Solar dos Nunes — Restaurant in Lisbon

I honestly don’t know how they still have their Michelin 9 stars. We called ahead to reserve a table and explained that I’m disabled and need extra care after recent surgery. They reassured us everything would be taken care of, yet when we arrived, they seated us right next to the toilets.

We noticed they had already placed starters on the table before we arrived, sitting out and exposed. We assumed they were a complimentary gesture from the house, but they later appeared on the bill.

My wife and mother in law, also made the mistake of ordering fresh juices. Which in Portugal is commonly a safe choice, but upon arrival we noticed that the lemonade stunk of vinegar and the pineapple mint juice was made of an unripe fruit and 95% water.

We ordered our food, but the table next to us who arrived after us received theirs first. My beef lion tacos were average, the cod was far too salty, and my wife’s steak was undercooked. She had asked for medium-well, but it came out bloody. When we politely asked if it could be cooked a bit more, the waiter returned making a point to say “well done” in a rude manner. The same issue happened with the peppered steak.

To top it off, never in my life have I been served a wild berry cheesecake that was frozen solid like a rock.

Overall, it was poor service, disappointing food, and no consideration for the needs we had communicated in advance. Honestly, if their Michelin stars were based on this experience, they should have expired by now.

Post-reply edit: It is sad to see such arrogance misrepresenting Portuguese restaurants and cuisine! Good restaurants, unlike this one, take into consideration customer feedback! For the sake of validity, I will be adding images of the food and even translation of your menu to the comment. For starters, taking advantage of a misspelt/autocorrect error or even of the translation of the word “lion” instead of “loin” is just petty! Indeed, we did not verify that the juices were in the menu, however, we checked with the waiter and he recommended those. They were so bad we had to send them back! I understand protecting the reputation of your business, at the end of the day it is your source of funds, but even a simple fake “we are sorry to hear about your experience at our restaurant” would be better than undermining your customers’ experience! I continue to wish you the best and hope that both the food and services at your restaurant improve so that you can thrive and no more people fall into such...

Went there as it was one of the restaurants listed on the Michelin Guide website. I always had wonderful food and great experience in these highly praised Michelin recommended restaurants until I had this mediocre at best food in this particular one tonight. It's not the food that I want to write this review about however, it's the way they robbed me taking advantage of a tourist.

Hosting you is a friendly looking man who seems to be the owner/manager who greets you with a pleasant smile. They had put out 5 different starters on the table including bread by the time I entered. I asked them to take back cheese and olives which they duly did. Without asking me they placed some crispy samosas(?)/dumplings(?) on my table with the manager smiling at me (which gives the impression that they would be complimentary).

Ordered 2 pork main dishes. Home made crisps, garlic & mushroom garnish and spinach soufflé came with them. One of the mains said on the English language menu "Pork with garlic...... etc." I asked the waiter if the crisps and 2 other things that came with the mains would be charged extra. The answer was they were all included with the mains.

I was surprised when the manager came to the table with a fresh bottle of sparkling water, quickly placed it on the table and just opened the cap without asking me. At that particular moment, there were 1 full and another half filled glasses of water on the table! I checked the bill to see if the second water, samosas and above 3 side dishes had been charged for and INDEED THEY HAD BEEN! It was shocking to see at the end the still water bottle had what was probably fungus on the inside threads of the glass bottle cap area.

I was utterly disgusted when I was told just before paying the bill that the card machine was "not working and payment had to be in cash". Came back to my hotel and read on Google reviews that there had been a lot of people in the past who complained about this cash fiasco as well as, of course, having been deceptively and cunningly charged extra for all these dishes which were "all included"

I thought about pointing these out to them and having a big row but the staff didn't even speak good English so knew the conversation was not going to get anywhere. I always gave tips before leaving any restaurants but no chance on Earth they deserve any. They aren't even worth ONE STAR and I am going to write to the Michelin Guide and recommend to them that these scammers should be removed...

Avoid This Restaurant

We wanted our final meal in Lisbon to be special, so as a family of 11, we chose a restaurant recommended by the Michelin guide, which listed it as having received recognition through 2017-2025. We are very much experienced diners and eat at Michelin star restaurants quite often ( not just michelin recommended ) like this restaurant was. Unfortunately, our experience was extremely disappointing — some dishes were barely edible, and the whole meal fell far short of expectations. In fact, the Michelin guide’s online photos of the dishes appear to be heavily edited or staged, which feels like a bait-and-switch. I plan to contact Michelin to verify if this restaurant was genuinely reviewed by their inspectors.

Now, let me detail some of the specific issues we encountered:

Poor Setting & Cleanliness: We were seated in a tiny room that felt more like a walk-in closet, cramped with two families—one of which included four loud children. The space was not clean; the menus were dirty and looked as if they hadn't been cleaned in years.

Confusing & Outdated Menu: The menu lacked clear descriptions, and some of the main courses we wanted to order were unavailable. I won't list all dishes, but to highlight the quality: everything was just gross.

Disappointing Food: The steaks, which were supposed to be cooked medium, arrived completely raw (blue). Three of the six steak orders went uneaten. The mushroom risotto was more like chunky oatmeal with a chalky taste. The steak in wine sauce was unappetizing — ground beef floating in a red wine broth. The grilled octopus was stinky and clearly not fresh.Pork medallions , dry and overcooked. We didn't order any desserts and couldn't wait to leave.

Poor Service & Hidden Charges: Out of 11 people, three didn't eat anything served to them, five ate what they could, and three shared dishes to salvage something. Upon seating, we found a tray of unsolicited appetizers—olives, peppers, bread, ceviche, dried beef liver strips, etc.—which were automatically charged to our bill, despite not ordering them, like who wants dried beef liver strips? This felt like a scam.

Summary: Avoid this restaurant at all costs. Our experience was a complete letdown, and I will be reporting this to Michelin. Trust me, there are far better dining options...