Di Amici by Pizza em Casa — Restaurant in Lisbon

Had some American friends in town and they were a little burnt out on Portuguese food so we decided to give this place a chance, which is in walking distance of my apartment.

Very nice decorum and decoration. Staff was very attentive. But the food is not so great. I had the linguine with wild boar and the sauce was rather strange. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it tasted a little bit like Chef Boyardee. My other friend had a New York style pizza which came with pepperonis and jalapeños. FYI, I’m from New York and we don’t put jalapeños on pizza…. I just had the leftovers for breakfast and it was also just OK. My other friend had the lasagna and that sauce also tasted like Chef Boyardee. The best meal was my friends who had the squid ink pasta, which I did try and do recommend. A bright note is the tiramisu, which was awesome! Not likely an Italian wrote these recipes. Seems like a Portuguese trying to imitate Italian food. No dish on the Portuguese, but not the best Italian food I have...

I had really high expectations for this restaurant given the reviews but to be honest I was a bit disappointed. I’ll start with the positives: I really loved the consistency of the pizza - thin and crispy crust, an authentic roman style pizza. the prices are reasonable, approx 11-12 euros a pizza is good Here are opportunities for improvement: the arancini were tiny, I’d prefer less arancini larger in size then a small bite sized version. The sauce they dressed them in were also cold, which I think if prepared hot would have enhanced the flavour the pizzas themselves were ok, but definately could have used more tomato sauce. The calabrese pizza also had very little n’duja so it was moreso like eating a cheese pizza the service was pretty hands off - there was only one other table but I did have to ask for drinks, hot sauce, etc.

Overall I think this place has potential but based on my experience it didn’t align with the...

We had a chance encounter with Radovan, the owner of Di Amici, this afternoon. Not eating at the restaurant, but while walking our dog, Penelope, who immediately sensed he was a dog lover and a kind soul – both of which have proven true.

We had lunch at the burger restaurant next to his place, which was also excellent, but the smell of fresh pasta and wood-fired pizza called us back for dinner. We were not disappointed. The food is excellent, the staff is fantastic and Radovan took time to sit down and share some stories with us.

Go. Have the carbonara, eat a few slices of the margarita and save room for the chocolate mousse. Let Radovan pour anything – don’t ask, just enjoy. And the playlist is to be envied. Also, the interior architecture is amazing! I don’t want to spoil your experience – just go and enjoy the...