We dined on a Monday night and arrived about half past 8, and there was a queue, but we were seated within 5 minutes which was a welcome surprise.
That was the best part about the meal.
Clearly a busy place, but our waiter was...chaotic. It took forever to get the wine list, and then he took forever to return, and always seemed to be rushed (in a bad way), spoke fast and pressed you to interact with him quickly. I'm not sure if it's a personality quirk, or someone not being able to properly cope with busy service, but either way, it wasn't a pleasant experience, even the he was generally very friendly in what he said.
The waiter had to return to clarify one of the orders as he couldn't read/remember what he wrote down - that's no problem - but then when our dishes came, one of the other ones was completely wrong, and when we pointed it out the waiter tried to sell it to us there and then on the table as to why it was better than the one we ordered, and seemed suitably annoyed when we We dined on a Monday night and arrived about half past 8, and there was a queue, but we were seated within 5 minutes which was a welcome surprise.
That was the best part about the meal.
Clearly a busy place, but our waiter was chaotic. It took forever to get the wine list, and then he took forever to return, and always seemed to be rushed (in a bad way), spoke fast and pressed you to interact with him quickly. I'm not sure if it's a personality quirk, or someone not being able to properly cope with busy service, but either way, it wasn't a pleasant experience, even the he was generally very friendly in what he said.
The waiter had to return to clarify one of the orders as he couldn't read/remember what he wrote down - that's no problem - but then when our dishes came, one of the other ones was completely wrong, and the waiter tried to sell it to us there and then on the table as to why it was better than the one we ordered, not in a fun way, and seemed suitably annoyed when we said no, we'd like the one we ordered. It was as if asking for the dish we ordered (and the one one of our party saw him write down correctly) was an inconvenience. So one of our party had to eat after everyone else had finsihed by the time it arrived.
In addition to that, one of the dishes, leek à brás arrived cold, as was the rice with the seafood curry. The leek à brás was in a paella dish which you expect to be hot for a while as it's metal, so we think it must've been handing around for a while.
Both dishes however were tasty, but it would've been much nice if they were hot. The curry sauce really was lovely.
The seafood rice when it eventually came was good, lots of prawns but a bit... Bland. Could've done with a squeeze of lemon and a bit more oomph, but it reminded me of a comforting congee, and something great for when you're sick.
When the bill eventually came, as the waiter was hovering extremely close over the efpos machine, think invading personal space close, he made a point of saying here is where you add the tip, and I clicked no, and then he went into a spiel about how hard he works and how wages are so low in Portugal for this kind of work.
Now - not only is this incredibly rude and awkward for a waiter to say to a customer, but the truth that we didn't disclose to him, is that where we are from the practice is to leave cash tips, to ensure the money goes directly to the waiter and isn't skimmed by the company which is common when the tip is paid on the card.
But after his inappropriate begging storey that was so awkward, we decided actually, we didn't want to even leave a cash tip. If he hadn't of said that, we were probably going to leave a little something but that was the icing on the cake of a crappy Lisbon dining experience. Slow service but a rushed attitude, cold dishes, and the wrong dish....
Not a fun experience, and so far our worse meal in Lisbon, we'd like the one we ordered.
In addition to that, one of the dishes, leek à brás arrived cold, as was the rice with the seafood curry. The leek à brás was in a paella dish which you expect to be hot for a while as it's metal, so we think it must've been hanging around for a while before being brought to the table.
Both dishes however were tasty, but it would've been much nice if they were hot. The curry sauce really was lovely.
The seafood rice when it eventually came was good, lots of prawns but a bit... Bland. Could've done with a squeeze of lemon and a bit more oomph, but it reminded me of a comforting congee, and something great for when you're sick.
When the bill eventually came, as the waiter was hovering extremely close over the efpos machine, think invading personal space close, he made a point of saying here is where you add the tip, and I clicked no, and then he went into a spiel about how hard he works and how wages are so low in Portugal for this kind of work.
Now - not only is this incredibly rude and awkward for a waiter to say to a customer, but the truth that we didn't disclose to him, is that where we are from the practice is to leave cash tips, to ensure the money goes directly to the waiter and isn't skimmed by the company which is common when the tip is paid on the card.
But after his inappropriate begging storey that was so awkward, we decided actually, we didn't want to even leave a cash tip. If he hadn't of said that, we were probably going to leave a little something but that was the icing on the cake of a crappy Lisbon dining experience. Slow service but a rushed attitude, cold dishes, and the wrong dish....
Not a fun experience, and so far our worse meal in Lisbon.
Overall an absolutely meh experience that we won't be repeating.More