Guelra Restaurante — Restaurant in Lisbon

Category: Tourist Area. We stumbled upon this Ocean-to-Table seafood restaurant while looking for a lunch spot after our pilgrimage to Pasteis de Belem (see my separate review). We were looking for a place to dine outside on a typically beautiful Lisbon day. There are many sidewalk restaurants in this vicinity, but Guerla stands out. Why? First, its open-air but umbrellaed ☂️ outdoor garden is enclosed and shielded from the street by ironwork planters suggesting a coral 🪸 reef. Wispy greenery, which move with the breeze (kind of like kelp), fills the planters. Second, whole fish hang in the front window, protecting a bed of fresh oysters-in-shell below them. Third, the menu is really cool: back in the day, fishmongers wrapped fish in newspaper 📰. Here, a plastic fish is wrapped in a newspaper-like menu (better than it sounds). Fourth, the outdoor dining area was more attractive and intimate than the competition and reminded us of a similar place in Paris. Fifth, the menu offered razor clams, which we order anytime we see them, which sadly almost never happens in the U.S. Although we are philistines who drink red wine 🍷 with seafood 🦞, the wine list was white-centric, but we forgive you because you brought two tasty glasses of Tinto at our request. On a cooler day or night, the awnings can be rolled down and the heaters can be rolled out, or we could simply dine at the semi-circular and inviting inside bar. For larger groups, there is also an upstairs dining room. We enjoyed our lunch and other nearby dishes looked delicious too. YouTube’s...

I recently had the unfortunate experience of dining at this restaurant, and I feel compelled to warn others against making the same mistake. From the outset, the lack of transparency regarding ingredients on the menu was concerning. As someone with dietary restrictions, this made it nearly impossible to make informed choices.

To exacerbate matters, the actual dishes served bore little resemblance to their descriptions. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that coriander, a herb I'm particularly averse to, was sneakily incorporated into the celery purée without any indication on the menu. This lack of transparency not only disregards customer preferences but also poses potential health risks for those with allergies or sensitivities.

The pinnacle of disappointment came with the grilled fish, touted as a specialty of the house. Not only was it served cold, but its lackluster freshness left much to be desired. The subsequent discomfort I experienced after consuming it confirmed my suspicions – this was far from a quality dining experience.

In its attempt to exude an air of sophistication and fine dining, this restaurant falls tragically short. It's evident that the establishment prioritizes appearances over substance, sacrificing integrity and customer satisfaction in the process.

In conclusion, I implore prospective diners to steer clear of this place. Your taste buds and, more importantly, your health deserve better than what this establishment has to offer. Save yourself the disappointment and opt for a dining...

Not the best experience today due to a rude waiter. Initially when we tried to order some of the starters he said he thought we had ordered enough already - then it later transpired they just didn’t have them. Then our order got mixed up with the table next to us. Another waiter came over and explained the mix up and essentially we were told we had to have the order of the table next to us…We had ordered a different fish to them. They didn’t really want to cook another fish for us (ie what we had ordered) despite their mistake. We also ordered shrimp rice which I didn’t realise would be packed full of coriander which I can’t eat… I politely said I wasn’t able to eat it and the waiter quite angrily told me it’s traditional, and patronisingly offered to bring me “plain white rice” instead. Then when we questioned the bill the waiter was even more rude. It’s a shame because the food was ok and the rest of the staff seemed really nice with good customer service skills. Perhaps this waiter was just having a bad day, but still he was quite...