La Trattoria — Restaurant in Lisbon

A birthday evening that ended in a disaster due to unprofessional and incompetent management.

I booked the private dining room of La Trattoria for my birthday. Via email, it was communicated that I could choose to pay either a room fee of 180€ and order dishes a la carte or go for a fixed menu priced at 55€ per person. I selected the fixed menu option. As it was my birthday, I made a request for many candles and a music box in the room, which was confirmed by the restaurant by email.

Upon entering the room, there were merely 2 candles lit. The music box was also missing. More candles and the music box were only brought inside once I requested a second time. It appeared as if they had put minimal effort into the preparation, not considering the requests I made.

During the course of the meals, the drinks, which were included in the menu, were only sparsely refilled. In general, the service was unpassionate, we did not feel any warmth. The only positive aspect to be mentioned is the food and the variety of the menu.

The catastrophe evolved at the end of the night, once my guests wanted to pay the remaining menus. Two unfriendly staff members insisted that we need to pay a 180€ room fee and very clearly had no knowledge of their own event rules or the booking conditions I had contracted via email. Instead of clarifying their mistake internally, they proceeded to harass me and my friends for approximately 20 minutes. It was only after they read the email thread that they realized they were in the wrong. We did not receive any heartfelt apology from them - which is the absolute least they could have done before we left.

An experience we will not repeat...

We had a truly exceptional dining experience characterized by the outstanding quality of the food. The service, provided by our server Diana, was nothing short of amazing. Diana exhibited a high level of professionalism and efficiency throughout our meal.

However, we regret to note that our interaction with the manager (Guillermo), who bore a resemblance to the renowned artist Salvador Dali, left much to be desired. The manager's demeanor came across as pretentious and unfriendly, and his constant circumambulation around the seating area was rather distracting.

Furthermore, our initial encounter with the host, Maria, was far from satisfactory. Despite our specific request for a cooler seating area, we were initially placed in a warm section. Thankfully, one of the servers kindly facilitated our relocation to a more comfortable spot.

Overall, while we thoroughly enjoyed the excellent food and commendable service provided by Diana, the negative experiences with the manager and the host detracted from an otherwise pleasant...

As an Italian I have to admit I was disappointed. Even though the restaurant and service were good, the food was very disappointing. I didn't eat anything Italian. The risotto with capesante was made with the wrong rice, it was loaded with cheese and therefore heavy, the capesante were frozen and there was an unexplainable garlic paste. I couldn't eat that. The steak was ok (not particularly Italian however) and came with a side of pasta which is totally away from Italian cuisine. This pasta side was meant to be linguine, but it was spaghetti, so again, disappointing. Finally, the basil Panna cotta could have been an appetizer but not dessert, I tasted it with my eyes closed and it was exactly like eating pasta with pesto. I really hope the menu gets revised because this place has great potential, my stars go to the service and sommelier, pleasant presence...