Cantinho do Avillez

We came here because we wanted to try Jose Avillez’s food. We originally wanted to go to Belcanto (the ten-​table restaurant that gave him 2 Michelin stars), however we did not have reservations and were not in Lisbon long enough to wait. That being said, we decided to try his non-​white table cloth restaurant (there is also one in Porto). We did not make reservations, but were able to get in at 9pm on a Tuesday night. They said they could get my party of three in no problem. So we got seated at the only available table, the catch, it was a four seat table (all seats one one side) adjacent to the bar and away from «the action.» The cocktails we ordered were great and the food was amazing. Drinks, appetizers, and main courses flew out of the kitchen. However, the service is sub-​par. The bar tender took our drink order and then we asked him if we were to order our food from him. He said no, it’s best for my colleague to do that. Yet, five minutes later the bar tender came to take our order. Everything was fine until the dinner rush hit. At 9:30 4 different parties came (they had reservations). This was when service basically became non-​existent. We sat at the cleared table with empty glasses waiting for some sort of acknowledgement from the wait staff about dessert or checking out. After a little more than 30 minutes of being ignored by all the waiters walking straight past the table to the kitchen and bar I decided to ask the house manager who was using the register that was right at the end of our table if we were every going to see a dessert menu. He was apologetic and got us menus immediately. Then it took another 30 or so minutes to order. If it wasn’t for my father glaring down the house manager, he wouldn’t have stopped to take our dessert order. Finally we got our dessert and closed our bill. He asked how everything was and we said it was okay. Food was great, but service was terrible. He seemed to just accept it and offered no sincere apology (however a waiter decided to hold open the door for us on our way out). Like I said before, fantastic food, but terrible service. If you’re a Michelin star chef, it is expected you have incredible service. If you can’t meet those expectations, don’t seat people at a table you are bound to overlook and forget. It made for what could’ve been a great night to a very unpleasant experience.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think Portugal is becoming my favorite European country for food. If you love seafood as much as I do, you might agree. I had the hotel concierge make a same-​day reservation and we got one for 7pm. I ordered the scallop with avocado cream appetizer and didn’t expect it to be so small! Definitely only for one person. My mom and I shared it not knowing would be so tiny. Then my mom and I shared the steak sandwich (added foie gras for an extra 3 euros-​worth it!) and the black pork (AMAZING). We were still hungry so we went back to the starters menu and ordered a tuna tartare which was really good. Of course, we ended with the raspberry cheesecake in a jar. The added basil was a really nice touch. Everything was delicious and the service was great. Our total came out to only 66 euros (we only ordered sparkling water, no alcohol). Very cute ambiance and perfect for a romantic date night.

O meu canto de eleição. Confortável, tranquilo e relaxante. Mas o mais importante é a comida, as belas iguarias e o serviço fantástico.

An interesting restaurant that forms part of the Avillez restaurant empire which includes a 2 Michelin starred restaurant. The food is rooted in the traditional Portuguese restaurant but with some modern twists. The wine list is comprehensive, the service friendly and attentive and the ambient in the restaurant relaxed but on the classy side — with an interesting twist of a «normal» kitchen as you would find it in most people’s homes at the back of the restaurant where some of the dishes are being prepared. Worth a visit, but my preference would be to stick with some of the more traditional restaurants at a lower cost and perhaps a more original experience.

Excellent, original and varied menu. Biggest problem eating here is not over ordering. A restaurant that should not be missed in Lisbon.

Service, food, and wine was wonderful! No complaints and I would definitely go back again and again! The lascas de bacalhau and avela on the menu are amazing. A must when traveling to Lisbon.

