Casanova — Restaurant in Lisbon

Wow. An absolute hidden gem. I wish Google would give every person one 6 star review per year - I know for a fact I would use mine in this review and I would not feel like I wasted it.

I don't often write reviews, but after Casanova saved our night this evening, I knew I was going to.

Let's start with the only bad thing - it's so unsuspecting that you'll miss it unless you know what you're looking for. The entrance isn't obvious, and honestly, the location isn't exactly the greatest in the world. Let's say you found it though...

You walk in and you're greeted on the left by the kitchen, with all the fresh ingredients being prepared and cooked up, and then right in front of you, you have the pizza kitchen with a legitimate huge stone oven (see photos). The place is clean and tidy and you can see from the chef's that this is a place that cares - about it's appearance and about its customers seeing it!

You walk through and up a small ramp in the restaurant space, and then you're greeted by the servers. Every single one of them looks and acts like they really want you to come, sit, and have an amazing meal. The seats are in banks of 10 on the inside all down one side of the room, and you can be seated next to others, but there's enough space to sit and feel like you're not squashed.

There's lights above the tables, but they're off - these are for signalling the servers over when you need something, and it must be said, they're very quick to react when a light is on, no matter how busy the place!

On the subject of the staff, every single one of them was happy to help as much as their language skills allowed them to, and to ask another member of staff to assist if they could not.

And now we get to the main event - the food. We had the following: 1x Rosemary and Oil Focaccia to start

1x Ham, Mushroom & Oregano pizza 2x vegetarian pizza 1x Prosciutto & Ham pizza 1x Special Pizza (don't remember the exact name, was with Cherry Tomato and Rucola) 1x Broccoli & Neopolitan Sausage Pizza

Absolutely delightful, delicious, delectable, dreamy, and every other superlative one could imagine. Every. Single. One.

The six of us that walked in to the pizza place in a foul mood due to our flights being cancelled and our Uber driver not knowing where he was going walked out smiling. From the moment I walked in, I knew I was going to love it, and it didn't just meet that expectation - it exceeded it in every way.

To the staff and the chef's - thank you, thank you so much. Your food, your hospitality and your restaurant have been the highlight of my...

The pizzas were great, thin and crispy and chewy. Unfortunately that was the only positive thing… Service was not good and the waiting times for the food was incredibly long.

The waiting line for the restaurant was long and uncomfortable (since you wait in single file on a corridor inside the restaurant), although there were several free tables and even an entire separate room empty. Then, after being seated outside in a more darkly lit area (as opposed to the main outside area with the cute lights), we ordered. No entrees, normal drinks, 3 pizzas and a pasta. This took well over an hour and 2 requests to the waiters to check if everything was alright with the order, which was met with side glances, rolling eyes, and no response… This is an understaffed restaurant, especially in the kitchen, which cannot keep up with the orders and has the staff franticly trying to cover everything. And all this with several tables empty. It’s a shame, because the food is good and the staff is friendly, but working overcapacity just provides a bad experience to the customer, it just feels like the restaurant is bitting more than...

This place was quite busy when I got there, and was a nice, very modern, change of pace from the rest of the restaurants in Lisbon that I'd visited. You walk in the through the kitchen, past the big pizza oven, on your way to the seating area, which gives you a nice view into what the chefs are up to.

It has a lovely (and heated) seating area outside which would probably have a great view during the day. Even for dinner (at 11pm) it was nice being on the water, despite not being able to see anything - although, with the number of cruise ships that dock at Lisbon, you might get more scenery depending on the night.

They have a massive selection of pizza options, and generally you get two different types per order (1/2 pizza each). It was also nice to have a delicious, intentionally crafted crust, rather than the afterthoughts you tend to get in North America.

There are an endless selection of quaint, amazing restaurants in Lisbon. But if you need a break from that kind of rustic culinary experience, this is...