515 Best Restaurants in Portugal

This central Arouca restaurant specializes in generous portions of regional dishes, particularly the famous posta arouquesa (local veal steak). The attentive staff serve hearty traditional meals at reasonable prices in a welcoming atmosphere. Reservations are essential on weekends when it gets packed. The menu features excellent grilled meats, fresh fish, and house-made desserts, all served in portions that ensure no one leaves hungry.

The food at this wood-paneled restaurant is expertly prepared and comes in portions big enough to share. It’s a popular choice in the neighborhood, especially in the summer when they bring out the grilled fish.

The Portuguese have a sweet tooth—not a morning, or afternoon, goes by without a stop for a coffee and pastry—and this traditional little shop, with its wide selection of tarts, cakes, biscuits, and croissants, is a great introduction to typical Portuguese sweets. It's also a good spot for a light breakfast.

Many a Lisboeta would argue that Careca, which has been cooking up pastries since 1954, serves the best sweet croissants in town. Try them for yourself at this simple-but-smart café—best enjoyed outside on the terrace with a coffee or fresh orange juice.

The cakes and pastries in this shop, from the classic pastéis de nata to croissants and Christmas miniatures, are high quality and made fresh daily.

A few minutes from Igreja de São Francisco you'll find this pastry shop specializing in regional sweets. Set in a small house between two cobblestone streets, it stands out with its green doors and terra-cotta roof. Inside, traditional Portuguese tiles decorate the walls, but it's hard to look away from the sweets displayed behind the glass counter. The specialty is pão de rala, a delicious cake combining egg yolks, almonds, sugar, and lemon zest.

You’ll likely walk past this pastry shop on your way to the castle; step inside to see bakers whipping up a fresh batch of pastéis de nata.

This small café is the perfect place to soak up the Minho atmosphere. The proprietor makes his own pastries, cakes, and croquettes. 

Sharing the building of the Pharmacy Museum, this smart restaurant with a large terrace faces one of the city’s most popular viewpoints and is open throughout the day for meals and drinks—including medicinal-themed cocktails. Chef Susana Felicidade, known as a judge on the Portuguese edition of the MasterChef television show, gives a twist to traditional Portuguese cuisine, featuring dishes from her native Algarve such as gazpacho and carob cake.

Chef Vitor Adão made his name across town at the fine-dining Plano, but at this casual all-day spin-off, you can find the same quality without the commitment of a tasting menu. The plates here are simple Portuguese classics—tempura green beans, octopus rice, and Alentejo black pork—but with top-notch ingredients and technique. Barman Kostiantyn Hutnyk won first place in a bartending competition in his native Ukraine.

Crossing the Roman bridge, you'll pass by a lot of tempting spots before you reach this typical Portuguese eatery—trust us, it's worth the trip. Here the focus is on fresh fish, including the traditional bacalhau a bras, but there's a range of beef steak on the menu too. There is a smattering of outside tables with views to the adjacent square.

This riverside restaurant looks like a traditional Alentejo house with its whitewashed walls and blue trimmings. Inside, the staff is ready to welcome you with a feast of regional delicacies. Some of the house favorites include the Burras Assadas (roasted pork jaw) and the Filetes de Peixe-Galo (dory fish fillets).

Atop a tall building north of the city, the lofty Portucale is known for its sweeping views that take in everything from the Atlantic Ocean to the Marão Mountains. Dining here is like stepping back in time, with mid-century modern furnishings, refined service, and dishes that celebrate Portuguese gastronomic history. Local specialties include bacalhau à marinheiro (cod with shrimp and clams).

This new combination gourmet market and food hall also serves as a laptop-friendly all-day café. Different stalls sell coffee, snacks, cheese, sausages, and various light bites. Across the courtyard, an even newer space, called Refeitório da Praça, serves more elaborate lunches and dinners.

This modern and minimalist restaurant has a focus on health-boosting ingredients, so diners can expect nutrient-packed bowls, salads, wraps, and ciabattas. It's all served in a pretty indoor-outdoor dining room.

This restaurant is more than just a glamorous beach club—although it is that, too. Both outside on the terrace and inside the glass-walled dining room, the staff turns out a varied menu laden with international favorites. Plus, there's a seafood or fish catch of the day, impressive salads, sandwiches, and smoothies.

The namesake tarts, queijadas, are super sweet little cheese cakes, but this casual spot can also satisfy a more substantial hunger. For lunch, don't miss the giant grilled tiger prawns, or the grilled sardines when they're in season.

This charmingly rustic family-run eatery serves an ever-changing menu using produce straight from their gardens, along with other organic ingredients from the surrounding area. The friendly staff serves a fixed menu (cash only) with a tempting selection of homemade dips to start, along with salads, soups, fish, meat, and desserts, plus a reasonably priced selection of wines made by family members on the mainland.

A vegan alternative to Aveiro's seafood-and-meat focused dining scene, Raiz offers wholesome dishes that could tempt the most hardened of carnivores. The menu is completely plant-based and has daily lunch specials such as spinach crepes with Mexican-style tofu scramble. There are gluten-free menu items every day, and a meatless version of Brazilian feijoada (bean stew) on Wednesday. 

At the east end of Avenida Luisa Todi, Rebarca is the best of the line of casual restaurants serving inexpensive but delicious fresh seafood—including an excellent version of the ubiquitous choco frito (fried cuttlefish). Wash everything down with a carafe of the house white wine, which always has a refreshingly light effervescence.

After winning the hearts of locals with its delicious seafood near Praia das Furnas, Alento has moved to the town center to reach a wider audience. Owners Marília Martins and André Silva still run the show, but they've updated the menu with new creations such as sautéed carabineros shrimp and tuna tataki.

The popular, no-frills sister eatery to Taverna de Matilde, Arco Iris serves big portions of home-style fare such as jabalí (wild boar) stew, roast lamb, and grilled cod. There's a short list of inexpensive regional wines. If you have any room left at the end of your meal, try the almond mousse.