Kefi Greek Bistro — Restaurant in Lisbon

I’ve visited Kefi twice. Once for breakfast and once for dinner. Both times were a complete disaster from many aspects. Mainly service and obviously the food. Buckle in, this it a long one and quite honestly one of the worst food experiences I’ve had in a while.

For the fact that they are a dinner place and their breakfast is a new addition I will spare the review. Be warned that the food was over all bland and the service was not great.

Now about our dinner experience. We made a reservation a day before so that we could be sure to have a spot. Upon arriving a mostly empty restaurant the server took a while to find our reservation and then also took a while to seat us. We were a table of three with many options scattered through the restaurant. We were placed at one of the most uncomfortable tables possible.

Once seated it took 30 minutes for our server to come back to take our orders and another almost hour for our food to make it to the table. In general getting the attention of our server was impossible and one of the servers of another table ‘adopted’ us. In general our male server was very anxiety inducing an may have been high.

Aside from the poorly managed staff the food was quite a disaster. The best thing we ordered were the fries which also weren’t ‘perfect’. The seasoning on them were far to astringent to be pleasurable.

The spread with fish roe was void of the fish roe but pungent with fish taste and a highly unpleasant texture. Which became a theme through the meal.

The baked feta with tomatoes were okay but I wouldn’t order them again.

The moussaka was watery. With overcooked potatoes. Seemed like the tried to dry it out in the over resulting in a burnt outside and a really wet bottom layer.

The bechamel was grey And tasteless. The meatballs were grainy as if there had been sand mixed into the meat.

The rice inside the tomatoes were over cooked as well. Poor text and lacked flavour.

As you would see in my last photo we left most of the food on the table. With Greek food we expect fresh, bright, herbaceous flavours with grilled and fresh ingredients. Nothing that we had embodied any of that.

I wish them luck but this...

Kefi is a cosy place with a good selection of food, wines and cocktails. My friend and I arrived at the place around 9PM but we still managed to get a table (the place was full 15 minutes later). For the main dish, I ordered salmon souvlaki. It was grilled and spiced well to my taste. The fennel was fried a bit too "oily" but it balanced out the fish, which was not to dry but didn't "swim" in oil either. There are meat and vegetarian options to choose from. For drinks, I had Mastiha&Tonic. It came in a short glass with a paper straw. It tasted good and refreshing. It's an interesting choice to go for considering that many places in Lisbon offer more popular drinks. So coming here you'll have a chance to try something new or at least less popular. I also wanted to try Sunset in Chania, but they couldn't prepare it at the time. For dessert, we shared the portokalopita (orange pie with yogurt and cinnamon). It was heated up and tasted really great! To accompany the food, we had a glass of Genesis 2020 and it paired on point with the pie. The staff were kind, communicative, despite being busy with the full place. I liked the decor and the dimmed lights (we were there after dark), although it could be too dark if one has eyesight problems. With the big windows that they have, there's plenty of sunshine during the day though. One thing that bothered me was that it was really loud with all the tables occupied, music in the background, and the trains passing by right in front of the bistro. We managed to have a conversation but it felt like shouting at times. With the amount of options they have on the menu, I'm thinking of visiting Kefi again, maybe during the day to compare the occupancy, noise, and obviously...

Good place for new flavors. But watch out!

The location and atmosphere are great. The place is small, not that many tables, which make you feel more comfortable somehow. Try getting a table close to the window; I believe they are the best ones for groups or a couple. I've never been to Greece, so I can’t comment on the decoration being “Greek”.

The service was good. Very easygoing and friendly. Initially, we had different people, but later, it was only one, which facilitated the whole thing—we were a big group.

Food-wise, it was a mixture of feelings.

The starters are delicious. The white cream with cucumber was delicious. Try it with the bread; they were the highlight for me.

The main dishes are a mixture of feelings. The food was good but not outstanding. Portions are small and missed a bit of flavor—not sure if geek food is, in fact, like that.

The meatballs were slightly dry and felt like there was not enough purée. The octopus was good, but I wouldn’t say I liked much the combustion with the tomatoes.

Desserts were a sort of discovery for me. Never imagine myself eating a chocolate cake with olive oil on top, or a cheesecake that doesn’t look or even taste like a cheesecake, or donuts with chocolate that were almost nothing sweet.

The dessert highlight was the donuts with ice cream and honey. All of them were new things for me, but this was the highlight.

Overall, a good experience. Not...