WISH Concept Store — Local services in Lisbon

Let's start with the positive: the guys know how make coffee. My cappuccino was flawless, and during my stay in Lisbon it was only beaten by the Copenhagen Coffee Lab. So if you're in the area and in the need for decent coffee, Wish is a good address. (By the way, they get their coffee from Berlin's Five Elephant.)

And now some criticism. As nice as the coffee was, what stuck with me was the excessive wait for my bruschetta trio, which turned out to be rather bland, and which was served without either a smile, a due apology, or a fork. This made the whole experience a bit awkward, because I had the impression that the waiter/barista was avoiding me, and I didn't feel welcome anymore. So I changed my mind, did not get out my laptop, did not order another coffee or two and maybe a pastry, as I had originally planned, and went some place else. Too bad.

My advice: stop offering table service. This just encourages people to order food, which is neither your strong suit nor where any coffee shop makes its money. Leave the baristas behind the counter and don't make them wait on people. I was genuinely surprised how many people came in just to order food. This can't be what you want. So do...

Walking around Alcântara area and in the mood for a simple and pleasant quick bite? Go to Lx Factory and find Wish. This is a small place that serves from breakfasts to other type of small plates of food during the day, but all with good quality, in the proper proportion and at a good price.

The more simple breakfast board, in the pic, offers some complementary good quality options. I believe they express the idea that less is more and keep it simple but keep the quality very well in this place. And the latte...it is a no brainer that this is le piece de resistance of this breakfast!

In my point of view I would swap either the croissant or the bread for some fruit and keep only one of them in order to bring more balance to this option. Unfortunately fruit is only available in the higher price option. Nothing is perfect...

The service is very friendly altough the space is small inside. That is compensated with an aditional outdoor space that you can use during the good weather days.

It will not offer any wow factor or any disruptive options on the menu but it is a safe bet to go and...

Great coffee but everything else was average (at best) and poorly executed.

The menus (yes multiple) are too busy and lack clarity, from the two we ordered:

The Vegan Brunch which had under seasoned soup, carrot and celery sticks - can’t really get that wrong, a small pot of avocado and hummus - pretty bland, melon and pineapple - overshadowed by the taste of pineapple, beetroot and apple on toast - just ok, and some seasoned nuts.

Pancakes with goats cheese and tomatoes; pancakes were dry and floury, goats cheese was thinly sliced and cold, this meant it lacked any flavour at all, and some tomatoes that needed seasoning as they had little flavour of their own.

Service was also atrocious, they didn’t know what was in the kitchen with the server having to come back to the table on two different occasions to say the item we had ordered was not available. They also had to be prompted to bring cutlery after our food arrived.

Style over substance - great seating, nice atmosphere - come for the coffee, don’t stay...