Senhor Peixe — Restaurant in Lisbon

So this place screams "Tourist Trap!" in a lot of ways on the surface, and it is indeed the most expensive meal I had in Portugal. There is lack of transparency about pricing too. And while I don't doubt their sincerity, there does seem to be a lot of pushing of menus (ie lobster) that are expensive. And I don't really like the tactic of offering appetizers or leaving them on the table, which will be additional charges if you eat them. But the food was genuinely good, and there were some really interesting stuff (like grilled fish roe) that was excellent. Fresh ingredients and just the right level of savoriness. So, overall, we really enjoyed the food and friendly service a lot, as our last night in Portugal with the family. Just be aware that it's probably on the more expensive side of meals you'll have in the country, and that's not apparent until you get the bill. (plus they ask for service charge. But coming from the crazy land of USA, 5% seemed so reasonable so I won't let that bother me too much).

p.s. There was this middle aged lady dining by herself who sat behind us who was so overtly annoyed/disgusted and acted as if our boy was carrying germs or something. He was perhaps a bit loud and was wandering about, which we try to control, but never a 100%, as parents would understand. Her reaction was rude and a a bit of downer. I get that kids can be annoying but it's a family friendly place in general, especially outside. I don't know -some people just hate kids. May be she really wanted peace and quiet (wrong place for it though), or was having a bad day. I just told myself that this type of intolerance sometimes results when one gets old by oneself and have never experienced family life themselves. That is purely speculative though. Sorry, that second part was just rant and not the restaurant's fault, but it was part of my dining experience so I had to get...

We were a group of 8. The house was at 40%. We made our order, appetisers and main dish. First appetiser came, fish soup - watery, no flavour. We waited for the octupus salad and when we asked about it, they said they did not have it….. Main dishes arrived except for mine, sardines. The nice waiter asked me what I ordered, I said sardines to him, and then the owner came to us saying I did not ask for sardines and that they didn’t even had them at this time or the year LOL. Side note, the owner is the one who takes the orders. I told him I had asked for that cause ofc I remember what I order to eat and he was rude and condescending, everyone can have a bad day but there’s a limit when you have a restaurant, and specially if you’re talking to a women, I think. I ended up eating half of a friend of mines fish and we asked for another one to share again. The owner who took the order, again, forgot the vegetables for the second time. He might as well have forgotten because they were bad… Oh and hiper mega overpriced for the food, Jesus Christ… Only nice thing in the restaurant is the waiter who was super nice and was his first day, good luck to him with a boss like...

The seafood rice, lobster and crab were decent in taste, and when we entered the restaurant, we were warmly welcomed by the owner, who helped us choose and order our food. Unfortunately, the service from the waitstaff was absolutely terrible. Our server ignored us most of the time and even dropped off a bunch of appetizers we never ordered — and that we later learned were chargeable — luckily, we didn’t eat them. When it came time to pay, I was left waiting for a very long time while the waiter continued to ignore me. In the end, I had to find the owner, who kindly asked another waiter to handle our bill.

While the food was okay and the owner was genuinely friendly, the awful service from the staff ruined the experience for me. The one star I gave for service is purely out of respect for the owner. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be...