José Avillez, le chef superstar portugais a encore frappé!
Ouverture cette fois-​ci d’un bistrot moderne dans la tendance actuelle globale avec une cuisine locale, de saison revue et corrigée pour apporter une touché «chic et tendance» qui satisfera l’ensemble de la population.
Population essentiellement touristique, les prix restants assez hauts pour la moyenne locale.
Tous les codes «hip» du moment se retrouvent à cette table: vaisselle émaillée, service en cocotte, assiettes généreuses…
Sur le papier aucune nouveauté donc. Et dans les faits qu’est-ce que cela donne?
Eh bien une carte assez riche avec des entrées ou assiettes à partager, des plats principaux qui respirent le Portugal mais aussi les influences voisines (agneau en tagine, risotto, tartare…).
Mon conseil est d’opter pour l’un ou pour l’autre: soit une entrée à partager et un plat, ou plusieurs «petites» assiettes car c’est franchement bien copieux — n’oublions pas que nous sommes au Portugal!
En bouche c’est pas mal bon et original pour le pays, cela change de la morue sous toutes ses formes et des frites!
Les prix eux né sont pas portugais: entre 6 et 12 € l’entrée et 19 € en moyenne le plat.
Couvert à 2 € 85.
Peut-​être pas l’adresse où courir si vous né connaissez pas la cuisine portugaise mais si vous aimez retrouver vos repères ou cherchez quelque chose de nouveau en ville à tester absolument!
Réservation indispensable.

The service was glacial, at best. The food was good, not great –nowhere enough to compensate for the service. Pet peeve– bringing out 3 appetizers and the others 15 minutes later. And getting the order wrong, to boot.

Nice food n the price here for the dish n wine are all reasonable. Really recommend to give a try

The place has a really good feel, it’s pretty hip and has a great design. In my opinion it’s fairly overpriced especially when compared to other restaurants in the city. The starter that we had was excellent but I had a steak sandwich that was poor in quality and was just very basic. My wife ordered the 45e giant shrimp which was good but certainly not worth that price. We also had a couple of cocktails, each took about 30 minutes to be delivered to the table and they were also underwhelming. We’ve eaten far better meals since we’ve been here and this was by far the most expensive, I would make another choice.

Unglaublich leckeres Essen, sehr aufmerksame Kellner, nicht zu modernes Ambiente, Familien und Paare als Gäste, das war unser erster (Restaurant-)Abend in Lissabon

4.9 stars, more because I think it is presumptuous to give a perfect 5 after having only eaten at a handful of restaurants in this city, not because it doesn’t probably deserve it.
Where to begin… The cherry gazpacho was legendary. The scallop with avocado was so delicate and flavorful. The conserved tuna was awesome, it tasted a lot like good sushi somehow even though it was actually cooked. The string beans and the sauce they came with were delicious but oily enough that I don’t think I will let myself order them again. The butter that came with the bread was kind of a highlight in itself because it tasted like they mixed in garlic and other spices. They also gave a shot glass of tomato cream sauce to dip the bread in, which was also good.
While I continue not to like bacalhau in general, it was noticeably better here than the one we had yesterday at Joao do Grao, and it seemed like that may have been because they used cod that was either less dried out initially or they cooked it less or in more liquid so it didn’t harder/​char. There is basically a raw egg on top of it though, so you need to be into that.
The hazelnut dessert was great but the one with berries and cream I saw on someone else’s table is probably what I would get next time. There will be many next times.
All of this with two glasses of good red wine was 74 euro, which these days is like 81 USD, which is ridiculous. This would have been double the price in, for example, Paris at a place like Les Cocottes, who also serve dishes in Staub cookware.
The restaurant is kind of a very convincing advertisement for Belcanto.

Before I begin, the food here is phenomenal. The menu wine list and cocktails are second to none.
But it would appear that the line out the door and the post Bourdain hysteria has gotten into their heads.
We were so excited for our 8:00 reservation that my wife and I have been scouting out the menu for months and knew exactly what we’re going to order, right down to the dessert.
The problem is, we were not not given the opportunity to even order dessert as the check was slapped down on the table without so much as «how was everything? Can we get you anything else?»
We can take a hint, we tipped out and left. Lisbon is filled with outstanding restaurants. Our dreams of sampling their amazing port selection were dashed, but given the disappointing service we were able to find another establishment just up the street that welcomed us with open arms and very warm greetings.
Bottom-​line.
Excellent food.
Awesome cocktails and wine list.
Very poor service.

