El Capitan - Cantina Mexicana Y Cocktail Bar — Restaurant in Lisbon

I know Europe isn't known for it's authentic Mexican cuisine, but the overall experience at this restaurant, including the food was abysmal. We arrived for lunch and there were zero other customers. In spite of the very high ratings, this was a bad sign considering the adjacent restaurants had many tables seated. It took 5+ minutes for a waitress to come out in spite of the lack of business. They had lunch specials that seemed interesting but they were all beef or chicken based. As we are both pescatarians, we asked if they could substitute fish or vegetables on the tacos. In spite of being the same price (or cheaper in the case is vegetables) as meat on the regular menu, the answer was no. That's fine. Some establishments don't allow substitutions on the specials, but again, you have no customers. Maybe make an exception? Off of the standard menu, we ordered fish tacos, vegetable tacos (they were also inexplicably out of shrimp I should add), two beers and chips and salsa. When the beers came out after a long wait, the waitress asked my wife if she wanted a glass. She said yes. It was never brought. The waitress stood inside on her phone in the meantime. Same thing with the chips and salsa. They were never served.

When the entrees came out, the fish tacos were something out of this world and not in a good way. I tried a piece of the fish from the tacos and we had no choice but to send them back. It was a mix of stewed grey fish and sauce, resembling cat food. One of the waiters pleaded with us that "this is how they are made in Mexico". We have been to Mexico, and no, that's not how they make fish tacos there. It's sad because Portugal has such great fish. All you need to do is grill a piece of seasoned fish, put it on a tortilla with some simple toppings (cabbage, lettuce, avocado, sauce, etc.) and you're done. That's how they make it in Mexico. Or you can batter and fry it. But, serving terribly frozen fish, cooking into a slurry and calling it Mexican is just not right.

The vegetable tacos were fine. We ended up splitting them. They also had a spicy picante salsa which was fabulous, and surprisingly authentic. Luckily, they did not charge us for the items not served nor the disappointing fish tacos.

Finally, the restaurant has a serious issue with the staff. They were much more interested in being on their phones than providing service to their (lone) customers. At lunch, for two beers and 3 tacos, we were there for over an hour and a half. It was excruciating, because we wanted to leave the...

Stopped by for a quick bite yesterday. The restaurant wasn’t busy (one table when we arrived) and with a hungry child in tow, we hoped for a short wait. Things started off well, drinks arrived quickly (special mention to their solid michelada), and the shrimp appetizer was great.

Unfortunately, the experience was not the same with our main dishes :( We ordered a round of tacos and a kids quesadilla. We don’t mind waiting if the food is worth it, but when it finally arrived, it was disappointingly cold. It’s hard to say for sure, but it seemed like our food may have been set aside while the kitchen focused on a larger group that ordered after us when it should have been delivered as soon as it was ready.

The prices were fair and waiter kind and amicable. There’s definitely potential here, but the timing and temperature of the food need...

The service was great from the moment we walked up to the restaurant. Had it not been too cold, we would have eaten outside. Started off with a passion fruit and mango margarita. Both were delicious, but if I had to choose one, I'd go with passion fruit only because we don't usually get that option in the US. For a starter, we got the beef nacho, which comes with a large tortilla per person, which is way better than eating your weight in chips before your meal. I got the shrimp soft tacos, and my husband got carne quesadilla. The shrimp tacos were AWESOME! The meat in the quesadilla was the same that came with the appetizer, but still very tasty! I also had a Michelada, which was served in fantastic glass mug with an upside down...