Pizzaria Lisboa — Restaurant in Lisbon

I can't say I eat a lot of pizza but when I do it has to be good so when I was invited to eat here I was quite excited despite having a mediocre experience at another speciality restaurant in the group, the Pitaria (review in my profile). I'm happy to report though that it lived up to my expectations.

We kept things fairly simple just ordering the pancetta and beef carpaccio for starters. Both were delicious with a special mention going to the melt in your mouth pancetta.

Next up came the pizzas and one of the thinnest bases I've come across in my long and illustrious pizza eating career. Normally I end up taking away half a pizza from your average pizza joint and saving it for breakfast but here I happily ate the whole lot without needing a stretcher afterwards. The topping on the pizza was top quality as well, not quite as outstanding as the base but for €12 I wasn't expecting miracles. I can't remember the last time I had a dessert in an Italian restaurant but I even had room for half a panna cotta for dessert.

Drinks came in the form of my favourite Portuguese IPA, 1927 and a glass of my companions bottles of outstanding red wine that sadly I can't remember the name of but will endeavour to identify next time I go there and I will definitely...

Came on a Thursday evening without a reservation and were able to get seated pretty quickly. Having enjoyed meals at Bairro do Avillez and Belcanto, we were excited to get pizza. Overall, the restaurant set up is very cool, with essentially a patio, a meat specialty tavern, fine dining restaurant, and pizzeria upstairs overlooking the restaurant below. All of the establishments use the same bar for cocktails, wine, and beer. We appreciated the aesthetic. Service was attentive and food was delivered in a timely manner.

Overall, the meal was a disappointment. The Bread Service was a let down, good olives, but rather than bread, it was a variety of crackers, with disappointing sauce and butter for dipping/spreading. The pancetta bruschetta was lacking in much flavor. The penne sophia was decent, but unmemorable. Strangely, our server recommended the dish and said it was great with chicken, but then informed us that the chicken addition was only for the staff. The Pizza Graca was edible, but forgettable as a pizza, the crust was thin and could have used more seasoning. I would try somewhere else, perhaps even the other establishments at this...

Food is great … and has been. But the optional tip is completely unsatisfactory and unsuitable. As an American living in Portugal, I can assure you that tipping is not part of the Portuguese culture. I would conjecture that this is being done so that Avillez can get more money or underpay his workers. Not having to tip for everything and the fact that food servers are paid a full wage is one of the great things about Portugal and this attempt to “Americanize” it should be resisited — or they should at least give free water if they want to be American about it! I’d be very curious if the Portuguese customers are given that “option” (we were with US friends and speaking English). The tip is optional, but the whole dialogue was very uncomfortable and, despite the always good food am tempted not to return as long as that policy...