Café Gelo — Restaurant in Lisbon

DO NOT RECOMMEND UNLESS YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ROBBED.

my family and I went to the restaurant yesterday after hearing great things about the place. My husband and son had a wonderful octopus while I had a refreshing salad. My daughter had a grilled salmon fillet with potatoes and veggies. Everything on that plate was great but if you don't enjoy a soft and boneless fish, I wouldn't recommend. It was extremely boney and cook differently on different parts of the salmon.

All of the drinks and desserts we got were delicious. But when it came to the time of the bill... Things went horribly... We had a waiter named Alex taking care of us. When we receive the bill from him, my husband and I had a hard time understanding where the 10 dollars extra came on my bill. My husband asked Alex what this was ("gorgeta") since that's what the extra 10 came from, he said it was taxes. He lied. My daughter later walking back after just exiting found out that it means a tip of gratitude that Alex, himself put on. Typically this isn't allowed and is most definitely a form of stealing. My husband prior to this gave him a 15 dollar tip and was appealed after the realization. We believe that it isn't just him that this occurred too because my husband later came back to discuss with him, why he lied and stole money. Alex has shocked that we found out and had another one of his customers about to pay with the same 10 dollars added. The owner, manager, nor waiter didn't come up after or on his behalf to explain the situation.

For tourist, this is a game it seems they play. However, doing this is a form of steal/robbery and a form of lying.Therefore, if you are looking for great drinks, dessert, salads, and octopus, I suggest. But if you are looking to be robbed I would run far...

This is a restaurant that caters mostly for non-returning tourists, with many similar in the area with the same outdoor seating, photos of the dishes the serve on walls and A boards, and friendly greeters to lure you in and all serving very similar foods.

The food we ordered was shockingly poor. sardines not gutted and bitter, clams were mostly closed so basically a plate of shells, the standard of cooking and the quality of ingredients were poor and disappointing. All the dishes came out Lukewarm like it was taken from a previously cooked batch and not re heated. Even the garlic rice was lukewarm which is a danger in itself.

The real stinker was when we got the bill. The waiting staff or management already add their tips to the bills and just show you the total. Our bill got 10 euros extra added to our 85-euro bill. Totally unacceptable and dishonest practice. Don't know if they target certain tourist or at random. Not sure if the practice of adding tips for themselves is even legal.

We had a wonderful experience in Lisbon overall and ate at over 20 restaurants during our stay, but Cafe Gelo was the only one that had disappointing food and dishonest overcharging.

They are busy with tourist, so won't be missing us not returning, along with all the others on here with poor experiencing dining...

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!! VERY DECEPTIVE restaurant and I am appalled!!!!!We went there in the evening and we were really not impressed with what they were presenting us with, we ordered red snapper fish and lobster. But the red snapper was not cooked properly at all and they brought us another red snapper, but still charged us the full price after the red snapper was not cooked and then when we were waiting for it to be cooked the vegetables went cold and the rice went cold and the service was terrible. They have bread on the table and they say it’s complimentary but it’s not complimentary we actually have to pay for it as well as the butter, it’s a very deceiving restaurant. Be warned as you go there. Make sure everything is clear when you ask for something to eat and the price of it they overcharged us for their mistake of bringing us a fish that was undercooked will never go there again!!! I will never recommend it to anyone going to Lisbon Portugal. The manager hides behind the staff wasn’t able to come and speak to us. She sent her staff to tell us we still have to pay full price. It’s a rip-off wouldn’t recommend...