Epur — Restaurant in Lisbon

TLDR:

Obvious quality control issues, insanely oversalted food, poor service, fly infestation, no attempt to accommodate or fix issues. Hands down the worst restaurant on my trip to Lisbon, only writing about it a year later because it came up in conversation.

I get the feeling that it's one of those places that gets a star and just coasts. There's no reason to go there. There's nothing they offer that's better than anyone else and the lack luster service combined with boring food just makes it not worth going, even if they hadn't oversalted and overcooked things.

I love food. Part of the reason I went to Lisbon was for the amazing food, and it was spectacular. Everything from the Delirium Cafe to the little pizza place on the square were fantastic. I can't say enough good things about Grenache or Incomum.

I also worked in food so I tend to be very understanding when things go wrong. Simply put, things happen and it's not going to ruin my night if something isn't perfect.

But this place... holy cow! I showed up on time for my reservation, which I had confirmed, and ended up waiting outside for 20 mins because apparently they had catered some private event offsite and weren't ready.

No explanation was offered, I learned about the reason from one of the kitchen staff who went outside to smoke. Sure, these things happen, I wasn't particularly distressed.

The dining room, looked great, beautiful views of the city... and the ceiling was dirty and falling apart. It's something I normally wouldn't care about but it is worth mentioning because so much was just off that night.

And as I was sitting down enjoying the beginning of my meal... flies stared swarming the table. Not just one or two, but dozens. The waitress blamed the flowers, which were in a sad state. They later said it was due to it being an old building and they were coming up from the drains. Now... I've worked in food safety. Yes, you can have flies start colonies in drains, this is a thing that can happen, but it's an easy fix. Nobody else in Lisbon seemed to have a fly problem like this.

As you can see, issues had begun to stack up. And they would continue to get worse.

Except for the issues that I will detail later the food was very average and a bit bland. Flavors were very muted and sauces were boring. The meat had a very soft mushy texture like it had been forgotten in a sous vide bath and left to cook for far too long. It wasn't tender, it was obliterated.

Dessert was also boring bland and unmemorable. It was something with chocolate? Or was it a sorbet? I just remembered thinking... ok... this is it? I do remember the texture being chalky and gritty.

A year later there isn't a single thing on the menu that I remember fondly.

I remember biting into fragments of broken shell that had been left in the seafood because whoever cleaned them was having an off night. And there were a lot of them.

I remember is how insanely salty half of the food was. It was like someone had either misplaced a decimal point when adding salt to the recipe, or salted it twice by accident. It was like biting into a stock cube. It was like someone had poured salt directly onto the plate.

Staff was... unhelpful. When I politely told them that something was too salty to eat (and I tend to like salt) they kind of just shrugged and took it away. No substitution or fixes were offered.

They didn't care about the shells in the seafood.

They didn't really seem to care at all.

I don't know if it was because they did an event before and that threw off their game, that would explain the overcooked meat and the double salted sauces. Or maybe the chef had COVID and couldn't taste anything. Maybe both.

I get the feeling that it's one of those places that gets a star and just coasts. There's no reason to go there. There's nothing they offer that's better than anyone else and the lack luster service combined with boring food just makes it not worth going, even if they hadn't oversalted and...

Epur, Lisbon » My visit: Oct 2024 » Total score: 4.6/5 – still very good » Comment: I thought the food and the wines were very good. However, there was one thing that bothered me a little: In my opinion, the team led me through the menu too quickly. Therefore, I asked the team to slow down early on. They thanked me politely for letting them know this - but in effect disregarded my request. Later, I asked again for a short break - which was again ignored. I can only assume that the kitchen was unable to slow down their process. If the Epur wants to address this, one measure could perhaps be to equalize things by starting service earlier than 7:30pm. As far as I know, many gourmet restaurants open their doors for dinner guests earlier than 7:30pm. 1|114|65

My ratings for this gourmet restaurant in detail:

●● Service – 4.6/5 – still very good: ● Hospitality, friendliness, obligingness, etc.: 4.6/5 ● Atmosphere, temper, facilitation, etc.: 4.8/5

●● Food – 4.7/5 – very good: ● Flavors (range, depth, composition, harmony/balance, etc.): 4.7/5 ● Level (thoroughness, craftsmanship, originality, exclusivity, variety of impressions, consistency/diversity, etc.): 4.8/5 ● Choices: 4.4/5

