Gruta do Paraíso — Restaurant in Lisbon

Really wonderful. We stopped at Gruta do Paraiso as we made our way from the Santa Apolónia metro stop to the flea market at the Campo de Santa Clara on a pre-Christmas Saturday morning. The owner of Gruta do Paraiso, a very kind Nepalese man whose name may be Ramij Poudel (we aren't sure we're deciphering his handwriting on his card correctly), gave us helpful directions to the market.

So we decided we'd head back there after we'd toured the market and have a cup of coffee and thank this helpful person. When we sat down, though, he insisted we think about ordering a midday meal, the offering of the day.

We were very glad we'd done so when the food arrived — a soup of cabbage, carrot, potato, and perhaps puréed lentils followed by delicious pork and clam in a slightly piquant sauce served with rice, french fries, and salad. A large pitcher of Portuguese red wine was on the table, along with a basket of bread and bowl of olives. The dessert was a wonderful crème brûlée.

This fabulous meal, with two cups of coffee added to the tally, cost us only slightly over €20 — about €10 per person. All this, and the family that owns the place couldn't have been kinder to us, coming to the table to talk us, insisting that we see the grotto inside the back room of the restaurant, asking to make photos with us.

We were the only non-locals in the place, an indicator that it's a real Lisbon treasure frequented by locals who know where to get good food and outstanding service at good prices. We highly recommend...

There´s something to be said about a bad visit to a place. Maybe they had a bad day, something could have happened that made the experience a poor one. That is, if it´s one or two things that go wrong...

Group dinner, reserved with days in advance. When we get there, a few minutes late from the scheduled time, we still need to wait another 30 minutes to get in. There was nothing ready for us... Good start!

We get in, we ask for our meals. And then we wait... 45 minutes go by, they serve us entrees and alcohol. The food is no where to be seen. Other tables are served relatively fast.

The 1st meal comes in, one dish, for one person... Okay...

We decide to wait, is shoulnd´t take much longer right? 15 minutes pass, second meal comes in. By this point there´s people that have to leave, with an empty stomach.

The foods starts coming with intervals of 10/15 minutes for EACH person... fun when we´re 15-1

The scrambled eggs were instantaneous... The "Add water and mix" kind. We ate cold food, because we had to wait.

Then, we leave, and to the people that ate the eggs, they leave as well. Of all the people that ate that thing, there wasn´t a single one who didn´t get sick.

From my experience, this place looks nice, but for all that is sacred, do not eat anything here, you don´t know if it´s going to end up in the bottom of your toilet with your face reflected in it´s yellow...

What a surprise! As recent reviews have noted, this lovely character-filled tasca-cum-restaurant is a little gem. After our tiring walks around town, we were looking for a place open for a late lunch and were greeted by exceptionally warm staff, esp Raj, who helped our family with two little uns through the menu. It has been built with a cave-wall on one side and a beautifully maintained fish-pond at the bottom of it, which was a delight for our kids. We ordered seafood rice which was beautifully presented, flavoured and was generous in portion(easily the freshest tasting produce inside a delicately flavoured rice); My little one gobbled up the calamari rings as a meal and there was a lovely soup-of-the-day along with some starters. The service was fantastic with smiles all around and even as our little toddler practically imploded, the staff were warm and patient with us. We wish the team the best and for this little eatery to develop a name for itself given their attention to detail, both in cuisine and in...