Contrabando Saldanha — Restaurant in Lisbon

Last night’s dining experience was a complete letdown. We were “greeted” by an unfriendly staff member dressed inappropriately in ripped shorts, who gave us a blank, unwelcoming stare without saying a word. It was unclear if he worked there until we asked about joining our friends inside. This set a negative tone from the start.

The restaurant’s cleanliness was abysmal. The staircase to the bathroom was wet, posing a slipping hazard, and the bathroom itself was dirty with water on the floor and no paper towels. The wet stairs were likely caused by water tracked from the bathroom floor.

Service was consistently poor. None of the waiters were polite, smiled, or showed basic manners like saying “welcome” or “thank you.” They forgot to remove a swapped dish from our bill, which we had to point out.

The food was underwhelming for the price. While the presentation was decent, the main dish was average at best and overpriced. We ordered two brownies, which took 40 minutes to arrive. They were clearly cheap, microwave-heated, supermarket-bought caramel brownies with chocolate bits—not even proper chocolate. Despite my sweet tooth, I couldn’t finish half of one due to the poor quality. The accompanying ice cream was the only redeeming part.

The dining environment was uncomfortable. The AC was set to an unnecessarily cold temperature, forcing everyone at our table to wear jackets. Combined with the 50% discount via The Fork, it felt like they were trying to rush diners out to maximize turnover.

Overall, this was a disastrous experience—poor service, subpar food, and a neglected facility. I won’t be returning and wouldn’t recommend this...

Nice, informal Mexican/Meat specialized eatery.

My first experience with contrabando was in their other restaurant in the 24 Julho Avenue in the southernmost Lisbon area.

Contrabando Saldanha keeps the same vibes as the latter, although maybe not as stylish.

The food offering is the same.

I chose the BBQ Ribs as it was suggested and was mildly pleased by the serving size (includes fries) and the meat's tenderness (it comes straight of the bone, flake-like).

The White Chocolate Coulant is a light flavoured, soft dessert that lacks the more intense flavours of some of the other options on the menu but may provide a good option for anyone searching for anything new.

All in all, Contrabando is a solid option for a good, informal dine-out experience, with...

Such a disappointment, the stuff was completely lost and took forever to do anything, there looked intoxicated. I did my order and the server comes with just the krispy tacos and nothing else, he leaves and never came back with the rest and the drinks. I eat and go to pay, he wanted to charge me the full order and when I told him that he did not served it to me he realised and started to laugh, not even saying I’m sorry. 14€ for three tiny tacos and left. Worst place I’ve been in...