Second in a row of dining disappointments

We were recommended by a friend to this restaurant and should have never walked in when we saw it completely empty on a Friday night. The waiter was most attentive; there was no one else to wait on. He served us a tray of bread, cheese and olives for starters, for which they charged 4.25 euros (without asking). But the overall atmosphere was deadly, with no music, no buzz and no customers. It was the feeling of a dying restaurant in a dead part of town, except that all the other establishments behind the huge Commercial Plaza were hopping on a Friday night, as were the many in our Alfama neighborhood.

Our main dishes were ordinary at best. My grilled lamb was fatty, and my wife’s grouper filet was definitely not fresh. As we worked on our dishes, a local couple walked in smoking, despite the signs over the bar. They were obviously regular patrons, because no one asked them to put out their cigarettes. We ate, we paid and we left, walking back up to Alfama past dozens of lively restaurants playing fado music. We should have stayed in our neighborhood.

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