Restaurante O Lusitano — Restaurant in Matosinhos

On a day-trip from Porto to Matosinhos, we were looking for a lunch place. Along this street, there are a number of fish restaurants and also, houses with kids selling beaded jewellery. As a result, we were a bit sceptical about whether to stay in the area...

We accidentally went nextdoor, but decided for various reasons to go to O Lusitano. It's more relaxed and feels genuine and also, importantly there were spaces. We were given a very warm welcome (despite our limited Portuguese!) The menu was explained to us and when we tried to order 2 glasses of vinho verde, we were told the small bottle was better value, which was kind.

We had complementary corn bread and olives. We ate the grilled sardines and calamari with roast pepper salad, rice and potatoes between 2. This was one the best meals of our trip - fish was fresh, calamari were tender and yummy, the salad was amazing! It is a shame that we were so stuffed because we couldn't manage dessert! However, thank you for such a lovely meal...

We are in Portugal for the first time, and wanted to try local fish. Our host recommended to visit Matosinhos for fish restaurants. We checked Google Maps for a Portuguese cousine and chose O Lusitano. Interior is not posh, but it was packed, and we liked this. The hostess spoke good English and was friendly. She asked where we are from, and when heard we are from Ukraine, she suggested sword fish as it's usually cooked dry in other places. We tried sea bass and sword fish, with tomato and pepper salads. I've never eaten so delicious fish in my life! It is indeed fresh and juicy and with good sauce, plus, the potato is young and very good. We also took tomato and pepper salads, also very tasty, with sweet onions, yummy! The whole check was around 45 euros for two which is a bit more expensive than in Eastern Europe but I understand it's affordable for Westeners, and it's absolutely worth it! I totally recommend this restaurant...

This review is very late, but my wife and I were reminiscing about our trip last year to Portugal. One of my warmest memories was going to O Lusitano. I live in an area in Massachusetts that has a heavy Portuguese population and someone recommended that we go to Matosinhos during our trip to Porto. I’m so happy that we did that. We didn’t have any particular place in mind, but when I looked at O Lusitano, I knew it was the place for us to eat at.

The food was incredibly fresh and the staff and other customers were warm and welcoming. This was not a place that was overrun with tourists….it’s a real Portuguese spot and we had one of our favorite meals of our entire trip there.

We ate a simple meal of skate and sardines but they were incredible. The kind of food that you travel to Portugal for. If you are in the area, please pay them a visit. And please say hello to the owner, Rosa and her husband. They were both...