A Venda Lusitana — Restaurant in Lisbon

I wanted to share a story about the incredible couple who run this restaurant. (Unfortunately I did not dine here, as I was only in Lisbon for one day on a "layover", but definitely will next time.) I was in a difficult situation a couple weeks ago, when after an exhausting day travelling from Iceland, I was locked out of my self-check in hotel a couple doors down. It was past midnight, I had come downstairs to pick up food delivery in my t-shirt and shorts with no wallet and a dying phone, and had left the key in my room. I went around town to hotels to see if anywhere would take me in, but there are laws preventing hotel sales the night of past midnight. I saw that there were a couple people still in the restaurant, and asked if I could use the charger as my phone was on the verge of dying. The couple who run this restaurant was there, with a friend who happened to be visiting from Spain. Without hesitating, they told me to sit down, let me charge my phone, and even offered me a beer. They ended up helping me for over an hour until the situation could be resolved. During the course of the hour, they made me feel a home and we had some great conversation. It was truly generous of them to help a complete stranger late at night, and to make sure that I was okay. It seems from other reviews that the food here is incredible, but I just wanted to share this story so others can know that the people that run this place are incredibly...

My biggest disappointment in Lisbon. This restaurant doesn't do justice to the other fantastic places serving food in Lisbon. They push the "petiscos" (snacks) concept but serve wannabe-gourmet food that is not sharebale. Tiny portions for high prices, which is precisely the opposite of what portuguese food is all about. The baked goat cheese came without bread or anything to eat with, so we had to order extra bread and deal with the server's sassy, "I told so." And adding insult to injury, the scallop special cost us €20 for half a scallop and couscous, nearly sending us off our chairs. There were two bites on the plate, and we only wished it wasn't so bland. They must've been extra busy that day because service was slow and inattentive. Although I fail to understand why they would have the capacity if they can't serve that many tables. All in all, it's a huge disappointment. Had to move from my "to go" list and into my "avoid" one. There are, quite literally, hundreds of restaurants around that are better, cheaper, and less pretentious than A Venda Lusitana (btw no one working there was Portuguese). A tourist trap with lipstick on, but I'll give an extra star for the decoration and atmosphere. It was nice to share in the collective frustration with other visibly...

I came in on a Dec evening the restaurant was supposed to open at 6pm when I went there, the lights were closed with the door open I had to go to the kitchen to ask if the place was going to open since it was 615pm. The workers opened the light and gave us a table. I had to ask for the menu since it didn’t occur to him to give me one. Then I had questions about the cheese and wine. The worker couldn’t answer any questions he actuallly didn’t even know what red wine was. I chose the honey cheese but again had more questions about it and he understood it to start the order so he already told the other worker to put the cheese in the oven. Then he began to tell me his manager is stuck in traffic and will br at the restaurant in “30 minutes”. Another large group came and as the worker couldn’t answer any questions they got up and left. Then another couple came at 650pm who had reservations for 7pm and were told to wait outside until the manager would come in another 30 mins. Moral of the story , the manager was late by 1.5 hrs to run his restaurant the right way and traffic is not an excuse. I was forced to pay for something I did not order and specifically mentioned I would wait for the owner. DO...