Pharmacia — Restaurant in Lisbon

This restaurant/bar/esplanade covers the southern wing of the Pharmacy Museum of Lisbon, set in one of the quaintest and most typical neighbourhoods of Old Lisbon, at the top of a hill with a most delightful vista over the Tagus River. Organised by Chef Felicidade, she decided to keep the 'pharmacy' theme, as described by the menus — which show drinks named after some well-known and not-so-well-known pharmaceutical drugs (including 'morphine'), separated between drinks you get 'with prescription' (with alcohol!) and 'without prescription' (as you've guessed, alcohol-free). The house's bottled water (available as flat or with gas) comes in a dark-stained glass medicine bottle. And ask for the Wi-Fi password for a laugh! Even if you don't 'get' the pharmacy theme, or if it quickly becomes boring for you, you'll be in for a treat regarding the food: it's not quite 'tapas'-style (which usually are served on doses so small you need a magnifying glass...) but also not quite 'regular' food either. While inspired in the best of Portuguese food, with some clever details (who'd know that the potato peels, when roasted, could taste so good... nothing goes to waste with a chef!), the menu talks about 'food for sharing', meaning that the best way to enjoy the dishes is to share them with friends and mix several dishes together. Because portions are large enough, you can obviously eat them as the main dish as well, if you're on your own or not really in the mood to share. While I was limited to a few choices, all I got was simply excellent and made my mouth water for more. Alas, the dishes are on the pricey side for 'natives' like me. But you get what you pay for, and that's high quality in the preparation of the dishes, and they get served quickly enough. Be prepared to wait a little for the waiters to appear, though; they're very nice, speak flawless English, but are not always paying close attention to the customers, which might be annoying if you're in a hurry. But, then again, at this wonderful location, you're not supposed to be in a hurry. Everybody (including the restaurant itself!) recommends to make reservations if you're planning to have dinner there; I visited it in the afternoon, and while it wasn't empty, it wasn't crammed full either. The esplanade seats perhaps some 20-30 people (half of which under a shade — important if you go there in a hot day, since the esplanade faces to the south and is therefore exposed to the bright light of Lisbon the whole day), sat in an informal arrangement around a garden (the lawn is artificial, probably to refrain from wasting too much water in keeping it in good condition). While it's not announced anywhere, the place, like almost every other in Lisbon, is LGBT-friendly (I'm trans and had no issues there), and if you're American, rest assured that nobody will ask you anything about what bathroom you prefer — just use the one which you're more comfortable with. Last note of warning: don't trust Google Maps to give you the best walking route towards the place. Because I was unsure of the exact spot, I made the terrible mistake of relying on Google Maps — which shows the shortest route from the perspective of a bird! Lisbon is very hilly, especially in the old quarters, and that meant endlessly walking up and down immense stairways to finally reaching the spot in time, gasping for breath, and perspiring from every pore (it was a hot day!) — getting a bottle of 'medicine' labeled 'H2O' indeed saved my life! So, the best way to get there is to get out of the subway/underground at Baixa/Chiado, go up to the Chiado level, turn westwards toward Largo de Camões, walk through Rua do Loreto until Largo do Calhariz and turn left on Rua Marechal Saldanha until you reach the end of the street. This is almost level (with a slight rise towards Largo do Calhariz) and very easy to manage even in hot weather (or hard rain!). Of course, if you wish to lose yourself among the myriad tiny streets and stairways of Old Lisbon, you're...

Another search of highly touted restaurants in the historic Lisbon area lead us to Pharmacia. Nestled on a quite curve, over looking the river (through some trees unfortunately, but still visible) you will find this well themed, perfectly located spot.

A faux grass courtyard welcomes you as you walk through the iron gates to greet the service staff who will lead you to your table. Note: It said a reservation was a must, which we had but, we did see multiple walk in’s get seated immediately, possibly as it was a Sunday, but just a foot note

We did dine outside so I only got to glance at the insides historic decor briefly, but it looked welcoming and warm. The cocktail menu is all pharmaceutical themed and comes is uniques glassware which was a nice touch, I enjoyed a smoky cranberry, blueberry hypotic and it was great! (4.5/5)

Now the food: The Olives -5/5- cheap and delicious, EVOO and garlic served in a mini mason jar. A nice way to start

The Hummus-4/5- a cilantro and cumin flavour, and a hearty portion for the amount of crostinis you get (ask for a double order of them when ordering)

The Duck Croquettes- 10/10 - perfectly seasoned deep fried deliciousness!! The orange jam added the perfect hint of sweet to go with the salty. Highly recommend!

The Oysters -2.95€ each-4.5/5 - a taste of the ocean, served with just lemon wedges (no mignonette unfortunately) but they were fresh, huge and paired with well me alternating between olives and oysters!

The Roasted Codfish Loin -10/10 Once my wife finish licking her plate, the exact words were “This may be the best plate I’ve ever had” and seeing as she married to a chef that hurt a bit, but I did taste her meal and it melted in the mouth like absolute butter. The mash were creamy, the torched garlic butter meringue on top was savoured till the last possible bite. A perfectly balanced dish

The Braised Pork Cheeks -3.75/5 I will say the cheeks themselves were delicious, tender, and fell apart when hit by the fork. Stated to be, and did performed as the star of the show! The accompaniments being the sweet potato mash (3.5/5) the dehydrated powdered ham (5/5) and crispy Portuguese cabbage (3/5) lacked cohesiveness and acid to bring it all together. Would I recommend it… Yes, would I order it for a second time. No.

So over all I would give a solid 4.25/5 if I was allowed to do percentage points. The service staff were there but not overly attentive to us. Took a bit to flag down for an add on of crostinis, and get our bill and we never really got a 2 bite check, so that’s the reason for the 4 for service.

Would I recommend yes, would I...

I don't write a lot of negative reviews for really anything...but after a recent visit to Pharmacia I simply could not pass up this review opportunity. I felt so insulted by how my wife and I were treated by the staff at Pharmacia.

We arrived in the evening with a desire to get drinks and petiscos. We approached the gate and asked a waiter if we could sit at an empty table near the entrance. He told us no, we would have to wait to be seated. So we stood near said table for five minutes before the (rather friendly and not the subject of this review) hostess sat us at this very same table.

The very same waiter then came back to take our drink and food orders. Upon taking our order he took both the drink and food menus with him, which we found odd...since we would likely have ordered multiple drinks from the very creative menu if given the chance. Another worker brought us our drinks and food... the drinks were great, the food ...OK. What happened next led to this review... no one ever came back to our table ever again... not to see if we needed more drinks or food even when we waved frantically at the waiter... not even to bring us our check when we finally gave up and tried to leave. We never saw our first waiter again up close only from a distance... I twice asked a different waiter who came to the table next to ours for our check. Both times he confirmed the request and said that he would be right back... then he never bothered to bring the check. After a 40 minute wait to pay... we waved over a couple of ladies who were waiting for a table and volunteered our table to them. We then continued waiting for our check on the steps next to the entrance, we contemplated just leaving, but do not think leaving without paying is an option. After another 10 minutes passed the new waiter discovered that he had new customers at our table and only then came to see where we went. I relayed the story to him... and he laughed...he actually laughed when I told him of our ignored requests for our bill, he laughed when I told him about how we never got a chance to order a second drink or more food, he laughed when I told him about how we felt like our business was unwanted the entire time we spent at what seemed initially to be a lovely bar/restaurant. He laughed at our disgust with the horrible service at his workplace. We will not be coming back and will do whatever we can to keep anyone we know visiting Lisbon from spending money...