Lisboa Tu e Eu 2 — Restaurant in Lisbon

Throughout my 8 day stay in Portugal, this might have been the best meal I had eaten there. And that includes a 2 Michelin star restaurant. Lisboa Tu & Eu is a little hole in the wall with probably about 10 tables. Our party of 6 came at around 9 on a Saturday. We waited about half an hour but were lucky to get a table. We ordered a bunch of dishes to share:

-Mix board – this came with various meats/cheeses. I enjoyed the jamon but wasn’t a huge fan of the chorizo (?). The cheese were good. If you want bread, you need to order it separately -Octopus salad – this was nice and light, and the octopus was very tender. I believe it was drizzled with olive oil. It was simple but perfect Bulhão pato clams – these are clams with garlic and lemon. Again, simple but good. The fewer ingredients, the better – then you can really taste the seafood -Squid – I am not even lying to you when I say this is the best squid I have ever eaten in my entire life. They give you huge meaty chunks and it just melts in your mouth. It’s not like the US, where it’s calamari rings that taste like rubberbands. These were SO good. I still have dreams about it. It was a tad on the saliter side but I still probably could have eaten a whole thing by myself -Grilled sardines – these had a nice flavor but I guess I may not be a fan of sardines in general because I hate picking out the little bones -Bacalhau (salted cod) à Brás – this is salted cod with thin strips of crispy fried potatoes. It’s almost like their version of a hash brown but with fish. I never knew fish and potatoes could go so well together -Shrimp à Brás – this was good but I think one dish à Bráswould have been enough. It’s pretty filling. If you are getting one, I would probably opt for the cod. Both of the à Brás are a bit on the salty side too, so you can’t really eat much of it

After dinner, they give you some markers so you can graffiti on the wall! It was a cute experience but good luck finding real estate space. If you can, I’d recommend going with a smaller group, that way you have a greater chance of nabbing a table. If I ever find myself in Lisbon again, I would come back...

Disappointing experience! I found this restaurant on a research for Alheiras, my favourite Portuguese dish, which was what I ordered, together with a salad and a beer. What I received was a layered dish that consisted of 80% potatoes, while the sausage was in pieces, squized between the potatoes and a fried egg. "At least, it is tasty" I thought and I did not complain. I ate it all in literally 15 min from the moment it was served and the moment I put my fork down, a lady came (the owner?) and asked me if I wanted a dessert. I said I didn't, as I was still drinking my beer and the next moment she was back with the check (actually a piece of paper with the amount I had to pay, not a fiscal receipt), which she put on the table without saying a word. I kept on drinking my beer, when a minute later one of the waiters came and asked me if I wanted to pay cash or card (mind you there is a sign saying that the POS does not work and one can only pay in cash). I said "card", to see what his reply would be, and he said I needed to go upstairs to pay by card. I was already bothered by this "here-is-the-way-out" behaviour but tried to be understanding, seeing that there were people waiting to be sitted. It was when I went upstairs that I got totally pissed off, seeing a room full of empty tables and only one group occupying one, while people were standing outside waiting to be seated. Apparently, this is a strategy for the place to look always full and hard to get a table. When I went to the lady to express in a polite way that I felt very uncomfortable with indirectly being forced to leave, she answered "this is the way we do things here". Of course, that did not happen to the tourists eating fish next to me, although they were half way through their meal when I arrived and kept on sitting after I left.

No wonder why there was not a single Portuguese speaking guest in the room. If you want a real Portuguese experience avoid this tourist trap at all costs - all they care about...

Despite having high expectations, and the story of the restaurant being nice, there is nothing else to like about this restaurant, and this comes from a person that eats everything in general. We were welcomed by a sign saying no cash, payment machine broken, but the lady said we do not need to worry. There was no music, and we were hearing the chefs and staff arguing in the kitchen. Sat down, trying to kill the flies around us, and opened a rather expensive menu. Ordered shrimps in garlic sauce, calamari tentacles and shrimp pasta, along with 2 7€ cocktails. We received 6 shrimps for starter, for the price of 14€. Taste was good, apart from the coriander, but totally not worth the price. Knowing that we do not like coriander, we let the waiter know for the following dishes, but we were told that they are already made them and brought them at the table. Calamari was very basic, and shrimp pasta even worse, being some parmesan pesto pasta with 3 added shrimps, all filled with coriander. We asked for the bill in the end, were told that it will come in a second 3 times, until it came, 10 minutes later, with the mention that the payment is cash only. After telling the lady that we can only pay card, as we also mentioned when we entered the restaurant, she invited me upstairs, to a hidden card POS, to pay the 60€ for the dinner. I totally respect businesses with tradition and stories, I could not help myself but posting this review as we had a really unpleasant experience, especially considering the price we paid and the high number of good reviews that drove our...