Xentra — Restaurant in Sintra

One of the best restaurants and bars in Sintra!

My GF and I spent 2 weeks in Portugal with a couple nights in Sintra.

In the small downtown of Sintra you will find a many over-priced, uninspired restaurants. Just a few minutes walk up the road is Xentra.

Typical Portuguese food but prepared very well. Steak and fries, cod a bras, the usual dishes etc. But prepared very well.

What sets this restaurant apart from the others is the warm hospitality of the staff and the nice ambiance of the bar.

Gonzalo is master of the bar and made wonderful cocktails for us. We talked for hours with him about his craft and various liquors and spirits.

Surprisingly, the restaurant/bar is reasonably priced. Our 2nd night in Sintra we wanted to try another restaurant but everything was blah and overpriced.

We went to Xentra again. Eating at Xentra and hanging out with Gonzalo is one of our favorite memories...

No matter what you do, don't eat here. The restaurant that was recommend to me was closed and I was hungry so I headed there without much expectation. And yet they did not fail to disappoint. I had already made my mind not to get the buffet given the poor reviews of it. I ordered codfish bras which I could just not eat, it was a warmed up mix of fish and finely sliced potatoes, mind you I was having a very late lunch/early dinner after six hours wandering in sintra and could literally eat anything, yet not this one. The day was kind enough to get me the other codfish on the menu, grilled with potatoes. Well, the fish was not fresh and not well cooked, then served literally swimming on olive oil. Not sure I understood the...

We arrived around 5.30 pm and the meat was so dry. One of the girls were about to choke in the dry meat because she couldn't sink it. Even the salat was so dry we needed a steak knife to cut through it! 8.5€ + price for drinks is definitely not worth it. You better go somewhere else to have dinner. And to make matters even worse, it was smelling of cigarettes in there at the dinner tables because of the bar that is in the next room. You can easily smell all the cigarettes while you eat. It's...