Solar dos Bicos — Restaurant in Lisbon

Buckle up people. This one might take a while. We booked this place in the UK for New Year's Eve, having seen nothing but photos of it. Ironically, I don't take notice of reviews, so it was left up to the chance that it would be worth the €130 it was going to cost. As a chef I understand that everyone's experience is going to be different. We turned up 15 minutes early knowing our table would be ready and we were duly shown to it. Top of the stairs, right next to the toilets. Not a good start, but it shouldn't detract from the food. We were given a bottle of wine (a choice of white, green or red) and my wife got the green. We're in Portugal right? It was awful but she didn't know what to say so she accepted it. I told them I don't drink wine and was then confused when they didn't ask me if I wanted to order a drink. Maybe I assumed it would come when we ordered the food. It didn't. That bit came and went without any fuss. Whilst waiting for our starter we ate some olives that were already on the table and I used the juice to try and eat the bread that was also there. Nice bread, but very dry. No butter. No olive oil. No fats of any kind. My wife's starter appeared almost immediately. Trio of salami. See the picture. Nothing else. And maybe there were 3 different salamis, but I could only see 2. I waited another 8 to 10 minutes for my octopus. We noticed there was no music playing too, which basically killed any kind of atmosphere. The place was quite full upstairs but there were only 2 staff members. My octopus was warm at best, room temp at worst. It tasted ok. The duck salami was lovely, the other 2(?) weren't. Thick slices. Very thick. I didn't get asked if I wanted a drink and no one noticed the glass of wine was untouched. Main courses eventually came and this is where it got annoying. As a chef there is no excuse to serve warm fish that is overcooked. Seabass is one of the easiest fishes to cook. And it came with Ratatouille. No tomato base for the ratatouille and contained carrots. Maybe the Portuguese make it different. The peppers were very bitter. My pork knuckle was cooked to perfection. Either that morning, or the day before. Unfortunately it wasn't reheated properly so, again, the food was warm. The plates were cold too. That doesn't help. I have no other complaints about the pork dish, but the fish is a whole paragraph of what not to do when cooking fish in a restaurant. It was dry. Skin wasn't crispy. The potatoes were just over boiled potatoes. The rest of it bland. We ate most of it, left some. No one asked if everything was ok when it eventually got cleared away. Asked if we wanted dessert. I went with the sweet rice with almond and the wife the chocolate mousse. Chocolate was good. Best thing on the menu but you got maybe 2 spoonfuls. The rice was very cold and sweet, not bad. Also 2 spoonfuls. Ate it cos we were still hungry. Asked for the bill before they've even cleared it away. We'd had enough. Asked if we wanted coffee, we declined. Didn't ask why or if everything was ok. Waited 10 minutes and ended up walking downstairs with the table number in hand to just get out of there. Here's the thing, if they would have asked if everything was ok I would have said something, but they just wanted the money. Not a single question of anything. At all. Nothing. Left. Clearly not ever going back. Not recommending it either. It could be because it was New Years Eve or it could just be a bad place to eat....

It has become my favorite place for bacalhau in Lisbon!

We were on our way to another restaurant, but walking by we saw the dishes that were being served to some customers and the looks of the food were incredible. We ordered the octopus and cod à lagareiro by suggestion of the waiter. I have tried cod everywhere in Lisbon and I have to say that this is definetly the place for good quality cod. The octopus was amazing too, perfectly cooked and the veggies accompanying both dishes had a lot of work put into them and were super tasty. To sum up, both dishes were spectacular!

We had pasteis de bacalhau (cod cakes) as a starter and again, some of the best I've ever had. They were freshly made. Same thing happened with dessert. We were not going to have the pasteis de Natas at first, but the waiter advices us to, he told us that the chef makes a few every morning or the moment you order them if they are out, and it was true! They brought us two pasteis de Nata straight out of the oven and they were absolutely fabulous! They were warm and the curd was smooth but light and super tasty! Totally worth it!

The waiter and waitress were extremely nice to us, meeting them was actually one of the highlights of our day. We even left the place with some gifts, which was totally unexpected. My mum fell in love and is looking forward to her next visit to eat here again. I am coming back for certain as...

Went there in recommendation by our hotel concierge. Sat down on the outdoors which opened us up to people selling items that were not wanted and asked for. The waiters outdoors did not seem to care that we were harassed and I had to raise my voice to tell this person to leave as they stood up watching. We had placed an order for a starter of cod croquettes which were not even delivered and when we questioned the waiter he stated “he’ll check with the chef” which meant that nothing was done. So no review on the croquettes. I had ordered at 1945hours and did not receive any acknowledgment or food till 2030 hours when a different waiter was questioned asking the status of our dishes. My wife ordered the risotto with the prawns which consisted with rice drenched in cheese which destroyed whatever flavor was supposed to be in the dish. I had ordered the octopus which looked appetizing, but upon closer examination the food was cooked with too much oil and left with residual oil on the plate. Lastly look at the prices on the menu and compare it other restaurants, this makes it not even a good value for your money. This is a tourist trap trying to get your money which is sad since it seems this establishment has been in business...