515 Best Restaurants in Portugal

The family-run winery and brewery Quinta Dos Santos started as a tap room, but has since established the restaurant A Esquina on site, with a gorgeous courtyard ringed by arches and a surprisingly sophisticated dining room serving petiscos—tapas-style Portuguese dishes—as well as larger plates.

Everything is made with love at this tiny Brazilian-owned café, from the collection of art on the walls to the fresh juices and French-press coffee. Simple snacks include cheese and charcuterie boards, bruschetta, and toasts with tapenade. There are just two tables with four seats each, so reservations are advised for lunch or dinner.

Hidden just a few feet from the Elevador do Lavra, this was one of the first places in the city to offer specialty coffee, roasted and ground on the premises. Sandwiches and pastries are also available.

An 1820s manor turned 11-room inn, Falcão de Mendonça's restaurant has warm service and surprisingly reasonable prices. On the menu is Portuguese fare with a few interesting additions, like shrimp-stuffed bacalhau, rabbit stew, and prawns with garlic mushrooms. You can take your meal beside the outdoor pool, and there's a billiards table to amuse the kids while you linger over your meal—but they're sure to run back to the table for a dessert of crêpes topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce, or crema catalana (the cinnamon-scented Iberian version of crème brûlée).

This all-day brunch spot does a roaring trade in pancakes, avocado toast, smoothie bowls, and other breakfast favorites. Lines are virtually inevitable at any time of day, but the flower-filled café is a pleasant place to wait.

This riverfront restaurant successfully experiments with creative takes on traditional Portuguese gastronomy. Innovative vegetarian and vegan concoctions include pumpkin steak with beetroot puree and tomato ceviche with piri-piri and coriander.

Today it's a lively spot for petiscos and cocktails, but this was once the location for secret political meetings (and romantic trysts), thanks to its secluded gabinetes (booths). It's been given a top-to-toe overhaul, but retains its paneled booths, tiled floors, and other details from its more than 150 years of history. Light dishes such as chilled tomato soup and tapas-style plates for sharing make for sociable dining in a cozy restaurant-bar, but they also have heartier bacalhau and seafood rice dishes, which are often big enough for two. 

Members of Lisbon's large Brazilian community flock to this all-day snack bar for tasty generously sized pastéis de vento (deep-fried meat or cheese patties), coxinhas (chicken croquettes), and pão de queijo (cheese rolls made with cassava flour); various menus with cassava fries or tapioca are available. Sugarcane is among the fresh juices on offer, as well as detox blends, and there are sweets, too. If you'd prefer a sit-down meal, Brazilian Concept next door has a range of classic dishes from the country, plus caipirinhas.

There's no shortage of places to eat ice cream in Sesimbra, but Fini serves superior Italian scoops and has a sunny patio overlooking the sea. Flavors vary daily (the banana and peanut butter is particularly delicious), plus there's a wide range of toppings and good coffee.

Focaccia sandwiches, made according to traditional Italian recipes but with high-quality Portuguese ingredients, are the draw at this small shop in the Feira da Ladra market.

This easy-to-miss vegan tapas place is little more than a door in the wall halfway up a public stairway. Despite its location, it was the first fully vegan restaurant in Lisbon, and it's still worth the search for its ever-changing menu of shareable plates and its pretty tables on the outdoor stairway terrace on summer evenings.

This bustling restaurant is one of several overlooking the Praia da Areia Branca, the area's prettiest beach, but stands out in terms of its ocean view (due to its elevated position) and the quality of its food, above all the expertly grilled fish. If you want something more elaborate, try the polvo panado (battered octopus, served with bean rice), the house bacalhau (fried with onions and served with pickles and cubed fries), or monkfish rice.

There’s no English menu here—just the daily specials scrawled on a piece of paper out front. If you want to eat where the locals do, search these dishes on the Web then step inside Frazão. Say bom dia ("good day") to the grill chef and pass through the tiny front room where workers watch TV while eating. Find a more comfortable table in the back room and tuck into your own €10 lunch menu, which includes a dish, soup, drink, and coffee.

This family-run restaurant opposite the Vila Galé draws a crowd for its fresh seafood and fish—the latter grilled over charcoal—but also offers squid and prawn brochettes, cuttlefish in ink, and even grilled meats. The two dozen seats in the original dining room weren't nearly enough space, so the place added a second dining room that's decorated in smart beach-house style.

This friendly café-bar has a wonderful vantage over the sea. The seafood, toasted sandwiches, and house white wine are all good, but the main attraction is the sheltered terrace.

