Olá Lisboa — Restaurant in Hamburg

What can I say, calling yourself a Portuguese restaurant is not really on point!! Óla Lisboa, is a restaurant in the Portuguese square of Hamburg. Nice and friendly service and still welcoming atmosphere. Unfortunately that is the only positive thing I can say. The food is a mixture of Greek, Croatian, Spanish, Balkan and a hint of Portuguese cuisine. The only Portuguese dish is Ameijoas á bulhâo pato /Clams bolhão pato style and a few Portuguese wines. Btw the house wine is “boxwine” and not very tasteful. The lamb chops were overcooked and served with Tzatziki (Greek yogurt sauce) The “patatas bravas” were served with ajvar (a typical Balkan sauce) just for your understanding: Patatas Bravas are called like that because of the brava sauce, otherwise just call them patatas=potatoes. And hahaha what a surprise, they are from Spain, So are the pimentos padron, the tortilla española, the manchego cheese, the polvo Gallego ( Translation Galician squid, as the name says, Galicia is a Region in Spain)..... The list goes on and on and on......

I mean to be fair, I get that you would want to satisfy your international customers by offering a large variety of food BUT don’t call yourself “Portuguese Restaurant” and then don’t offer anything Portuguese!!!

I was missing Bacalhau THE Portuguese national dish made out of cod, roasted potatoes eggs and olives. Or why serve regular baguette if you have such an amazing bread like the rye bread: Pão de centeio from Chaves ( a small village in Portugal) also missed the Broa de Avintes a cornbread that goes extremely well with olive tapenade.....

An advice for the future: Less fat and less confusion! Call yourself crossover Mediterranean but definitely not...

Ola Lisboa – Great Food, But Watch Out for the Water Trap!

Let me start with the biggest downside of our visit to Ola Lisboa: the €7.50 bottle of sparkling water that felt like a tourist scam. When the bill came, I was shocked—how could water cost more than a plate of sardines (€8.50) or nearly as much as a beer or wine? I asked the waiter, but he just smiled, leaving me feeling like an easy target. If you dine here, avoid the bottled water and order a drink instead—it’s cheaper!

Now, onto the good part—the food was excellent. We had the combination platter for two (€29)**, loaded with fried peppers, crispy calamari, goat cheese wrapped in ham, dates, and garlic shrimp. Everything was flavorful and filling. The fried sardines (€8.50) were a highlight—so fresh and delicious that we devoured them whole, heads and all! Dessert was a crème brûlée, which was decent, though the sugar crust was too thick and the cream could’ve been smoother.

Ola Lisboa serves authentic, tasty Portuguese dishes at fair prices—but the ridiculous water charge left a bad impression. If they were transparent about pricing (or just charged reasonably), this would be a solid 5-star spot. As it stands, enjoy the food, but keep an eye...

We wanted to go to this restaurant on Friday evening. We called to book a table for 6 PM. They said that wasn’t possible, but they could take our reservation for 7:30 PM instead. So, we show up at 7:30 sharp, give our name… and guess what? No table. Apparently, reservations don’t actually reserve anything here. Brilliant idea, isn’t it? Even better: a family of five, without a reservation, was seated before us.

The waiter tells us to wait, then comes back and says to follow him. Great, a table must finally be ready, right? Oh no, not at all. Instead, he walks us straight into another restaurant next door. Different place, different menu, different prices. No explanation, no « would you like this instead », no question, just… surprise!

If we had wanted to go to another restaurant, we would have made the reservation there in the first place. If you don’t actually honor reservations, maybe just don’t take them. At least then expectations would be clear.

So if you like mystery, suspens, and the thrill of not knowing where you’ll end up eating (or if you’ll eat at all), then this place is perfect. If you expect a restaurant to keep a reservation, maybe try...