Amaru - Peruvian Street Lab — Restaurant in Lisbon

Incredible Peruvian-style ceviche let down by bad service.

The food is absolutely a 5-star experience. It is packed with flavours, all sorts of seasoning, spices, and natural fish and citrus. It's beautifully and colourfully presented with a careful attention to detail. Everything tastes super fresh which is very, very important for seafood restaurants, and especially ceviche. Major kudos to the kitchen for their stellar skill. Good portion sizes + reasonable prices + fantastic prep, presentation and flavours = good value.

We thoroughly enjoyed every dish, so much that we actually ordered seconds. That's not a common occurrence for me when eating out. Cocktails were okay, but nothing unique or memorable.

The atmosphere is pretty slick with neon lights and a street vibe that speaks to millennials and tiktok watchers alike. It's Instagram-worthy with the branding and neon. The music was pretty loud, but it wasn't bad and suited the vibe.

Service was really bad though, something I'm not accustomed to in Portugal. While it can sometimes be slow and disorganized here, it's rarely rude or dismissive. I felt like I was still in Poland. She barely said 3 words to us the entire time, didn't understand the simple drinks order (we had to go up to the bartender and ask for a vodka soda),and disappeared for the majority of our meal. It was so bad that we had to get up from the table and order more drinks and food with the bartender! She was just standing around outside or missing completely. If you have table service at a sit-down restaurant, your staff actually need to serve tables, not completely ignore guests. And the craziest part is that we were the only table inside! She wasn't overworked and constantly running tables. She just didn't care.

It's a really bit shame because the food...

21-4-2025 been here. Nachos, banana chips and corn as a starter, potato wedges with chimichurri and chicharron. Main courses the brisket and the ceviche. In terms of drinks the Pisco sour. The reception upon arrival was very friendly. Nachos and banana chips are tasty but ready-made from a bag. A restaurant doesn't have to do anything for that. When I saw only 1 person in the kitchen I should have known already. There is no cooking here, everything is pre-cooked and heated up by 1 person. Killing for quality!!! As a result the chicharron was overcooked. The fat of the pork belly remains soft of course but the meat was tough. The potato wedges were not worth mentioning. Anyone who cooks a little can make them at least as well. Some wedges were overcooked and others were not even cooked. The taste of the Ceviche was really good, too bad it was a mini portion for €17.50. About 3 tablespoons of fish cubes. The brisket was really bad, completely overcooked and completely dry. The cherry tomatoes were added, they were only slightly warm. After eating 1 strip of meat I said something about this to the service. They started talking to the one person in the kitchen. Only when we asked for the bill did she say sorry, and that the meat was cooked more one day than the other. That does not belong in the catering industry, it is about continuity. If you can't cook you don't belong in a kitchen. So for the food AT MOST 2 stars. Service is supposed to resolve a complaint, a sorry will not make a customer come back. The atmosphere in the restaurant is very pleasant. Worth mentioning, the toilets. The men's toilet is so small... getting in with shoe size 45 is already difficult and the hook to lock the door is broken off next to the roll of toilet paper. The toilet is...

Let me start with the good part: the drinks. I am not a beer person, so I rely on cocktails. I ordered the Pisco Sour and Coffee Martini. Both were super good. Also tasted my friend’s Kiwi Caipirinha and it was very good as well. Now let’s go to the bad part: food and (almost) service. We ordered: chicken hearts, chicharron, brisket and the “corn combo”. The chicken hearts were cold and clearly they had cooked that ages ago, so the texture was also very weird. We didn’t eat them. The brisket was dry, as if they cooked, and forgot in the fridge for days, and had to serve it so they heated again on a pan. The “corn combo” was just like “”chips””” you buy on the supermarket, tasted like nothing. But the star of the night was the chicharrons. They were undeniable 🥲 They were essentially cold pork fat, zero (and I mean zero) pork meat. Because of them, we decided to call the waitress to tell we were unable to eat them (despite of the rest of bad food, we only decided to call the service, because it was really impossible to consume that). For our surprise - after being a group of people that consumed almost 300€ that night - the woman simply couldn’t care less. She even was sarcastic asking me “and?” after my comment, so we decided to let it be. But it was surprising how they decided to loose many potential come-backer clients because of what? 6,5€? However, I have to be fair and say that the other waitress that started to take care of out table latter on was super friendly. So, unfortunately this is a place I would recommend only - and I mean only - for drinks. Which still is not worth it to go only for that, considering you can find many other cocktail bars in Lisbon as good as them, and even better. Sad about the experience, I was...