Solid 3.5
The chef is doing well for himself. I’m not sure if he is also the restauranteur, but there’s quite a few names under this belt now in terms of restaurants. Creating a mini empire. And rightfully so — the ingredients in Portugal are to die for and any chef would be in Mecca here.
I was impressed by the food. It’s was all high quality. Where this place falls a little short for me personally, is, i really don’t see the inventive and creative fusion of modern and old. There’s just not enough ‘surprises’. I felt as if the chef wasn’t bold enough. Some of his reinterpretations are really just copies of dishes that exist already globally.
But is this place worth a visit on your Lisbon trip? For sure. If you bring your kids, they’ll also be nice enough to bring in a pizza from their pizzeria next door (which ofcourse they also own)

If you fancy yourself a foodie and a gourmand, then this temple of great cuisine is an absolute must in Lisboa! Situation on a narrow street close to the tram in chic Chiado, this place is almost always full for lunch and dinner. The dining room is simple in that minimalist chic way with wooden chairs and tables, big windows and silver-​tinged fixtures in an airy ecru-​painted dining room.
But no matter. It is the food that is absolutely scrumptious at this place! Late lunch and I dined alone. The place was packed but I got a table nonetheless!
I had the «Nisa» cheese baked with shredded ham atop it drizzled with rosemary honey! And their signature burger that goes by the name — Prego a Convento de Alcantara! Really the best burger I ever had in Europe! It was steak burger on toasted foccacia bread topped with (get this!) a thick slab of foie gras!
This was 2 years ago on a balmy October day in Lisbon, and the memory of that late lunch remains with me vividly.
So, if you happen to be in Lisbon and you like great food, it would be criminal to miss this convivial outpost of Jose Avilez!
Ir e ter um grande momento!

I was here in June, but have to say it is really not as good as you might hope. My menu did sound great but it was rather boring. «With basil» means that there are some torn leafs on top, which is not very creative. At least I expected a bit more. The Crème brûlée’s crust wasn’t crispy at all and fries as a side is not what you hope to get if you visit the restaurant of such a famous chef.

I found the service to be a little unimpressed & incapable of describing the dishes (mind you there might have been some language barrier). Scallops were great & so was the pork but I wondered about having a pork chop plated with no garnishes. They charge a «cover» … Weird.

I saw this place on Anthony Bourdain’s Lisbon episode of «no reservations», so i had to go when we got to Lisbon.
We had no reservations, which is tricky even on a weeknight. But as we were early (opening time) they welcomed us anyway.
And it was all we hoped it would be.
For starters i had the Farinheira «sausage» with bread and coriander crust, which did not look like a sausage at all, but sort of a mush in a small dish. It tasted very good nonetheless.
For main course i had Alentejano black pork, french fries, coriander and garlic «farofa» (manioc flour) with black beans, which was succulent and tasty.
For dessert i had to have chocolate, so got the chocolate cake with strawberry ice cream, which was as expected, a cake oozing chocolate, though the ice cream did not do much for me. But i am not an ice cream eater.

Had the pleasure of eating at Cantinho do Avillez last Friday. Absolutely phenomenal experience top to bottom and easily one of the best meals we had during our short time in Lisbon.
First, we had no reservation yet we were rewarded for showing up about a half hour early and given a table for two hours as long as we were there when the door opened, which is about how long it took to finish our meal. I believe they did this for a few other lucky couples as well. Extremely generous gesture as this restaurant is small, generally booked up and fills quickly.
I can’t compliment the servers enough. Each and every person was extremely friendly, helpful and patient. Being a vacationing non-​local this put me completely at ease.
Everything we ate was amazing: 21^st Century Professor Style Eggs; Small Partridge, Bacon and Chive Pies; Homemade Conserved Tuna with Ginger and Lime Mayonaise; Baked «Nisa» Cheese with Ham and Rosemary Honey; Alentejo Black Pork with French Fries and Garlic“farofa” with black beans.
Add to that an outstanding bottle of wine from the Alentejo region and you have one hell of a meal, and all for very reasonable prices. José Avillez has en exceptional restaurant here, and several others that I imagine are equally as good within walking distance. I guess my only real regret is that I will not have a chance to eat at any of them any time soon.

A Manhattan-​quality tapas joint in an intimate Lisbon café setting with eager service and customers who linger over each next bottle for hours. Thanks for staying open in August!

