Drogaria — Restaurant in Lisbon

This was one of the most underwhelming restaurant experiences of my life. To start out, the ambience of the restaurant is truly bad. There were only two-three tables occupied in the establishment, the music was the wrong vibe for a fun or sophisticated dinner, the lights were so bright, and the decoration of the interior was dated. The actual experience started poorly when we arrived and another table of guests was being heckled by the wait staff about whether or not they had a reservation or else they would incur a charge. It felt like this could be dealt with at their table or more discretely and not in a somewhat hostile way in front of other customers. The service didn’t get better. One person in our party immediately ordered tea when she sat down and it took them approximately 15 minutes to bring this simple beverage. Our server was also borderline rude to our friend who has celiac. She asked multiple times for clarification on what was GF. At first the waiter forgot to even check, then when probed further by us he gave a flippant answer that made our friend feel as though the restaurant does not care about allergens in their food. Beyond this, the service continued to be slow despite the few patrons of the establishment. The last irritating part of the experience came when we were given the check and the had charged us a 20 euro fee for a no show in our party. Our friend who didn’t come had the flu, we explained this, and also, even if we had adjusted our reservation to 3 before, we would still have been seated at a similar sized table. It felt unnecessary and predatory for a table that had ordered 100 euros worth of the restaurants food. To be fair, all the food was quite good. But we would...

We went to the Restaurante Drogaria for dinner last weekend because we wanted to have a nice evening.

Conclusion: Unfortunately, we cannot recommend this restaurant.

Now the details: Location: The interior of the location is beautifully designed. The outside area is extremely shady in a narrow, steep alley. As the air here is quite cold, the outdoor area is only recommended for the high summer months (Last week beginning of May it was already too cold here at 7 pm). You also have to be aware that the flight path is directly above you. The noise is very loud due to the narrow corridor and its sound reflections.

Service: The waiter was very professional and attentive. There were hardly any waiting times, the dish was served quickly and explained again in detail. Unfortunately there was no "greeting from the kitchen" or something similar.

Meal: There was no greeting from the kitchen as already said. We have experience in various kitchens (from snack bars to 3-star restaurants) and also tested many restaurants in Lisbon during our stay). This was one of the smallest or maybe THE smallest main course I have ever eaten (octopus risotto). You could not even pass this off as an appetiser. It also looked very loveless. Only a tiny octopus tentacle was placed on top. For Lisbon, the centre of seafood, this is an indictment. If you order a starter, main course and dessert, you will probably not be full. The taste of the food was good but not worth the price. There are much better places in Lisbon in the lower/middle...

Recommend for a chic dinner. After a trip to Belém, we visited Drogeria. Usually, it is not an area that we have been to, but Drogeria is a beautiful space, decorated in great taste, and worth a visit. The food also tastes great. Our highlight was the Lasagna which is not what one would expect a Lasagna to look like, but the taste was impeccable. The Bràs Codfish was also delicious and some unexpected taste, that together with the Lasagna demonstrates their culinary creativity. The Iberico pork was slightly tough. For dessert, we shared the Chocolate Mousse and Raspberry Tart. The Tart is definitely the highlight. The Mousse looked surprising but the taste didn’t convince us to be as equally surprised. It was good but we expected some more variation in flavour - it was just sweet and didn’t taste much of the tea and the figs.

We had been to what was by far our favourite restaurant in Lisbon the day before, so our enthusiasm was somewhat dampened, but objectively it's a great restaurant!

Only criticism: we ordered three main dishes and already mentioned during the order that we will share them among the three of us. All arrived at the same time which is no problem, but all dishes were fairly cold already the moment they hit the table…We started with the fish, then the Iberico and then the lasagna. The lasagna kept warm the best, but the potatoes to the fish were already cold although we started with this dish… it didn’t disturb the taste too much for us, but anyone who likes their food perfectly warm might...