Solar 31 da Calçada — Restaurant in Lisbon

DO NOT make a reservation at this restaurant expecting to be seated on time, you will be disappointed. 이 레스토랑에 예약을 하고 제시간에 자리에 앉을 수 있을 거라고 착각하지 마세요.

When I live my life, I follow a few simple rules and one of them is: when I make a successful online reservation, I expect to have a table ready for me when I show up on time, unless someone tells me otherwise. Unfortunately, that basic expectation was completely disregarded during our visit to this restaurant.

We had a confirmed reservation for 8:30 PM. We arrived on time, ready to enjoy our evening, only to be told by the manager that we would need to come back in 30 minutes. There was no clear explanation, no apology, just a vague and uncomfortable request to leave and return later. We had other plans after dinner and couldn’t afford to waste nearly an hour of our evening standing around waiting for a table we had rightfully reserved.

What made it worse was the neighbourhood not a place where I’d feel entirely comfortable lingering for half an hour with my family, especially when the delay wasn’t our fault. Still, we tried to be understanding. But as we voiced a calm comment “One thing I do know is it’s not our fault” a staff member looked at us with such condescension, even letting out a sigh that felt more like we were causing trouble than being inconvenienced customers. That moment stuck with me, and it’s the reason I’m writing this review.

I can understand that restaurants can be busy. Things happen. But what I cannot understand and will not accept is a complete lack of communication and courtesy. If the restaurant had let us know in advance that our table wouldn’t be ready, we could’ve adjusted our plans, or even chosen somewhere else entirely. Instead, we wasted our evening transport, time, and mood on an experience that left a sour taste before we’d even seen a menu.

If you’re planning a trip to Lisbon to spend precious time with your loved ones, do yourself a favour: skip this restaurant. There are countless wonderful places in the city where guests are actually valued, where reservations are honoured, and where your time is respected. Sadly, this place is not...

When you come to Portugal, you must eat seafood. I think it's a law or something. Anyway, as part of our journey of trying all the seafood we could, we came to Solar 31 with the intent to get crab. We ordered the crab and clams to hold us while we waited. The restaurant was very busy so we made sure to grab a last minute reservation and it's a good thing we did. When you first enter the restaurant you will notice all the fish and crustaceans in the tanks, which is a good sign! The fresher the better. The food was certainly fresh which is very common in Portugal!

While we came for the crab, my favorite dish was the clams! They had this lovely citrusy broth which brightened up the dish and paired with the clam meat very well. When the crab arrived I was excited to see the meat of the body put back into the purse/shell with a sauce. The meat of the crab was a little sweet and pretty tasty. The meat in the purse though with the sauce was a bit bland and tasted overwhelmingly of mayonnaise. However, I had a brilliant idea! Remember that citrus clam sauce? I combined it with the crab and mayo to add acidity and that improved it a lot for me. I would recommend trying the same combo!

The service was a bit hard to get ahold of sometimes but that's fairly common in Europe so I don't mind too much. Ultimately I'm torn between 4 and 5 stars on this one. I'll say 4 because the crab was a bit pricey and so it would've been nice to have a better balanced sauce for the crab body since that was...

Their rating needs to be brought down as they're shameless. They have different menus for tourists (no clue what the markup is, but assuming substantial), which we realized too late. I'm told they don't have a wine list, so, to keep the very high prices at bay, I ask to drink the house white wine. The server awkwardly ignores my request, and instead asks what type of white wine I like (dry), and says she'll bring some to sample. I sample, and ask the price: 25+ euros for a bottle (quite a lot for Portugal). Then, minutes later I see the (only) table of Portuguese get served a bottle of house white... I confront the server, and with a poor attempt at innocence she claims it isn't dry at all, and that I wouldn't like it... The food: crab was ok (though parts were completely raw), but this appetizer came 15 minutes after the main course... And, the main course: the langoustine/lobster rice: the lobster was charred under an open flame so much, that large parts of it were so burnt it had no taste other than charcoal. I had hoped to close my wonderful week in this lovely country with amazing seafood and the friendly genuine service I had had elsewhere, this was quite the...