Ao 26 — Restaurant in Lisbon

I would highly discourage any person from trying this restaurant. The service is inhuman, atrocious and like the other negative reviews have mentioned, absolutely horrible. I will describe the horror that l went through- l can say this is the worst restaurant experience of my life, forget in Portugal. The owner needs to supervise the people he hires especially his so called manager whose attitude knows no tomorrow. He is a very uncivil, aggressive and arrogant man whom l had the misfortune of interacting with and l spoilt my first beautiful night in the lovely city of Lisbon.

I ordered a lot of food as l was so excited to visit the restaurant. Being a vegan, l love to support plant based restaurants with unique and creative menus. So l ordered 2 drinks, the huge appetiser platter and 3 main dishes. Food enough to feed 3 to 4 people all just for 1 person. It was clearly told to the kitchen and service team, that l would be doing a lot of takeaway as l was going to travel extensively outside Lisbon, where vegan food is impossible to get. My passion was not reciprocated, which is ok and not the main point here. I requested server #2 if they can kindly hold onto my bag before leaving as l would return at night before closing, which a lot of restaurants do especially as you don't wish the food to be spoilt in the summer heat all day along as a tourist roaming in the scorching sun. She HESITATED, made me listen to an illogical lecture and made faces and agreed when l told her my hotel was really far. I CLEARLY TOLD HER I WILL BE BACK BEFORE CLOSING! but she was so busy chatting and joking with the male manager that she failed to pay attention not only to my table while eating but also to my comments.

At night when l returned, the manager had dumped my food in garbage. I told him l need my food which costed EURO 90 and he said l was supposed to come by 4 pm and hence he threw my food ( Maybe instead of wasting time on the job, he should have paid attention to his customers and listened to them ). I told him clearly that l NEVER UTTERED A WORD OF COMING BEFORE THEY CLOSE. I said that food is not cheap and l need it anyhow. He started yelling and abusing me, calling me names and being so rude and unprofessional that he was doing me a favor to keep my food. At this point in all the ongoing back and forth, the server with turquoise colored hair ( server#1)finds my food in a garbage bag and brings me the food explaining how the food is good and that they just dumped it in the garbage recently. Before doing that she was trying to engage in a conversation with me in a civil manner and the manager yelled at her in Portuguese ( a language l don't understand) asking her to give away. Very typical of how he bullies his staff and his customers. He kept interrupting our conversation and when l told him to stop interrupting and that I DIDNT WISH TO SPEAK TO HIM ANYMORE, he again kept yelling and talking over me. I asked him to stop talking to me as l couldn't take more insults. I didn't deserve this. I got there with so much enthusiasm and positivity and returned with a very toxic feeling. This place has bad energy. As l left, the manager slammed the door extremely hard behind me, my uber driver was so upset and said "he is ashamed he belongs to the same country as this person" and nobody should treat customers this way. What did l do? Did l abuse them? Did l not order enough? He was also bullying the other staff and being pushy in general. There is a way of talking to a human - its called give respect and get respect. If l had an issue with everyone, l would have clearly not returned. There is a way to talk to a customer. In my industry we were even taught not to be confrontational with customers as they bring business. I had to beg for something l paid for even though it wasn't tasty. I DONT WASTE FOOD, had a packed itinerary exploring the islands and mainland of Portugal and thought of ordering more food as l was already there. Whatever the disagreement, the issue could have been handled with peace, care...

Unfortunately, this was a very disappointing visit. After lots of research I decided to book a table of 5 for my husband's 30th birthday celebrations in Lisbon on his actual birthday. We are vegan and took three non-vegans. The raving reviews did not reflect our experience. The food came out very quickly, unlike other establishments where the food was fresh and took time. We didn't really have much time between courses. Our table was also by the toilets, though it is a sort of cramped restaurant and may have been the only place around the corner we could fit. It didn't disrupt us too much, other than the occasional waft of cleaning product smell.

The food was mixed. Some of it was rather tasty, like the chapati and hummus, and sour cream which also came with baba ganoush but what I got I would not say was baba ganoush, rather more an aubergine dip (it lacked smokiness and tahini completely). For mains, of our party, one had the steak which was bland and came with undercooked potatoes. They did not finish, and my vegan husband tried it and was unimpressed. Equally, another member tried the francesinha and found it unpleasant (whereas trying a different vegan one the next day found it much better). The tofu burger and bifana were nice enough. When told about the potatoes, the server didn't seem very interested, and we were offered no apology or compensation. I felt as though we were rushed between courses, maybe as it was a Sunday evening?

For dessert, we did order a mousse and a tart. When booking, it says to let them know if there is a birthday as they would love to make a cake to celebrate, which I did. When being presented the desserts, my husband was given the tart, ordered by someone else, with a candle in, which whilst perhaps well intended is a bit odd and not entirely polite. We awkwardly handed the tart back to the person who ordered it and did not receive a birthday cake - fine, but why ask in the booking?

I felt quite embarrassed as the person organising everything, and our party was left unsatisfied by the dinner. This put our party off trying other vegan food at our next dinner, which was far better and they played it safe with their dish choices, missing out on truly delicious vegan food. This is a poor representation of how good vegan food can be, and I would not recommend it for trying vegan Portuguese food. Lisbon has plenty of other options on offer which far surpass this. Was this a fluke given the multitude of positive reviews? I don't know, but I was deeply disappointed with this experience and would not go back, and even advised other vegans I met not to go. A memorable 30th birthday dinner for the...

Make a reservation, this is a small and very popular restaurant.

I'm vegan + Medical Medium + gluten-free and mostly fat-free. My way of eating can be hard to maintain while traveling, but in the lovely neighborhood Barrio Alto I found this lovely vegan pearl of a restaurant 💚

Ao 26 a vegan restaurant with traditional Portuguese dishes.

My husband and I shared a PORTUGUESE TRADICIONAL STARTERS BOARD. An homage to the Portuguese tradition of gathering around the table and snacking: "Octopus" salad, fried "cuttlefish", "bulhão pato" mushrooms, "alheira" sausage garnished with homemade mustard (not GF) gluten-free alternative “sardines”, "chorizo" and citric apple chutney. Served with gluten-free bread. € 20 for 2 persons.

Everything on this selection of starters were absolutely delicious, the "Octopus" salad, fried "cuttlefish", and the “sardines” were my favourites, while my husband favoured the "chorizo" which nailed the texture and taste.

Though I'm normally not a favour of vegan food trying to look and taste like animal products, mostly because they are filled with MSG and lots of additives, this was a great option to try some traditional Portuguese foods even though the dishes are with fish and meat, an Ao 26 makes everything from scratch so it was so much closer to nature than store bought meat replacements.

No main dish, since I had a major lunch. But I just had to try the dessert, so while my husband had the ravioli (not GF) I ordered 2 desserts: ORANGE & CARDAMOM CRÈME BRÛLÉE (Rich orange and cardamom flavored "milky cream caramelized in the moment). € 4.5 HAZELNUT & CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (Homemade chocolate mousse with hazelnut praline. Served with orange liqueur.) € 5.5

Both desserts were amazing, but I couldn't finish them. The creme brulee had a perfect creamy milky texture and a perfect thin layer of sugar crust. The hazelnut and chocolate mousse was delicious, light in consistency and rich in taste, and the hazelnut crunch gave a perfect balance for the soft mousse. I can definitely recommend both desserts.

Ao is definitely a restaurant I will return to if I had more time in Lisbon, but this time it's only 4 days, and there is other vegan restaurants to...