Maria Food Hub — Restaurant in Lisbon

I have visited this place several times, and was already dubious about returning- the supposedly “high quality” coffee here is possibly the worst I’ve ever tasted. But my last visit well and truly made my decision for me- definitely not somewhere I’ll be going back to. We arrived as a group of 4 around 5:30pm, with the intention of having some snacks and drinks. We were given a table; being advised that there was a reservation from 9pm. Unfortunately at this time the menu was more focused for dinner, and as it was still early, we decided to get some drinks and maybe order some food a bit later, particularly as none of the cakes we had enquired about were available. We were planning a holiday; so we had brought a laptop to look at things online. Around an hour after we arrived, the waitress came to tell us we had to leave the table soon, as it was reserved from 7pm. We questioned this, as when we arrived we had been told 9pm. That being said, at 7pm no one had brought us the bill, so we asked if there was another table available so we could stay a while longer. The waitress then told us that after 6:30pm, laptops are not allowed, and that us “working” was affecting the atmosphere. We had not been told that when we arrived, nor does it say that anywhere. This waitress then told us that the table was actually just reserved from 7:30… it started to seem like the staff was inventing excuses to make us leave, as we had sat at the table with a PC. Perhaps if we had been asked, we would have explained that we had been planning on eating later on. Instead, the staff simply made presumptions and passive-aggressively made us feel unwelcome and uncomfortable until we left . Really unpleasant attitude and definitely not somewhere im planning on...

People with dietary restrictions beware. I had some kind of poke bowl with octopus and edamame and rice. I’ve had way better ones, this one flavor-wise was ok but it was so full of sauce on the octopus you could barely taste the thing, as well as a ton of fried onion shallots that were hard to remove since they (obv) end up in all other ingredients. Seems all fresh but hastily tossed together. The issue here is mostly with staff and with arranging for dietary restrictions or medical conditions, which, for such a fancy place and gentrified prices, one would assume they’d be ready for. I kindly but firmly asked for no spicy, no garlic, no onions: my dish had all three and I had to take some extra pills to digest it. I had lunch and literally couldn’t eat anything until the next day. The staff looks like they couldn’t care less, nice smiles but little attention and they have a habit to snap back at any feedback. Even here in the comments it seems, LOL. Don’t even bother arguing, just forget it or write your feedback here and go on with your life. Nice esplanada outside and nice place to bring your books or computer. OK drinks, watery coffee. It’s fine, if you don’t have anywhere else to eat go - you won’t die, but if you can, walk 5 more minutes and end up somewhere better. The neighborhood has...

Ingredients thrown together with a ton of garlic just to make it tasty. Messy bruschettas not really designed to be hand held and eaten by humans as they had big chunks of octopus that would constantly fall on the table vs small tasty, manageable ones that stay together with the olive tapenade and the bread. The salad was heavy and tasteless for unnecessary sauces meant to connect flavors otherwise thrown in the bowl last second with zero other care. Won't be back.

ADDITIONAL PIECE: Thank you for the judgmental, offensive personal attack. I limited myself to describe the food I received and why it provided me with a dysfunctional experience. You insulted me as a person and that's the last thing any person in hospitality should dare to do. I'm not even American, just so you are aware. I was a bit bitter about my experience because the food I ate caused me mild illness and I was really looking for this experience, which indeed turned out to be painful. You are right I am grateful for the many other excellent establishment in the neighborhood, run by welcoming caring...