Casa do Alentejo is a gorgeous, albeit touristy, restaurant in central Lisbon, very close Rossio Square. Dan and I went here on a food tour years ago, and I remember thinking it was so, so beautiful! Casa do Alentejo is set an an old palace with Moorish feature, the most stunning tiling, and palm trees! So old school Portuguese, and just want you want to experience in Lisbon! So, when we were planning our pre-wedding weekend in Lisbon, we made a dinner reservation for 13 on our first night in Lisbon!
The foyer of Casa do Alentejo!
Betty & Fleming at Casa do Alentejo.
Beautiful tile work inside Casa do Alentejo
Moving on from the beauty of the restaurant, Casa do Alentejo focuses on the food and the culture of the Alentejo region of Portugal (southeast of Lisbon). Casa do Alentejo itself is in the heart of Lisbon, but can be a bit hard to find. Definitely allot extra time to find the restaurant. The nondescript front is pictured below:
Welcome to Casa do Alentejo
After taking tons of pictures in the foyer of Casa do Alentejo, we made our way up the stairs (no elevator!) to the formal dining rooms. Yes, dining rooms. Casa do Alentejo, being set in an old building, has numerous dining rooms, each decorated in a differnt theme. Luckily, we got my very very favorite dining room – the blue and white tile room! I was verrrry excited! Since we had just landed that morning, we ate super early (especially for Portuguese standards), so we practically dined alone!
Our table for 13 in my favorite dining room!
Since our group was so large and only 3 of us had been to Portugal before, we started with olives, bread, meats, and cheese – all Portuguese, of course! For those newcomers to Portugal (and really Mediterranean Europe generally), the bread and olives that are set on your table are not free. The cost a few euro per person and its considered “cover.” If you do not want it, send it back.
Olives!
Portugese meats and bread. Delicious.
or mains, everyone ordered differently, and everything looked amazing! Dan and I split the gazpacho soup ( really amazing) and the fried pork meat in pepper sauce with clams and fried potatoes. The gazpacho soup was probably the best I have ever had – lots of cilantro, onion, olive oil, and bread crumbs. Dan’s pork was also really good – a lot of people at the table ordered the fried pork and everyone agreed.
Gazpacho soup.
Fried pork and clams.
Some other popular dishes were the lamb stew and codfish – a Portuguese favorite!
Lamb stew with parsley, boiled potatoes, and bread.
Codfish baked in olive oil with roasted potatoes.
We skipped dessert in favor of finding a pastel de nata (the famous Portugese dessert) at the hotel or the street! All in all, our meal was excellent and Casa do Alentejo was just as beautiful as I remembered! The service was really good and the staff seemed pretty accustomed to dealing with foreigners.
The table at dinner # 1.
When planning your dinner, know that the restaurant is casual, its generally inexpensive, and its catered to tourists – meaning that the staff will speak English but it will probably not be your best meal in Lisbon.
STEAL OUR TRIP
Casa do Alentejo: R. das Portas de Santo Antão 58, 1150 Lisboa, Portugal. T: +351 21 340 5140. Open daily 10h – 23h. Reservations can (and should) be made easily online here.
ON A BUDGET
Casa do Alentego is a good budget option. The restaurant his beautiful and just eating there is an event. The food, also, is not expensive. For 13 people, our total was 275 euro total, or 21/person, with tip, wine, appetizer, and large entrees.
[…] napping), and we all met for dinner that evening (it was on the itinerary!). I made reservations at Casa do Alentejo, a (kind of touristy) Portuguese restaurant very close to Hotel Avenida Palace. All of us (me, […]