Santelmo — Restaurant in Lisbon

I went there last Monday and had a bad experience.

I guess one of the waiters had called in sick, as there was only one waiter for the entire restaurant and he seemed stressed and angry, which was projected onto us.

When we were given the complimentary cheese platter, he plonked it down and walked off without saying a word. I thought he had made a mistake and given us someone else’s starter. Luckily my partner had seen a review which said it was complimentary so we ate them. After, I noticed everyone else he gave this cheese to, he said to them kindly “a gift from the house” or something, which annoyed me that he didn’t give us this service and we were left to guess.

Not to be put off by bad service, I was expecting big things from the food after reading the reviews, but was sorely disappointed. I ordered pork and clams, which was chewy, dry and tasteless pieces of pork and some clams, on a bed of French fries with a little watery sauce on the bottom. I was surprised how flavourless it was. It was one of the most average meals I’ve had in Lisbon in 2 months here.

I think I must have been very unlucky, as I know I’m the anomaly with this bad review, so don’t let this put you off. But for me, it was a bad experience. Maybe I should have ordered seafood, maybe I should have picked a day when the waiter wasn't being miserable. Hopefully you'll have a...

🌟 Tao's Google Restaurant Reviews 🌟 This was the last restaurant that I had in Lisbon and thank God that I did not miss this because it ended up being my favorite one in Lisbon. We ended up having the grilled cod fish, cod fish cake, grilled octopus, and tuna steak. I recommend all of these choices to be honest, as they were all so good and so delicious. Huge recommendation goes out to the octopus, which is possibly the best octopus that I have had in all of Portugal. It was extremely chewy and soft and the flavoring was absolutely right. The bacalhau was made very well, the grilled version being very soft and tender and the cod fish cake version being nice, creamy, and savory. Tuna steak, I would recommend eating it raw. My parents had wanted it cooked to a medium rare which was okay but you lose some of the flavoring with it.

The service was very good as well. We were able to fit in without a reservation and our server was extremely kind and also gave us some bread on the house as appetizers. We had a very enjoyable time with my family and I highly recommend coming to this place with family, friends, or dates. Definitely deserves the high ratings that it has on Google reviews.

🍲Food: 5 🧑‍🍳Service: 5 🍴Atmosphere:...

What an absolute gem that we accidentally stumbled into. We were in the area looking for some octopus but when we went to a nearby restaurant it was fully booked and they couldn't take anymore customers. Searching for a replacement, we saw Santelmo with a full 5 star review so that peaked our interest. As it was only a short way from where we were, we walked over to see if we could get a table.

The good: Extremely friendly staff that spoke great english . Menu items had all the local favorites including Octopus and Cod Reasonable pricing with mains ranging between 12 to 18 euros They brought our a bread basket but also a cheese board that was complimentary. Great craft beer and wine.

The bad: The place is rather small and it seems to be getting really popular. I would get a reservation if you plan to visit or you can gamble like we did and show up right as they open. By the time we finished our dinner we saw a lot of people being turned away as there were no more...