Maria da Mouraria - Casa de Fados — Restaurant in Lisbon

Maria da Mouraria is perhaps a little bit difficult to find, but definitely worth a visit if you are looking for an authentic dinner with live Fado music. And don't forget to order a Portuguese wine to go with the food - ask the waiter, I was more than happy with his recommendation, the brilliant Albarinho Quinta de Golães.

When I was visiting Lisbon, I asked my Airbnb host for recommendations near his apartment. On the first day, my friend and I ended up at one of those places, Maria da Mouraria. The restaurants looks modern, and a little bit arty with its simple, yet carefully chosen interior design. It seemed that most guests who were around that evening were friends or family of the people running the place. I immediately liked the restaurant Maria da Mouraria, but if you are vegetarian, you will probably only have a pretty limited choice. And something to keep in mind is that they do not accept cards, so you have to pay in cash. not big on vegetarian food, if that is a concern.

We started with some bread and tasty cheese, that was already provided on the table. Soon, the waiter asked what we would like to drink, and recommended an excellent Albarinho white wine, Quinta de Golães, from the North of Portugal. The wine was very good with nice mineral notes and a hint of sweetness. They only sell wine by the bottle, but if you get a wine like this, you are happy that you have an entire bottle - even my friend, who is not the biggest wine fan, really enjoyed drinking this Alvarinho.

For my main I went with a local classic, Lisbon beef steak. As recommended, I ordered it medium, but the thin slice arrived more well-done than medium. However, this was not an issue for me, because it still was very delicious. The steak came with beautiful crispy fries and in a nice, herby, a tiny bit spicy sauce.

My friend ordered some fush dish and was also very happy with her choice.

After the mains, we selected chocolate cake and chocolate mousse as desserts. The chocolate mousse was strong in chocolate flavour and an absolute pleasure to eat.

Around 21:30, two men with guitars and a singer arrived to play some Fado, traditional Portuguese music. I thought it they played well and it felt authentic. It was interesting to listen to different sets with three different singers. Afterwards, I read that apparently the first ever Fado singer is said to have lived at this place. And now they rebuilt the house and it's a lovely little restaurant.

Maria da Mouraria is a great restaurant in Lisbon, hidden away in a small street. The food is delicious and they have excellent wines. In addition, you might be lucky and they have live Fado music on. You could argue that it is perhaps a bit pricey, but overall I think you get a nice, authentic dinner experience with friendly service. At the end, it was...

We chose this place because it said it is suppoted by Museo do Fado so we thought it has to be good fado. Reviews said it is overpriced with average food but we were going for the music. There is a minimum consummation of 25€ per person. The man we talked to insisted we make the reservation at 20:30 since the Fado show starts at 21:30 and told us there would be several shows. I agreed to this since I knew we had to be quiet during the singing and supposed we had to be done with lunch by 21:30. We actually were in time for the reservation (silly us), the first ones to arrive and by the time everyone else came (around 21:10) we were midway through the first course. The singing actually started around 21:45 and lasted 12 minutes on the clock (music was good but way too short) followed by a 45 minutes brake. During the brake we just stood there with a glass of wine in front of us. Even the house wine is really overpriced (14€ a bottle!!! Of house wine, nothing special or fancy. All other bottled are 20€ or more). Food is average, not horrible but realy overpriced. The cheapest fish dish is 14€ and it's some kind of pastry with a shrimp inside. So 45 minutes later the show started again. I read somewhere that during the singing you are supposed to stay quiet and listen, maybe sip from a glass of wine but the friends of the singer were at the table next to the guitar players clinging the fork and knive and eating as they were late and probably hungry because they were late. They could not wait for 14 minutes, that is how long lasted the second Fado singing period. After this we left, we were not in the mood to spend more money for overpriced food and wine... And less than 15 minutes of Fado. It is quite clear their main aim is to take as much money from you as possible and it is the only feeling we got from them. We chose this place to spend our last night of our honeymoon in Lisbon and would not recommend it ! I do hope there are better places to listen to Fado and regret deeply we spent our money and most important...

The restaurant is located on a quaint little square. There are a few tables laid out in front of a simple stage under one tree and a couple of hanging lights. Almost like the set of Mamma Mia movie, but authentic. The Fado singers are very good and most of the food is amazing. It's only shame that the staff (two very lovely, warm elderly people) don't really speak English other than a couple of words they learned ("fish", "meat",...) so one isn't really sure what one will end up eating. But the food is amazing, and well-portioned, so no worries one will end up going home hungry. The restaurant charges a fixed fee per person and this covers a soup, a really wide variety of apetizers, a main dish (several meat or fish options), a desert (several options) and drinks. Also, deserts are unfortunately not typically Portuguese and even so, not the best ones. We were offered creme brulee, but it came served in a coctail glass, which was a clear sign that it was not prepared in a water bath (aside from not having a typical consistency for this type of dish). One additional recommendation: if you're not interested in having a dinner or would like to save money, you can still enjoy Fado for free by sitting on the public benches on that...