Tantura — Restaurant in Lisbon

Ate dinner here for the first time today as a tourist in lisbon. The food was fantastic and unusual, i had never tried israeli cousine before. Although the food was excellent, ranging from pitas to hummus with falafel and similar, the portion sizes were a bit odd. The price of dishes are between 8 and 13€ as far as i could tell, however the price does not reflect portion size proportionally. We tried 3 13€ dishes with 2 of those being of enjoyable size, while the last was more of an appetizer or a side dish portion wise. Nonetheless by sharing with each other we were all able to leave satisfied. Expect to eat a lot of bread with each of the dishes, which I'm personally not a huge fan of. That's just personal preference though, the bread was actually wonderful. It seemed to be homemade and they had different sorts in addition to pita bread spiced in different ways.

The service was actually very nice as well, although since we were being served by 2 or 3 people simultaneously that lead to our orders getting mixed up for a moment. They made up for that wonderfully and quickly though.

The atmosphere is a bit chaotic in my opinion. First they want you to reserve a table on their website by leaving your credit card information so they can bill you if you don't show up, which i found very strange since i had never experienced it before, although that might just be personal experience. The restaurant is fairly easy to reach by metro (if you have some experience in moving around the city) and once we got there we were brought to our table right away. The table was however quite wobbly and very cramped for 3 people with the multiple plates and bread baskets they bring you. They made up for that by bringing us a smaller table for us to use to make a bit of space, which was quite nice of them. I believe they also had a bar area, which made it very loud in the restaurant. That made it a bit difficult to communicate with staff and each other but it wasn't the end of the world. Also, we were sitting next to a family with children, which probably made our experience somewhat louder. The staff spoke fluent english and understood us perfectly (except for the aforementioned loudness).

All in all, the food was great, service was good and the atmosphere could probably be improved on, but I'd likely come here again if i came to...

I recently had the pleasure of dining at Tantura, an Israeli restaurant nestled in the heart of Lisbon, Portugal. While my overall experience was enjoyable, there were a few aspects that prevented me from awarding a full five-star rating. Nevertheless, the outstanding service provided by our waiter, Diana, played a significant role in elevating my dining experience.

Let's start with the food. Tantura offers a decent selection of Israeli dishes that are reminiscent of the authentic flavors I've experienced in the past. However, I must admit that the quality and portion sizes did not quite match the slightly higher prices. Some dishes even gave the impression of being reheated, which detracted from the overall dining experience. While the food was enjoyable, it fell short of reaching the level of excellence that I had anticipated.

Despite this, I must commend the staff at Tantura, particularly our wonderful waiter, Diana. From the moment we stepped foot in the restaurant, Diana's warm and welcoming demeanor set the tone for a delightful evening. She displayed an exceptional level of attentiveness, ensuring that our needs were promptly attended to throughout the entire meal. Diana's knowledge of the menu and her willingness to provide recommendations added an extra layer of personalization to our dining experience, making us feel valued as guests.

Although the food fell slightly short of my expectations, the outstanding service delivered by Diana and the rest of the staff at Tantura was the shining star of our visit. Their commitment to making our dining experience memorable deserves commendation. With that said, I feel inclined to give Tantura a four-star rating, acknowledging the attentive and friendly service provided by Diana, which played a crucial role in enhancing our overall experience.

In conclusion, if you're seeking a taste of Israeli cuisine in Lisbon, Tantura offers a decent selection of dishes. While the food quality and portion sizes may not be entirely proportional to the slightly higher prices, the exceptional service provided by Diana and the rest of the staff compensates for any shortcomings. I recommend giving Tantura a try, especially if you value personalized service and a warm...

Yes, I largely agree with the other reviewers regarding the quality of the food. However, I must express my deep discomfort with this restaurant’s name: Tantura.

I wonder how many customers are aware of the historical significance of the town it’s named after. Tantura is not just a coastal village; it is widely recognised—particularly in Israeli historical scholarship—as the site of a massacre during the 1948 Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic). The village witnessed the mass killing and expulsion of its Palestinian residents, an event that has been extensively documented, including through firsthand testimonies in the documentary Tantura. These accounts, many of which come from the Israeli soldiers themselves, are harrowing and undeniable.

To name a restaurant after such a place—while serving food that is part of the very culture that was uprooted—without any acknowledgment of that context, feels deeply unsettling. It evokes the sense of erasure, where the cultural symbols of a people are preserved for consumption, while their history is ignored or rewritten.

This is not intended as a smear against the food or service, but as a sincere reflection on the atmosphere I felt. There’s a dissonance in enjoying the cuisine of a people whose suffering remains unacknowledged—whose legacy, in this case, is buried (literally and figuratively) beneath modern conveniences like parking lots.

One question continues to linger: Why do restaurants like this, especially outside of Israel, often label their food as “Levantine,” “Mediterranean,” or “Middle Eastern” rather than explicitly “Israeli”? It may be because doing so would require grappling with the realities of cultural appropriation and displacement—the erasure of the Palestinian.

I expect this review may provoke disagreement or attempts to have it removed. But I invite a more important question in return: Have I said anything that contradicts the scholarship of respected Israeli historians like Ilan Pappé or Avi Shlaim? The answer is a most...