Mila - Santos - Specialty Coffee, Brunch & Salad Bar — Restaurant in Lisbon

So I left the Apolo XI cafe just down the street from Mila for rudeness and not taking credit cards… Oh what a difference a few steps down the road makes! I step into the Mila café and the gentleman behind the counter greets me warmly in perfect English and I asked about the coffee options and he assures me they can make whatever I want so I placed my order for a latte and he tells me I can sit anywhere and they’ll bring it to me so I sit outside at a table near the street (a la Billy Joel).

In just a few minutes he brings out latte with sweetener options and stir stick. The latte art was great as was the flavor once I added a little brown sugar. During the course of enjoying my coffee, I accidentally tapped my foot on the base of the table which made the table shake due to the unevenness of the cobblestone sidewalk. Needless to say some coffee went flying out of the saucer (thankfully none of it on me, but plenty on the table LOL). Resigned to my fate of only half my coffee, and wanting to be able to put my elbows on the table I picked up the coffee cup with what remained of the coffee and moved down a couple of tables sipping away and enjoying the local scenery. In just a few minutes the gentleman from behind the counter came out with another latte! Without me saying anything to anyone he said to me he saw what happened through the window and made another latte! I asked for a glass of tap water and he brought me a glass and a complimentary chilled bottle of (presumably tap) water with the Mila logo on the bottle. Given the very different treatment I just received at the Apollo XI, this was a breath of fresh air.

After my coffee was done and the complementary still water was about half gone, a nice young lady came out to ask if there was anything else I needed (again in perfect English) and when I said no she had the credit card reader ready to go. When I asked how to add a tip she refused that saying “You didn’t order any food or anything, so no need to tip.” Are you kidding me? A Gen Z turning down free money? I’ve never heard of that! 😆

Great coffee and customer service beyond expectations. Bravo Mila...

I've been twice as I'm presently staying in the area, but I'm unlikely to return unless I hear they've trained their staff. When you're paying 10 Euros for boiled eggs on 2 small bits of dry toast with a handful of lettuce leaves, you expect at least that the waitress has some customer service finesse if not basic manners nor the skills to write your order down if she has a bad memory. The owner had the decency to apologise and compensate (somewhat) but it's not the error that was the problem, but the way the rude and incompetent waitress handled it, even starting out by greeting us with a bizarrely accusatory and rather shocking "I was busy!" rather than a friendly smile and an apology for making us wait without so much as a nod of acknowledgment. There isn't much ruffles the feathers of my much-more-patient-than-I'll-ever-be friend but this morning I saw her actually leave the restaurant to stand on the street for a moment to calm down as she was so angered by the service. In spite of the hipster environment that allows dogs, and the fact that the owner seems nice and last time I went the coffee was good (even though they brought me a latte instead of the Americano with some milk that I'd asked for), I balk at paying quite so much for average food when the waitress treats you like an...

Giving it a 2 because the food was zero but the service was decent. This was the most overpriced brunch spot we ate at in the 4 days we stayed in Lisbon, but somehow, the worst quality. We ordered the crab eggs Benedict, but it was covered in so much sauce and just tasted a bit slimy. A meal that would give you the ick after the post hunger clarity. What compelled me to write a review however, was that we ordered the ‘freshly squeezed’ orange juice and specifically asked if it was fresh and was told yes, but once it arrived it was very clear from the taste and smell it was carton orange juice. Which is a shame as it’s orange season in Portugal so not sure why this happened. Juice came in the smallest glass full of ice too. If it was cheaper, I would have held my hands up and expected it, but it was just overall really overpriced and poor quality compared to some amazing other options in Lisbon. Would definitely not recommend, unless like us, you were starving after a long day of travelling and this was the nearest place. Oh and coffee wasn’t...