La Mafia Se Sienta a La Mesa — Restaurant in Lisbon

My partner and I visited this ‘restaurant’ for our final meal to celebrate what had been a lovely long weekend away and unfortunately it was not all we hoped it would live up to be. The menu is now online which is all okay if your tech savvy and of the younger generation however, if you’re slightly older or not so good with technology and without a smart phone then you’re out of luck. It also makes people interact less.

We waited for approximately 15 minutes before anyone came and took our order. To which I would expect someone to be with you within a few minutes of being seated to collect the drinks order followed by the food order once the drinks arrived. Nonetheless, we ordered drinks as well as the food. Unfortunately the starter turned 5/10 minutes before the drinks did and by the end of the stater our mouths were as dry as the Sahara desert! Not to mention that the bottle of still water that we asked for was not to be seen for the whole duration of the visit.

Shortly after, my partners order of the gnocchi turned up which tasted nice and could tell was freshly made however, my order of the beef ragu along with the water….. Just never came! That was until approximately 20 minutes after the gnocchi. By that time my partner had finished half of it as she was trying to hold out until I had received mine and had gone cold in the meantime. When we tried to explain this to the waitress she took both of the dishes away and came back with just mine even though my partner wasn’t even finished with her meal! They also returned with a risotto which no one ordered, nor mentioned at time of ordering.

The food was nice but definitely had better during the trip and there are a lot of other restaurants to choose from on the same strip, my partner fancied pasta so that’s why we chose there.

When we spoke to a different waiter that bought over the bill he simply explained that bringing out meals together is simply “not how we like to work”.

While we were seated we also noticed the couple next to us had received one of their dishes wrong so it clearly is not a one of kind of thing.

They did offer us a free desert however my partner is allergic to vanilla and we had booked a bolt to get us to the airport in time for our flight. We explained this to them but that was unfortunately the best they could do.

Overall I would not recommend this place unless you...

It's not a particularly good reflection on a restaurant when the only memorable aspect is the single alcoholic aperitif.

I'm really not certain what was going on last night with the staff, but it was slow, and while some of the waiters were very helpful, others made you feel like a gauche ornament.

The food? Three of us had pizza, each of which was a dive into the proverbial unknown (and with varying degrees of dissatisfaction); as for my Barbeque Ragout pizza—well, while the base was good and the ingredients fresh—it was simply smothered or drowned in barbecue sauce. The last time I ordered a pizza this mediocre was from Telepizza (out of sheer desperation) at 11 a.m. on New Year's Day in 2021.

However, the other person at our table had what he described as a lovely traditional Italian dish, so perhaps the fault was simply ours, and we should have gone to Forno d'Oro in Lisbon for pizza.

Either way, I know there is a second one of these restaurants near Saldanha, and the place is usually packed, but I wouldn't be tempted by that one either.

Finally, the price—absolutely not worth it—so that's a...

Unfortunately for us this was a terrible dining experience. We ordered the half lobster pasta and it was so dry, pasta was thick and goey and the only flavour we could taste was garlic. The lobster was over cooked. There was little to no pieces of prawns either. We also ordered the margarita pizza. No flavour! The red sauce seemed like plain Passata. It was Greasy and the base very undercooked. The crust had no colour. When I provided feedback to the waiter regarding the pasta his response was ‘yes that’s not a very good dish’!! Would have appreciated that feedback before I confirmed the order considering it was one of the most expensive items on the menu. Truly disappointing experience. Note: we were also seated in a corner with a screen divider where we could see the storage of boxes and odd things- not a...