Bom Bom Bom — Restaurant in Lisbon

Giving 2 stars because the wine was great but the experience with the staff was off-putting. Prices are more expensive than the average Lisbon wine bar but in-line with other natural wine bars and the bottles prices are reasonable for what you’re getting (ones we had were €26-32). I used to live in Graça within walking distance of Bom bom bom before it opened and very much wished for something like it. HOWEVER, I was disappointed by the bar’s welcome and service.

On the night we visited, they had a jazz trio starting 30 mins later. My partner is Portuguese from Lisbon and a professional jazz musician. We now live in Brooklyn where the natural wine scene is a dominating force (aka we’re quite familiar). Upon entering, we were greeted in English and asked if we had a reservation (despite plenty of available seating). Bartender also greeted us in English. We both found this weird… why assume everyone is a non-Portuguese speaking tourist… seems like a good way to alienate local (non-digital nomad) clientele. We were then immediately told it was a natural wine bar & given a whole briefing on what that means without the bartender bothering to ask if we wanted this or if we already knew this info. She then asked “what color” we wanted to drink. I asked for what they had by the glass that was Portuguese because I was curious about anything they had that I’m not able to get in New York. But she literally wouldn’t tell me until I answered her color question. She then offered me their most expensive glass first (never a great feeling). She also gave us a whole spiel about how live jazz was about to start in a tone that clearly assumed we knew nothing about jazz. I know you’re not going to assume every patron is knowledgeable about natural wine or jazz but you also shouldn’t assume your customers know nothing about what you’re selling and want to be talked down to. Moments later, the musicians arrived and were immediately chatting with my partner. The bartender saw this but didn’t bother so say anything friendly in recognition that maybe she had misread us. Once we made our glass selections we moved to a table outside to avoid any more condescending interactions. BUT outside we saw another couple drinking wine by the glass and their glasses were filled with double as much wine as ours. Their logo is printed on their glasses so it SHOULD be impossible to have such UNEVEN POURS. I almost complained at this point but we were just trying to enjoy our night, so we just switched to ordering bottles. The man that took our next order was friendlier & did a good job at recommending bottles based on what I said we were looking for. We never got to see a bottle menu though because the staff pressures you to tell them what you want rather than providing the menu. I understand much of the wine turns over quickly from small-batch growers… but maybe just update the list regularly. Lastly, another friend met us and was also greeted in English which is the first thing he said to us (as a complaint) when he joined us. Overall we found the experience aggravating but the wine & poached pear dessert were delicious & good live jazz is always...

Went there for my birthday and it was enough. The way the boss is handling people asking basic questions is ridiculous and he seems to like changing the story of things. Apparently my friend was rude because she asked if they offered 1 free drink to the birthday person (1 not the all table, not the all night) - I have worked in bars where we would do that, many establishment in Lisbon do that and in France (I believe the boss is french and I am french as well btw) so I don't think it was a rude question here but it seemed to have offended the owner who started saying "can you imagine if we were doing that ?" ... Sir, just say "oh no we don't " no need to over explain yourself nobody cares. Second, apparently my other friend was rude when she got surprised with the price of the wine which is ... let's be honest very pricey like many things in your establishment. It's fine, you have your target audience and it was our first time here, now we know which audience you attract and btw we also are very hardworkers that are trying to live in crazy pricey Lisbon so excuse us if we were surprised. Third and definitely not the least...you mentioned that one of my friends was drinking her own beer?! I have no idea who you are referring to cause definitely none of us did that so maybe consider that you could be wrong ?! We all paid for our drinks and no one came with anything.

Bottom line, I think sometimes it's good to take a step back and think that maybe you could be wrong also, because it's not the only review mentioning...

Rude and condescending communication. It's a shame. The place looks nice, the people running it are very unpleasant and rude although some of the employees seem to be ok. Not worth going back. P.S.: don't ask any questions to the owner, he'll give you a whole lecture about it as if you're unable to process information, be it about the bar or the menu. I asked a question about the bar, another time a friend asked about the wine, it's tiring and rude how he responds to people. Plus, there's even a lot of lying in the response, amazing how this place's owner is so inappropriate and rude. Just what I had expected after reading the reviews to see if other people had had similar experiences and how they respond to their customers' reviews. I never asked for free drinks, I asked if the bar had or did anything on birthday celebrations, as many places nearby do, some do offer a free drink, but I only asked if there was something birthday related that happened at the bar. My friend asked about the wine because she didn't know the difference and was curious, she wasn't expecting a half hour long rude and patronizing lecture about it and absolutely nobody brought outside beverages nor food from anywhere, so I guess maybe you're just being dishonest or confusing my group with someone else. We had some drinks, half the table bought some food and we left. People leaving good comments must be lucky enough to go there and not bump into such an...