Osteria Piazza Sicilia — Restaurant in Lisbon

We walked into Osteria Piazza Sicilia as a young couple hoping for a relaxed evening with our 2-year-old, only to be met with a perfect storm of unprofessionalism and negligence.

No baby chair provided which In Portugal, it’s standard for restaurants to have high chairs available or at least make an effort to accommodate families. Here, not only were none available, but no effort was made to help us. Having no safe seating for a toddler is unacceptable and deeply disappointing.

Owner’s attitude was shockingly negative — As soon as our toddler made his presence known (and our baby is the calmest baby ever), the owner’s demeanor shifted dramatically. Her energy was flat-out unpleasant and openly hostile toward our child. There was no warmth, no empathy, just cold irritation, which made us feel unwelcome rather than accommodated.

Unfamily-friendly vibe: restaurants are generally welcoming and kind toward children, but here we felt the exact opposite. There was no effort to help or even to mask the discomfort of having a toddler present. Instead, we were left feeling judged and embarrassed.

An evening ruined: Rather than hospitality and kindness, we experienced rigidity and unfriendliness. This is unacceptable, especially in a city where families are usually embraced when dining out.

Conclusion: Osteria Piazza Sicilia was a letdown in every possible way for a family meal. No high chair, rude and harsh attitude from the owner, and zero effort to accommodate a toddler. We strongly advise parents to look elsewhere for a meal where even the smallest gestures of kindness and hospitality...

Just found a gem of an Italian restaurant. It’s a proper old school Italian restaurant. The owner is Sicilian, he’s married to a Portuguese lady and has been here for 23 years.

The glasses and plates are all vintage and so beautiful, the service is perfect and the menu is delicious! We met a American/Sicilian couple in there who also recommended many menu options to us. You know if Sicilians are eating there too it must be good!

We shared the Aubergine Parmigiana to start, delicious and paired with the artisan bread with olive oil and Balsamic it was an amazing starter.

For our mains we ordered a prawn type pasta, plenty of prawns, homemade Al dente pasta, delicious, along with a veal scallopini dish which was equally fantastic.

We rarely have dessert but Michaela the owner is pretty convincing so we shared a Semifredo filled with sesame seeds and served with marinated apricots (divine) and we couldn’t resist ordering a cannoli (cannolo in Sicily).

We had a lovely crisp wine from Bucelas, Portugal and then obviously had a Limoncello to finish.

It’s a small place but I certainly recommend you give it a go, just please make a reservation first.

Plus there was a really cool square table for 6 people, so more...

We are so privileged that we got to eat here today. It’s hard to know where to begin singing the praises of this special place.

The food is out of this world. We ordered the bread to start which came with tomato, basil pesto and mozzarella. You will never taste such fresh ingredients! We shared the scallops which were cooked to perfection and adorned in a delicious sauce. I had the prawn risotto for main course which was both comforting and full of flavour. Everything delicious — the wine too!!

Most of all, we love the people at Piazza Sicilia. We were served by Monica who is just the loveliest, most welcoming person. She told us that we are at home here and it really did feel like that for us. Thank you Monica for your kindness. We also had lovely conversations about music with the chef who shared limoncello with us. He is talented, personable, and so interesting.

Sitting in this gorgeous place listening to Chet Baker and eating italian dishes cooked to perfection, it was like all your troubles melted away. As Monica said, you have to be happy because you might not see tomorrow. This is certainly the place to inspire that kind of joy. Muito obrigado!

PLEASE don’t miss this spot...