For the final meal of the trip, we headed to a traditional place that I had read was well known. And the football guernseys, photos of celebrities and the huge number of large lobsters at the front of the shop made for a memorable welcome. When we arrived we were told there would be an hour wait or so. But another person showed up quickly and said no, it would be fine and we were seated on the first floor within 5 minutes. Very lucky!
The service is quite busy with lots of staff running around always active. We were sat near the stairs at the main bar/thoroughfare area so maybe that was why. It wasn't overly attentive service for us though and we often needed to flag someone down to ask for things.
The food is far from cheap, but still seemed reasonable overall. They aren't Cacilhas prices, that's for sure.
A series of starters lie at the table in wait and we chose the Escabeche €6.5 which were small sardines in a cure. Not bad albeit expensive.
- "Acorda" of European lobster (stew made with thin slices of bread, eggs & garlic) €29.5 - I thought the waiter described it as a stew served with bread. Then we thought he meant a sandwich with stew in it. Instead we got a stew thickened with bread topped with delicious morsels of lobster. It had been very very heavily seasoned and salted, a bit too much overall;
- Roast kid Moncao style with roast potatoes & baked rice €23.5 - I can't resist a good roast goat and this was a fine example that didn't have too much bones but simply roasted, seasoned and served with buttery potatoes. It was good.
The meal sizes are decently large and there was enough for takeaway. Part of the oddness is that they show you the meal, then serve portions onto plates for you and keep the rest to the side. You therefore also have to wait until they return to serve some more and also they may serve more than you want to eat at that point. In our case the remainders were next to us on the same table they prepare plates and cutlery and I can only imagine they must get in the way. This was to the point that while waiting for them to pack the rest for takeaway, a flustered waiter took away our remains, much to my ire. Luckily it was retrieved but it was a poor point for service.
I would return (and book in advance) as the food is actually good and there is good atmosphere. Having said that, I'm sure there are many other places in Lisbon who would serve equivalent food.