he goes?
