Potzalia — Restaurant in Lisbon

It's genuinely exciting to discover a tiny authentic place before it surely and deservedly blows up. It doesn't happen often. But here it is. I'm pretty certain this is as good as it gets this side of the Atlantic. I had the pleasure of talking for a while with the owner, Sandra, who is from Mexico City and whose grandmother (correct me if I'm wrong) is from Michoacán. All I can say is the flavours are legit, the attitude is legit, the entire feel and mood and style is so right it makes me absurdly happy. Sandra told me she used to do catering and suffered the soul destroying complaint this wasn't 'real Mexican food' from customers who'd never tasted real Mexican food in their lives, and they are so wrong it's laughable, but I don't want to dwell on the negative here, so this is only an illustration of the point that the genuine food from a culture is hard to access, but it is 100% here. I've tried a bunch of Mexican restaurants in the city and this is the only place that is truly transformative. The menu is extensive and supremely affordable, the meats are stewed and slow-cooked and pulled to perfection, the salsas are mind-blowing, the chilli levels, if you can take them, are hardcore (you don't have to take them). But seriously, they are chilli masters. One taco is three euro, three are eight etc etc, you can mix and match, there's salsa negra, mole, carnitas, al pastor, cochinita pibil, there's some properly good vegetarian and vegan tacos that come from the culture and not a trend, there are burritos to fill you up, there are desserts and good drinks. Of course it's no frills, hidden inside a shopping complex, so it might not appeal to a person who demands importance. But then again, the only thing that's important is being fed absolutely outstanding tacos at affordable prices in a family atmosphere that takes you away from Lisbon for a little while. That's what this is. I can't recommend eating here enough, I've already told a bunch of friends, and I'll be back...

I'm writing primarily about the service here which was unacceptable today. The waiter, which I later learned was the nephew of the owner, came to attend to our table and then had to return inside to ask someone else questions 3 times because he clearly didn't know very much about the menu. That was already a weird start. Another woman came to take our order and she spoke Spanish to my Mexican friend, letting us know that the vegan chilaquile had feta cream and cheese in it, but could not have a fried egg on top because they had no eggs 😅 (vegan usually means no cheese btw...) I ordered a normal chilaquile with chicken instead, asked for a coffee, and to my great surprise she said they don't have coffee. Which is not the norm in Portugal at all. Later on my chicken chilaquile came with feta cheese all over it, which was to my surprise because it was not stated that there was feta in it on the menu, and when asked to swap the dish because I dont eat feta.. the waiter was very defensive and replied in a threatening tone that we were informed of the feta situation and that to swap it meant that we would have to wait very long as there was another table they had to cook for first. It was not what he said that upset me, but the threatening way he said as if we were in the complete wrong and that we had better take it or leave it. After that I completely lost my appetite and didn't feel like waiting for a new plate or have a new dish. And he had the balls to say that we anyways wouldn't have to pay for the uneaten dish, as if that is not the norm in any food establishment. Sadly to say I sat there for the ENTIRE meal watching my friends eat while I had nothing but a drink. The crazy thing is that when my friends vegan chilaquile came, it came with a fried egg on top when they said they didn't have any eggs 😅 Well apparently the food was very good, but unfortunately when you lose your appetite from pure incompetence and rudeness, you don't feel like...

Worth a visit. Potzalia is a family owned Mexican restaurant brought to you by a native of Mexico City, Sandra Ruiz.

Mexican food isn’t very common in Portugal so this was one of the first places we tried since moving to Lisbon from Southern California.

While the food was somewhat different than the type of Mexican food we enjoyed in the US, there were a few familiar flavor profiles to satisfy our cravings.

The “street sized” tacos, which come In quantities of 3 or 5, are a great way to sample different fillings to find one you like best.

I recommend getting 5 tacos instead of 3 as the tacos are tiny. Getting 5 tacos will feel like a proper meal.

My favorite was the pastor taco (roasted pork), which had plenty of flavor and a nice texture. The carnitas, beef suadero and birria tacos were also tasty.

I didn’t really like the chicken rajas taco - the predominant flavor was poblano chili which I don’t care for. But that is just my personal preference.

During our visit, the staff was incredibly kind and made us feel welcome. Definitely a...