Sancho — Restaurant in Lisbon

The worst experience in português hospitality at Sancho Restaurante despite used to live in Lisbon region for 2 years.

We have arrived with a reservation on short notice, wit the place occupied with about 40-50% and stafF was all friendly and joking, prepared to spend 150+ Euros. We have ordered a Parrilhada de Marisco for 2 Pax which was 130 EUR and a bottle of wine Quinta dos Carvalhais Encruzado for 24 EUR on the menu.

THE WINE - more expensive than in the menu & more expensive then communicated at the table

I have known this wine for a couple of years and was glad to find it on the menu. The waiter appeared back and said that it was a different wine than on the menU, which I am still in doubt, and that it was 36 EUR. No big issues with that, we agreed with the 2021 vintage. Wine was good as expected. BUT on the cheque it appeared as a 45 EUR item we only got aware later.

THE PARRILHADA - half-raw shrimps & lightly chewey lobster

When the Parrilhada arrived at the table it looked okay, but we have seen better ones. Never mind, we started with the 5 oysters (cold as expected it to be) on top, which were quite okay. After that we went over to the two grilled, half-lobsters whiCh were tasteful but slightly chewy, well, it happens. Moved on to the two grilled, half- tiger prawns, same.as with the lobster, bummer. After about 20 minutes half way into the dish with a pleasant conversation, I started with one of the 8-10 shrimps on the platter. They came un-grilled and un-cleaned which I counted on the interpretation side of things in favor of the restaurant. BUT things went south quickly. My first shrimp was okay I thought but opening the third, and fourth and fifth which were only boiled, so red on the outside, but completely raw on the inside, mega-bummer. We immediately stopped eating, because we were disgusted. After a couple of minutes one of the waiters has approached us asKing, if we were done eating, 95% of shrimp opened and left over on plates and platter. I said, unfortunately we had to stop eating because of the raw fish. He agreed, excused the poor execution and suggested to put it back on the grill, which we have refused, as we have already been at a point of no return. He took the plates and platters away to the kitchen. Then - nothing. We stayed for another 10-15 minutes and asked for the cheque. When the cheque arrived I was flabbergasted that they put the full 130 EUR on it. When the waiter came back with the credit card terminal I have said that we are highly-irritated that we have to pay fUll amount for the obviously poor execution of the kitchen. Well, than the final plot twist dropped, when he replied that he has offered to put it back on the grill which we had refused - leaving the full responsibility for the cluster-f* on our end.

Kitchen hygene How can it happen that not only one but about 10 out of about 20 pieces of shell-fish on the platter were at least half-raw and sTill not cold? I mean under which conditions were these shrimps stored? What about cross-contamination?

Kitchen execution Why has none of the kitchen-team recognized that half of the items have not been cooked properly? Not even sanding it tO be grilled which would be the regular Parrilhada way.

Service approach What kind of middle-finger service to the foreign customer is this? There have been Portuguese/Brazilian clients on other tables and I have the slight feeling this would not have happened to any of the native speakers.

Recommending parties How little does the Sancho Team care about the recommending parties? In this case unfortunately the friendly and helpful staff of Hotel The One Palacio da Anunciada. When arrived back at the hotel we were asked how we liked it, they were very keen about the restaurant, and we had to tell them how worse of an experience it was.

The level of disrespect was flabbergasting. Despite all the good reviews of the place we can only give a one star rating.

We will never...

ABSOLUTELY AVOID AT ALL COSTS - This restaurant is a scam. DO NOT believe the positive reviews, they are fake. Sancho clearly hired a company to flood the zone with fake reviews. The negative reviews are very accurate. The restaurant was recommended by Philip, the concierge at our hotel (Epic Sana). We asked for an authentic Portuguese restaurant that locals eat at. Well, not only was the food not authentic, but it was clearly a tourist trap. Our waiter was very pushy. He came to rush us along about 4 times within 10 minutes after we sat down. He then made a rude disparaging remark to my wife and I. When the food came, it was bordering on inedible. We ordered a shrimp cocktail and the shrimp came small, dirty and filled with fecal matter (clearly not cleaned). The fish we ordered was bland and tasteless, and the sides (boiled string beans and two small potatoes) had zero seasoning or flavour. The prices were higher than any comparable restaurant. Frankly, we complained to our hotel management after sending us there. Philip clearly gets a kickback. His response was, “I’ve never heard this before, I eat there all the time!” PLEASE. Beyond insulting our intelligence. Just a disgrace. Do not waste your money. There are thousands of amazing restaurants in Lisbon. Any of them is better than Sancho. To say it’s a tourist trap is an...

AVOID - this was hands down the worst meal I had during my 2 week time in Portugal. It’s just off the main street, so I was hoping for a non-tourtist trap experience. They profess to be a seafood speciality restaurant and even have a iced box of “fresh” fish when you enter. We started with the garlic shrimp which was overcooked and didn’t have a hint of garlic taste. And the bread was served with crappy butter in a plastic tub. I ordered the seabass and my mom had the salmon. Both were overcooked and served with the same unseasoned and overcooked green beans and potatoes. And if you are taking the time to read this review, look at my pictures compared to those from years past - nothing has changed. My dad had some beef dish which looked awful and was extremely tough and chewy. The only good thing was the server, but DO NOT waste a dime...