The large counter facing the bar makes this 1960s establishment a prime spot for solo diners. It’s also one of the few places in the neighborhood open from breakfast to dinner. Many Portuguese politicians have dined here through the centuries, including current president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. These days, it attracts mainly tourists and night owls, who come here for a beer or a bite to eat on their way to the Gulbenkian.

In business for almost nine decades, Gambrinus has plenty of historical drama in its decor, including arched wooden ceilings and stained-glass depictions of beer-swilling royals. Prawns, lobster, and crab are always available, and seasonal choices like sea bream, sea bass, and sole are offered grilled or garnished with clam sauce. If you just want to drink in the atmosphere and perhaps a well-chilled imperial (draught beer) feel free to join the locals at the counter to sample the famous meat croquettes or a full meal.

This pastelaria has been serving delicious cakes, pastries, and other goodies since 1934, and is more popular now than ever. It serves full meals at lunch, but the real pleasure comes in taking your pick from the glass display cases of custard tarts and other confections before sitting down to devour them alongside an espresso, fresh juice, or a glass of Portuguese wine.

Named for the black cat on its tiled facade, this sleek, family-run restaurant on Régua's main street, next to the Museu do Douro, specializes in traditional Douro cuisine, in generous servings. Favorites include chargrilled veal and, on Sundays, cabrito assado (roast kid), which locals line up for once the tourists are gone, but there are also well-priced dishes of the day, plus a range of vegetarian offerings.

The Moorish-style courtyard of Palacete Ribeiro da Cunha (now the EmbaiXada shopping gallery) was turned into a bar and restaurant. It serves contemporary Portuguese cuisine, as well as lighter snacks such as salads and burgers.

A standout among the restaurants within the World of Wine complex, Golden Catch impresses with its seafood as well as the views across the river from the terrace. Take your pick from light dishes like ceviche and seared tuna, or more substantial meals like British-style fish-and-chips. Vegetarians and vegans won't go hungry: diners are welcome to order dishes from the meat-free menu at neighboring restaurant Root & Vine. 

Just across from the tourist office in the heart of Funchal, this restaurant-café has been open for business off and on since 1814; sit in the airy interior, capture one of the tables that flank the sidewalk, or—even better—bag a seat on the balcony. You can pop in for coffee, light local specialties, or British-style afternoon tea, or settle in for a feast of (somewhat pricey) Portuguese dishes.

This fresh, breezy waterside restaurant and bar, which includes lounge chairs by the infinity pool as well as dining tables inside, is perched on a promontory at the mouth of the Guadiana River. The menu features Portuguese classics, plus a range of crowd-pleasing dishes like pizzas and burgers.

South of Lisbon you can find plenty of casual coastal dining, tucked into a long stretch of almost wild dunes. At Grão d’Areia there’s no DJ spinning house music to draw in the cool crowd, just dozens of unpretentious tables where you’ll sit with your toes in the sand. Order a tiny ice-cold beer or a big jug of sangria while you wait for your grilled fish or Portuguese seafood snacks and watch the waves roll in. 

There’s an enormous array of top-quality Portuguese cheeses, wines, and petiscos on the menu here. Regular live sets from talented local musicians add extra panache to the proceedings.

In a space that was part of a water reservoir from the 12th century, this cozy restaurant now serves a variety of Portuguese petiscos such as clams and sautéd shrimp, but also bigger portions like codfish and octopus. Be sure to sample their wine selection which highlights the Dão region.

Located next to the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, this may be Lisbon’s best burger joint. It serves American-style burgers, and there’s a new one on the menu every month, plus a vegetarian option.

This bright and breezy Ukrainian-owned café was a pioneer in bringing trendy Instagrammable brunches to Santos's main drag. Its pretty, tasty meals made it famous, so there's usually a line, but the avocado toast on house-baked sourdough is worth the wait.

Inside the cloisters of a restored former monastery (now a luxury hotel), the 2025-opened Heritage 1220 Restaurant is a sophisticated take on traditional Arouca cuisine. Inspired by the legacy of Infanta Santa Mafalda, daughter of King Sancho I, who in 1220 brought prestige to the Monastery of Arouca by joining as a nun and converting it to the wealthy Cistercian Order. The kitchen team is made up of local chefs, skilled at elevating the region's traditional comfort food.

Local chef João Narigueta leads this trendy restaurant just off Praça do Giraldo. After years of researching Alentejo's culinary history, João is bringing forward long-forgotten recipes and upgrading them with modern cooking techniques. Think river crayfish topped with kimchi or wild boar pies served with pickled mushrooms.