Velha Gaiteira — Restaurant in Lisbon

This place has my highest recommendation. We were walking around on our first day of the Lisbon trip and found this place; We went there without knowing what would come next. They politely informed us they could not accommodate us as we had no reservation. Okay!! The person in charge, unsure if he was a worker or the owner, had a captivating way of saying NO. His respect, friendliness, and politeness were the epitome of kindness. So, we decided to try again on our third-day dinner. We booked this place on the restaurant’s website. We were welcomed by the same person, and he is AWESOME!! Please take it as a personal opinion; every school could invite him to teach how to treat others with respect and kindness. Now comes the main part: the food. My partner and I ordered the daily special. It included a glass of wine (or beer or cool drink or tea etc.), a choice of soup (there were two varieties), a main dish (multiple choices- The one I selected was delicious), dessert (multiple choices- one of the best dessert that I ever had) and finishing with coffee (since it was late, I did not want to take it. So he offered us a variety of teas to choose from). Okay, all of these for 11.50 euros!! 11.50 euros!! I work in Germany and cannot even get a decent meal for that price. This was insane. You get to experience fine dining at this affordable price. I am recommending this place to everyone who is coming to Lisbon. This will also be an excellent place for your special days like anniversaries. This is the first time I am writing this long review for a restaurant. This is what a...

First of all, let me mention the super super friendly and welcoming service. The man serving us was very warm and nice, speaks fluent English too, which after a week of eating in traditional tascas was a nice change. It's not that easy to give such a low note but believe me, the second star is mainly for the service.

The house wine and starters were perfect, but unfortunately the main course is where it gets worse. We took the daily specials what seems like a great value at first, but you really can see why the price is so low (11.5e).

The cabbage soup was okay but really bland. Maybe it's supposed to taste that way but in my opinion it really needed some spices.

The second dish was really bad. Pork loin was very thin and the sauce too strong, grilled scabbardfish seemed a bit old, although it was cooked properly. The worst thing about the fish was the cold(!) potatoes on the side. Both dishes were served with a simple salad that didn't seem very fresh and tasted mainly like vinegar.

The dessert and coffee were fine but nothing special, just a regular chocolate cake you'd expect.

We also got very sick the day after what I would blame on this dinner as we didn't eat anything new and unusual that day.

Even without the food poisoning I would still not recommend as the food was not worth it and in my opinion the reviews are misleading. There are better places in Lisbon with similar or even...

Velha Gaiteira was an extraordinary and emotional experience. We opted for the 4-course set menu dinner. Velha Gaiteira is a cosy setting with hearty homestyle dishes cooked with a lot of love. Not only is the food wholesome but the service quite special. On the first night, unaware of how (now obvious to me) busy and popular this place was, we rocked up thinking walk-ins were okay. Juao tried his best but was unable to accommodate us. Luckily, we were able to find a table for the next night and it was clear to me why he was hesitant earlier. Juao, the owner, manager and sole server, is the most cheerful and authentic person I met during my whole trip! He is genuinely passionate about food and invested in making sure that the customers have a great time. He tirelessly entertained us for 2 hours, making recommendations, accommodating requirements and answering questions. And the best part, he did this all with a contagious grin on his face, the whole time. For such experiences, I usually leave a decent Google review but I wanted to materialize my gratitude further so I left a tip bigger than my bill and I have...