Carlos Oliveira, owner of Mercado Restaurant, shares what happened when some family members of mega football star Cristiano Ronaldo visited his restaurant. <\/p>\n
Just before Portugal\u2019s crucial World Cup match against Croatia, some family members of football legend Cristiano Ronaldo made a surprise visit to some of Toronto\u2019s Portuguese restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a surreal, surreal experience,\u201d Carlos Oliveira, owner of Mercado Restaurant, said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday. <\/p>\n
Oliveira recounted his friend messaging him at 11 a.m. on Thursday, saying that Ronaldo\u2019s mother and sister wanted to know if he had space for them to have lunch at Mercado. His friend said they heard Oliveira was a Ronaldo fan so they wanted to \u201csay hello.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m thinking, \u2018is this for real or not?\u2019\u201d Oliveira said. \u201cOK, and I actually played along with it. \u2018Hey, sure, yes, we have space.\u2019 And funny enough, they showed up.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Cristiano](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7GT4FWRGZVGHHEPUPTMI2VAHZA.jpeg\")
World Cup Toronto: Cristiano Ronaldo family visit Mercado Restaurant Cristiano Ronaldo’s sister Katia Aveiro, second left, and her mother, Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, second right, visit Mercado Restaurant for lunch while they are in Toronto for Portugal’s World Cup match on July 2, 2026. They’re pictured with Mercado owner Carlos Oliveira, right, his wife, far left, and daughter, centre. (Courtesy of Carlos Oliveira) <\/p>\n
Some of Ronaldo\u2019s family, including his mother Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, stepfather Jos\u00e9 Antonio Andrade and sister Katia Aveiro, arrived Thursday around noon and stayed for about three hours, Oliveira said. <\/p>\n
Oliveira said Ronaldo\u2019s mother appeared extremely worried about the game and that he could feel the family was under intense pressure. After greeting each other, he noted that Ronaldo\u2019s mother said: \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to be able to eat anything, because I\u2019m so nervous.\u201d <\/p>\n
Portugal would end up beating Croatia 2-1<\/a>, with Ronaldo tying the game in the 68th minute on a penalty kick, then Goncalo Ramos scoring the winning goal in stoppage time. <\/p>\n Oliveira said his impression of Ronaldo\u2019s family was that they were \u201cthe most humblest people that I have ever met.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIt was a pleasure to deal with them, he said. <\/p>\n Ronaldo\u2019s sister handled the anxiety about the game differently, Oliveira said, noting she was \u201can explosion of energy.\u201d <\/p>\n Mercado Restaurant posted a video of Ronaldo\u2019s sister<\/a> cheering on Portugal during the family\u2019s visit to the restaurant. Katia Aveiro is holding a bag covered with the words \u201cPortugal\u201d and is wearing a jersey with her brother\u2019s No. 7 as she sings in Portuguese. <\/p>\n \u201cI can only speak on my experience, but we had a truly, truly awesome experience,\u201d Oliveira said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t want to order anything. They actually said, \u2018Carlos, whatever you like to bring or showcase, we love to try what you\u2019re doing here,\u2019 and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n He said they enjoyed their meal and \u201chad fun.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIt was almost like serving somebody that I knew for a long time. It was that level of comfort. It was pretty awesome,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Earlier in the week, some of Ronaldo\u2019s family members visited another Portuguese restaurant.<\/p>\n Stefanie Alves, manager at the family-run Via Norte, said some of Ronaldo\u2019s family, including his mother, stepfather and sister, visited the restaurant for dinner on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI was taken by surprise,\u201d Alves said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday. \u201cIt was obviously an amazing shock, but I was super excited to have them here with us and host them.\u201d<\/p>\n Alves said she was able to chat with them about topics such as food, where their families were from in Portugal and took photos<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI was super excited to be able to connect with them,\u201d Alves said, adding that \u201calthough they\u2019re under the spotlight, they\u2019re humans like all of us.\u201d <\/p>\n She said Ronaldo\u2019s family \u201cenjoyed everything\u201d that the staff served. <\/p>\n Alves said their conversations \u201cfelt so natural.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it felt like I was having a conversation with a friend. It was amazing.\u201d <\/p>\n With files from CTV News\u2019 Hunter Crowther<\/p>\n Related Stories