The Old House — Restaurant in Lisbon

I'm honestly not even sure what to say about this place. We were craving Chinese food and this was one of the only places open at the time. Service was just weird. Not exactly bad, but seemed very untrained and weren't sure what to do. People who came after us got food before we did. Everything was very disorganized. One of the waiters spoke neither English nor any Chinese dialect, which is fine as it is Portugal after all (and we can do that), but it was strange for an obviously touristic "Asian" restaurant where you expect many customers may not be Portuguese.

The esplanade is large, breezy, and comfortable. Indoors was empty. They served the coke warm with one ice cube. It made it unpleasant and not refreshing at all.

They claimed not to have 2 of the dishes I had wanted. I suspect that they just didn't feel like making them at that time as it was before their mid-afternoon break. The fried tofu was just plain weird. It was really sweet, like they just put sweet and sour sauce on some fried tofu. The kung pao was the worst I've ever had at any proper Chinese restaurant. Wrong colour and totally wrong flavour. Very sweet! The spicy noodles were okay. It was decent taste, and the noodles themselves were a good texture and nicely made, but the dish was incredibly oily for no reason. It was a perfect sized portion for me.

Prices are way too high for the quality of service and poorly-made Chinese cuisine. Now that there are so many other Chinese noodle places around the area, there isn't really any reason to come back. Leave it to the tourists and...

The food was mediocre and way way way overpriced. It’s just a Sichuanese cusine, which offers nothing like creativity or experience and usally at a lower price range comparing to cantonese food. This is one of the most ridiculously expensive chinese foods (specifically, Sichuanese cusine) that I’ve ever seen in Europe. ( Can you believe its even more expensive than the one in Copenhagen? Really? in Lisbon?)

The service was way below par. There is no active service at all unless you raise your hand asking for something, not even mention the supposed interaction between the waiter and dinner. The waiter didnt ask for the drink, and didnt come to you for ordering unless you call them. Also, the dish was sent to the wrong table, and the appetiser was sent after all the entrees. The owner seriously need to learn the customer journey to improve the service and management.

Overall, the quality of food and service doesnt justify the overpriced menu. Maybe it is becasue of the expensive location? I doubt it, as there is a bubble tea shop...

With a vast menu, wonderful staff, and pleasing ambience, The Old House offered me a great first impression. Everything we ordered was so flavorful and delicious, except for one item, which was just not to our taste preference. They took it off our bill without us even requesting so! Top notch service. The Old House Gyoza were actually the best I've ever had in my life--just bursting with amazing flavor. I highly recommend. The only thing that left me rating 4 stars instead of 5 (really I would give it 4.5 if I could) was how confusing the pricing is on the menu. It just seems very inconsistent and some items seem extremely overpriced, but it's hard to gauge the size of the dishes so perhaps some of them are meant for more than one person. Overall, I recommend dining here for authentic Chinese food for sure. I would love to go back and try more dishes, especially the Baozi! They...