Velho Macedo — Restaurant in Lisbon

We had no dinner reservations on a Wednesday nite in July and tried Pinoquio, but there was a long line!) Our tuktuk driver (@alextuktuklisbon) recommended Velho Macedo - he described it as small and family owned for several generations. We went around 9 pm on a Wednesday night. The place was full but there was one table available so we were seated without a wait.

The 2 dinners we had reservations for the previous nights (Chapito and Ramiro) were disappointments. (Chapito views were incredible though.) So I was hoping for a really good dinner --- food was what I was looking forward to the most, with our first visit to Lisbon!

We ordered:

house olives Gambas a guilho Caldo Verde soup

*Codfish with maize bread *Steak-velho macedo (2 people)

I wanted to try one more dish, so I added on the grilled dory with green vegetables & potatoes.

The owner took our order and was a little worried it may be a little too much food for just the 2 of us. But I wanted to try it all!

We ordered a pitcher of the house white wine - delicious. The house olives-- awesome, lots of garlic & parsley!! The garlic shrimp - amazing! Everything was served hot, fresh off the stove/oven.

The caldo Verde soup was delicious - slightly creamy, hearty (no idea what's in it, we loved it).

The 3 main dishes came out together. My husband is a white boy from West Virginia and so the Codfish with CORN BREAD caught his eye --- wonderful dish. The cabbage, the onions, the fish, a dish that reminds you of home. The steak came with rice and 2 fried eggs. How the heck did they make the steaks so tender?! There was no, 'how do you want your steak cooked' because they know how to make a good steak (it had a little au jus). The grilled dory fish - our favorite dish, lightly seasoned and perfect.

2 shots of the traditional cherry liquor were then served at the end. The waiter came by and told us to eat the cups -- they were made of chocolate! 😯

Someone ordered a slice of their molotof dessert) - it looked amazing. It was shaped like a bundt cake -- tall, round and spongy So we asked for a slice to go.

We were so happy with our dinner - i kept asking my husband, isnt this our best dinner so far? Way better than our dinners previously at Chapito and Ramiro.

I speak zero Portuguese, except for 'obrigado'. But I wanted to tell the owner how much we enjoyed our meal. So I used my Google translator, and showed my cell phone screen to him: "o melhor jantar em Lisboa" (the best dinner in Lisbon) and gave him a big hug.

There are several comments about the owner coming across as 'cold', 'not friendly', 'icy welcome' etc. and all I could think about were those annoying people outside the touristy places with menus in hand, trying to get you to eat at their restaurant - such a turn off! Velho Macedo is the O.G. -- no car salesman attitudes here and it is what makes it so charming, in my opinion.

Amazing homestyle Portuguese food, intimate setting (7 or 8 tables?), since 1920.

If you only speak English, like us. Don't stress. Try pronouncing things, point, write it all down. Order all the foods!

Portions are generous!

The menu is split up based on language. Like a school folder with tabs!

The desserts are on display in the back, under the pineapple and orange display.

Old school linen tablecloths and napkins with embroidered initials, V.M.

Dear Velho Macedo, please dont change a thing. I can't wait to see you again. XOXO, a foodie filipino-american from central Florida with her West Virginia white boy husband #CornBreadOrBust #ILoveBatatas

A haiku for the V.M. Olives:

The Azeitonas Eyes closed, flavors exploding 10...

Don't come here, avoid it at all cost, go to the restaurant in front, there is a minimun consumption per capta and if your group doesn't match this requied minimun you will not be well received. I was in a group of four, just wanting to taste the famous bacalhau, but since we were not asking one dish for each person the waiter asked us to leave the place. (edit with answer for the owner: we arrived at the first time completely normal, no alcohol consumption at all before this point, and what is this strange behavior you are talking about if I was quiet and my wife did the talking? Me Waiting by the door is not a "normal citizen behavior"? Or is it something related to my etinicity/origin/religion?) and again, in other places in Portugal they are nice, this restaurant we were treated badly, I measured my words first but now I can say that eather they despise tourists in general or our group in particular for some reason, they were not polite when explaining the rules, they literally told us to leave because they wouldn't receive us unless we ate one dish per person and that is the problem, anywhere that they politely tell us some rules we are going to abide, not like they did, they treated us like we were beggars...

The place is set for tourists and offers a Portuguese based menu. To think that we were accepted at 15:45 on the 31st December confirms so. Food wise it is ok and average rating. The starters of cheese, olives and bread are charged for (rightfully so). Bread would have been nicer if it was warmed up. We had some pasteis do bachalhao, waiting for the mains. Mine was beef cooked in a garlic served with crisp tupe potatoes and white rice with a fried egg on top. Rating Good. My wife had the grilled octopus which had grilled pieces but also a fried piece with lots of oil underneath in a bed of lettuce and boiled potatoes. The oil ruined the whole plate being of a very strong olive taste we call grezzo. Overkill. The wine we had was Duorum DOC 2015 @ 18 euros. Good bodied and strong. One coffee and one still water. Total cost 68.50 euros. Overall price: medium to high. Place: recommended for a first Portuguese experience. Atmosphere: stressed owner/manager/waiter. Festive season spells it all for...