O Nosso Prego Docas Santo Amaro — Restaurant in Lisbon

We recently dined at O Noso Prego in Lisbon on a busy Sunday evening, and the experience was a blend of highs and lows.

Ambiance: The restaurant was bustling, and we had to wait in line, which is understandable given the popularity of the place. We were fortunate to be seated on the terrace, where we could enjoy the last summer evening. The terrace itself offers a pleasant view, but it was quite noisy due to the echo, especially since we were seated in a corner.

Food: The prices were reasonable; for example, grilled sea bass was only €12.50. However, the availability of dishes was an issue. Some of our initial choices were unavailable due to the late hour. After placing our order, a new waiter informed us that some items we had chosen were also unavailable, including other fish options. This was disappointing, but we decided to try the octopus instead. Unfortunately, the octopus was overcooked, slightly burnt, and served in a heavy oil sauce, making it difficult to enjoy. On the upside, the sea bass was delicious, and the vegetables were well-prepared. Oddly, the soup arrived at the end of the meal, which was surprising but welcome.

Service: Service was a major drawback during our visit. While the first waiter was helpful, the second one spoke little to no English, making communication challenging. We had to resort to pointing at the menu and even closing pages to avoid confusion. There were mix-ups with the quantity of dishes, but after some effort and a few laughs, we managed to get our order right.

Hidden Costs: When it came time to pay, we were surprised to find charges for each small condiment, including €5.50 for a small serving of butter—something you’d expect to be complimentary, especially at this quality level. The pricing felt unfair, especially given the service mistakes and the long wait times for our dishes. After discussing the issue, the waiter did remove these charges, though the cashier was clearly unhappy about it, which was reflected in his tone and demeanor.

Conclusion: O Noso Prego has potential with its great location and reasonable prices, but the service needs significant improvement, and the hidden costs left a bad taste in our mouths. If you’re fluent in Portuguese and don’t mind the occasional hiccup, it could be worth a visit, but we left feeling more frustrated...

The location is great however the staff is rude. Unbelievable! We arrived 5 minutes before opening and they didn't want to serve us even a beer, which is understandable at least during Covid times since there are high restrictions and fines are high.

Once they opened, i went inside to ask for the menu. The waiter in a very bad attitude just said to look at the door since there was a menu there. I asked politely for a physical menu since i was with other people and I didn't feel like choosing right there. He didn't want to give me a menu because they were disinfected or whatever.

Then I asked if I could stay outside, he said "well that depends on what you want". What do you mean what i want? I want to eat. He replied that outside is only for meals. Where that's what I want i said. He still didn't want to give me a menu and I went to the table.

At the table, it's right on the water. The weather was nice and I asked if they could open the floor to ceiling window of their pérgola. The said no because it was cold - it was a sunny 19C. However we were there only customers and having that window open would be irrelevant since all the 3 sides were already open (we just wanted to have the view to the water). After this we said ok then thank you we're leaving since you can't accommodate us.

The staff then went on attack mode saying that we were rude and giving them attitude, to which then I said I felt sorry for their customers if they treat everyone like this. While walking away, they kept saying stuff behind our back which to be honest I didn't hear much. I ended up going spend my dollars to a restaurant next door since location is the same

Note that I go weekly! To this restaurant although in a different location which they are super nice! It's a shame that restaurants are complaining about the Covid times and how they need customers and then when you go out to support their business they can't accommodate you (again, we were the only customers in an outside building so whatever cold it was wouldn't even...

Beware of Tourist-trap, MAKE SURE TO CHECK YOUR BILL. Once you sit down they will bring (without asking) Octopus salad, bread and a plate of individually packaged butter, with no notice. Make sure you check the price of the salad as you will be charged €10 if you end up eating it. It is pretty common to be charged for bread at restaurants in Portugal but in this case once we got the bill we were charged each individual butter as well @ €1.30 each. (Just for perspective, 0.5 L of wine was €4) We only consumed 2 butters but were charged for 4, which we initially ignored, then we realized they had charged us for 2 octopus salads @ €20. We had to ask to have the bill corrected.

Service overall was not good, we had waited in line for about 20 minutes waiting for a table outside (we had asked for outside). Finally when it was our turn they insisted we couldn’t sit outside even though there were multiple empty tables for 4 ( we were party of 2) and they showed us to a table indoor upstairs, where most tables were empty but not cleaned and they asked us to sit by the washroom, we had to ask to get one of the tables beside the window to be cleaned which took another 10 minutes.

Overall not a good experience, which is a shame because the food we had (Prego)...