Seeking recommendations for great local restaurants Porto and Lisbon. We will be traveling in late April through early May with about four nights in each city. Also do we need to make reservations? How far in advance? Thanks!

What level fining, high end, casual?

Yes, please make reservations as both cities will be packed. Portugal is getting a huge amount of tourism this year and it will be cruise season in both ports.

And as HappyTrvlr asks, what kind of dining?
Cheap & cheerful tascas where locals go to eat the menu or plate of the day, places to try piri piri chicken, top marisqueiras (seafood houses), updated bistro cuisine like "neo-tabernas", high-end Michelin stars, "hot tables" opened up-and coming talented young chefs?

No casual local restaurants with authentic food experiences preferred. We will also go to one or two more fine dining restaurants but we enjoy local color!

"Casual restaurants with authentic food experiences preferred" + "local color"

How about Pica-Pau?
https://culinarybackstreets.com/citi...ource=hs_email

Casual dining mostly but fine dining as well, once in each location. Thank you for your input!

For Porto, how about taking the 500 bus out to seaside Matosinhos for a seafood feast at any of the places across from the fish market on A Rua Heróis de França, such as O Valentim or Salta o Muro?

https://ovalentim.com
https://saltaomuro.eatbu.com/?lang=en

Sounds great! Thanks so much!

We ate at O Melhor dos Oceanos for fresh grilled fish at the recommendation of a local chef and local CNN reporter we met while having oysters at Bolhao. They shared some of their wine with us and gave us some seafood recommendations. Oceanos was really good. They also recommended O Valentim as above for seafood. We took an Uber to/from.

Thank you. Uber sounds like the way to go!

Taberna Moderna. Had a great meal there last year. Loved everything on menu, especially the Magret de Poto; duck breast, spices and honey.

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/tab...sbon-portugal/

If you like fresh fish and fresh seafood, you will love Cervejaria Ramiro in Lisbon. This was our favorite restaurant. Recommended by Anthony Bourdain.

And we also enjoyed dining at the Time Out Market in Lisbon, also called Mercado Ribeira. This is a huge market hall; one half sells fresh produce, meat, fish, etc. The other half has been transformed into food stalls and small restaurants. We had delicious fresh seafood at Monte Mar, one of the best of our trip.

Another vote for Lisbon's Taberna Moderna and in Chiado, Taberna Rua das Flores (tiny, no reservations, one must be in line 15 min. ahead to snag a table but they do take your mobile number and call you when a table becomes available-----very traditional, classic Portuguese, ¨comfort food¨ cuisine in large portions, but not at all unknown to tourists, as is Ramiro in Intendente, which now takes reservations on line)

More contemporary, upmarket Lisbon tabernas-
Cantinho de Avillez (the casual spot of Michelin-starred Jose Avillez, the one in Lisbon I enjoyed more than Porto's)
Tapisco (a Portuguese-Spanish tapas/petiscos hybrid, creation of another Michelin-starred Chef Henrique Sá Pessoa, who has a Time Out Market stand)
Prado (one of the city's very best, in a sort of soaring greenhouse environment, near the cathedral)
O Frade (fabulous cuisine from the Alentenjo region, in Belém, a Michelin Bib Gourmand=

Ramiro was my favorite Lisbon restaurant, and might have been the cheapest as well. Book ahead. Seafood lovers only.

Yes to Ramiro that can now be booked online.
Shellfish only.

And they do also offer a meat sandwich for diners that, unfathomably, do not want shellfish. I know this because I shared a table with such a person during my visit! Poor thing!!!

Yes, the meat sandwich, the prego, that regulars eat for dessert! And it's delicious! Save room for it at the end!

In Porto Conga for bifana and Casa Guedes Tradicional for the sandes de pernil.

With the tascas, is there any way to find out the plate or menu of the day in advance? I am low carb and have a shellfish allergy.

Only if the tasca has a web site with a posted menu and mention of what the plate of the day is for each day.