●● Aperitif and the wines – 4.6/5 – still very good: ● Taste (depth/range, length, complexity, balance, accessibility, elegance, intensity/subtlety, etc.): 4.6/5 ● Level (variety/novelty of impressions, consistency/diversity, exclusivity, etc.): 4.6/5 ● Did the wines match the dishes?: 4.8/5 ● Choices: 4.0/5

●● Presentation of the food – 4.1/5 – still good: ● Textures and (differences in) temperatures: 4.8/5 ● Colors and decorations: 4.4/5 ● Timing and sequencing as well as sizes of portions: 3.1/5 ● Special effects (positionings, DIY-effects, sculptural or thematic elements, surprises, color and motion effects, fake effects, olfactory effects, fog or smoke effects, etc.): 3.2/5 ● Procedures at and around the table (attunements and explanations, elements added/changed, service and staffing intensity, involvement of kitchen team, orchestrated dish presentations, preparations and dishes (partially) built up at the table, etc.): 4.7/5

●● Presentation of beverages, mainly the wines – 4.4/5 – good to very good: ● Procedures at and around the table (explanations and attunements, etc.): 4.4/5 ● Quantities poured as well as timing in relation to the dishes: 4.3/5

●● Premises and location – 4.7/5 – very good: ● Accessibility, surroundings and - as applicable - the view: 4.8/5 ● How did I like the room or - as applicable - outdoor area’s style, decor and atmosphere?: 4.8/5 ● Well-being (space, privacy, temperature, ventilation/odors, lighting, soundscape, sanitary facilities, etc.): 4.6/5

●● Price – 4.7/5 – very good: ● Price-performance ratio for food: 4.8/5 ● Price-performance ratio for wines and other beverages: 4.4/5 ● Price transparency and correspondence of the expected to the actual price (simple, complete and unambiguous price information on the restaurant's website and in the menu,...

I went to EPUR with my wife and a friends couple to celebrate my 50 year old birthday. I ve been to many micheling starred restaurant in my life and this is by far the wort service I have experienced. Here is why: I have 2 minor complains and 2 major complains about the service- On the minor side: I left the table to have a smoke with my friend. The main waitress ran behind us and told us that we cannot go out because the starters were to be served. This is not how you handle this type of situation. First you ask the guest how long he will be out of the table and then you see if you can work the kitchen so that the guest wish can prevail. In my case it was the matter of 1 or 2 minutes at best which I am sure the kitche could have accomodated without havfing to go through the feeling of being a naghthy school boy dirsturbing the teatcher...but this is the type of restaurant where the kitchen matters more than the guests... 2nd minor issue: I took the wine pairing with the menue and when I politely enquired as to when the pairing will start I was told in an arrogant way that the pairing only start when the first dish arrives. The tone made me feel as If I had disrpected a golden rule of wine pairing and once again made me feel as If the kitche and the service matters more than the guest wishes... And honestly , this is a first for me after more than 20 wine pairing micheling starred dinners... I ve had never heard that one before!!! Now comes my major issue with the service: just after the first dish (delicious by the way) my wife had a low bllod pressure event and started to feeling bad on her chair. She fainted. The restaurant was quick to call an amulance (good call) but when my wife woke up and she slowly started to feel better we told the wiaters 2 things: 1) to cancel the ambulance because she was able to get back home 2) to give us the check as we would finisg the dinner due to her passing out. First major complain: they brought me the check for the full value of the dinner!! I fully get it on the food side because they did all the prep but I dont gaet it on the wine pairing side siince we only had 1 glass of the first pairing wine. And no the restaurant was only half full so it it is not as if we took the place of another reservation. 2) My expectation of a starred restaurant who truly cares about the guest is to have received a call or even an email on the next day to enquire about my wife but there was nothing from the EPUR staff!!! They knew it was my 50 year old birthday (i informed them by email and phone) and my wife passed out and they dont even call us the next day!! This is a shame and while the food is really delicious here is why I do not recommend EPUR. They care bout their food way more than about the guestst and for me a starred michelin experience is about the service as well which in that case is arrogant, rigid, cold, misled and clearly lacks...