Budget
Café Buenos Aires
A good and selected combination of cheap and mid range dishes. The owners are very friendly and speak English, as well as Portuguese. It is a good restaurant if you want to eat South American grilled meat.
Mercado da Ribeira
Lunchtime all-you-can-eat buffet soup, main course, dessert. Unlike much of Lisbon's restaurants, offers a good selection of salads. A bargain at 7.50.
Rosa da Rua Restaurant
A traditional restaurant offering an interesting mix of Portuguese, Indian, and Cape Verdean flavours. The lunch-time buffet offers excellent value for money and great quality food. Staff are patient with English speakers.
You will find traditional meals served in small coffeeshops/restaurants, especially in the old parts of town. Some will be better than others, just check if there are a lot of locals eating there! They will be very cheap as low as â¬5 for a full meal and home-style cooking. The owners probably wont speak english and the menu will probably be in portuguese only!
Mamma Rosa Ristorante Pizzeria
Great pizzas, cheap Portuguese wine and very helpful friendly staff who have given lots of tourist information to customers in the past.
Top end
Eleven
If you really feel like splurging, this is the place. The restaurant was recently awarded a Michelin Star, although the basis on which the award was made are disputable.
Il Gattopardo
An elegant restaurant serving fashionable gourmet Italian with a big price tag.
Panorama
Superb views over Lisbon and food with a good quality/price ratio.
Bica do Sapato
Superb views over Lisbon and food with a good quality/price ratio.
Portuguese dining rituals tend to follow the Mediterranean siesta body clock.
Most restaurants are very small, family run and generally cheap. Some of them have a sheet on the door with the "pratos do dia" dishes of the day written on it. These dishes are usually cheaper and fresher than the rest of menu there, and unless you're looking for something specific, they're the right choice.
During the dinner the waiter will probably bring you some unrequested starter dishes called couvert: as those are not free, feel free not to touch them and they will not be charged on your bill but check it!.
Never ask a taxi driver about what restaurant you should go, they will take you to an expensive tourist-oriented restaurant, where they will receive a comission.
where
For Portuguese traditional cuisine at its finest, head to the area of Chiado.
Tourist traps with laminated menus and meal deals are mostly concentrated in the Baixa area.
It has an exception, however: Rua das Portas de Santo Antão north-east from Praca dos Restauradores, parallel to it--it's the seafood strip, and home to the best greasy spit-roasted chicken this side of Louisiana at the Bonjardim restaurant Santo Antão, 11, appropriately nicknamed Rei dos Frangos.
For a familiar taste at one of the many chain eateries, head to Doca de Santo Amaro train/tram 15 station Alcantara-Mar and Parque das Nações metro Oriental.
All the culinary and clubbing kudos is right now concentrated in Doca de Jardim de Tabaco piece of river waterfront right under Castelo de Sao Jorge.
Quality dishes for a high price are in well-to-do Lapa.
Tour groups primarily feel at home in Alfama.
Traditional Portugese restaurants are in Bairro Alto, scattered abundantly through its quirky narrow streets.
pastelarias
Try the magnificent pastéis de nata at any pastelaria; or better yet, visit the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém Casa Pasteis De Belem (http://www.pasteisdebelem.pt/) Rua de belem 84; +351 21 363 74 23; take eléctrico #15 from Praça do Comércio, or the Cascais suburban train line from Cais do Sodré station, to Belém stop. They are served right out of the oven there, with the side of confectioner's sugar and cinnamon; as you navigate through the azulejo-decorated labyrinthine passages of the expansive shop, stop to look at the workers behind glass panels turning the endless stream of these delicacies, just baked, each in its own little ramekin, over onto the waiting trays. These are absolutely a must eat and you can't possibly regret it.