My favorite restaurant in Lisbon. Despite what the other reviewer said below, I’ve been seated without reservations toward the end of the night, and you can also order at the (admittedly small) bar. Always great and engaging services, the bartenders and hosts I’ve met there are very nice, and the food is above and beyond.
The appetizers and the steak sandwiches are the best (just get the traditional), the «Nisa» cheese is one of the best appetizers I’ve ever had — a baked sheep/​cow/​goat cheese combination with honey and bacon. The black pork dish, as others have mentioned, is also excellent, but you should probably save it for dessert — when the server suggested strawberry ice cream and chocolate cake for dessert I was skeptical, but what we got was amazing gelato and a very dark, almost ganache chocolate cake with red peppercorn in it. Amazing service, great ambiance.

liked the décor of the place and we went to two of his restaurants both of which have a very similar menu which I thought was pretty strange.
I started with the Marinated scallops with avocado which I thought would go well but didn’t because they had a similar texture. We also had the Foies de gras terrine with figs «pingo de mel», balsamic and toasts which was god. Then we had the Flaked cod with bread crumbs, LT egg and «exploding» olives which was way too salty which was the theme in Lisbon. The wine was really good but overall it was just OK.

Devo dizer que detestei, mas se calhar estava em dia não.Começa pela dificuldade de marcar e pela forma triunfante como a pessoa que atende diz que não tem reservas… finalmente la consegui marcar mas mais valia não o ter feito. Sim, pode parecer maravilhoso para quem nunca foi a um restaurante Michelin, por ex, mas para mim foi banal, tão banal que não percebi todo o bruááá que anda em torno deste loca. A não repetir

Tip: This restaurant does NOT take walk-​ins, even if there are empty tables.
I came here on a rainy day, but because I didn’t have a reservation, they didn’t seat us. I made a reservation for the next day and came back then.
We ordered:
Appetizers — Tuna Burrito, Fried Green Beans, Scallop and Avocado
Entrée — Foie Gras Burger, Scallops
The Tuna Burrito was delicious! It’s a raw tuna and «kimchi» burrito, but the kimchi sauce they used was extremely different from the kimchi you get back home.
Fried Green Beans were freshly fried and the green beans were yummy. It’s a very odd/​overly-​priced dish to order at such a restaurant, but this is definitely a must order.
I was kind of disappointed by the Scallop and Avocado. It was good, but essentially just tasted like guacamole. The avocado overpowered the scallops, which was disappointing. Note: the scallops are raw.
The Foie Gras Burger was pretty good. I was disappointed at how little foie gras is actually in the burger. The patty was very juicy, but the reason I ordered this was for the foie gras, which I could barely taste!
The seared scallops were AMAZING! Definitely my favorite dish of the night. It was seared perfectly and the balsamic used on the vegetables was also delicious.
Something to note is that service is VERY slow. It may be a European thing, but our food took a very long time to come out.

The black pork was the best dish we have had in Lisbon. We ordered it without the fries and they substituted salad, a good idea since the porco will set you up for a heart attack though you will die happy. the chocolate dessert with strawberry ice cream was also great though the ice cream was the more outstanding part of it. The chocolate cake at Landreau and the chocolate dessert at 1300 Taberna, both in Factory LX were better than the one at Cantinho do Avilez. We have had 3 great meals in Lisbon, this one, and one at 1300 Taberna and another at Quermesse.
I use 5 stars only for the Michelin star level restaurants so 4 stars is a very appreciative review for me.

Ok.confesso.a minha ida a este restaurante resumiu-​se apenas a um nome José Avillez, uma das maiores referências actuais da cozinha nacional e até internacional.
Várias tentativas foram feitas para saborear a comida e à terceira foi de vez. Tentar ir sem reserva é para esquecer não vale a pena.
Escolhi este restaurante de entre as três ofertas que José Avillez tem em Lisboa pelo simples facto de me o terem vendido como um local confortável e descontraído.
A decoração e serviço são agradáveis mas sem surpresas, mas o que não surpreende mesmo é a comida… fantástica, numa fusão da comida tradicional portuguesa com a gastronomia mundial, numa viagens de sentidos e paladares.

Que eu saiba o chef José Avillez não tem dons sobrenaturais. Mas, na verdade, não consigo encontrar uma explicação plausível para O Cantinho do Avillez conseguir reunir tanto requinte e simplicidade num mesmo espaço. Ao pisar pela primeira vez neste restaurante, senti-​me logo hipnotizado. O Cantinho é despretensioso, seja pela sua decoração hospitaleira, seja pela iluminação acolhedora. Felizmente, essa informalidade mantem-​se em todos os pratos da ementa, sempre com umas boas pitadas de sofisticação.
Ao ler cada linha do menu de O Cantinho do Avillez, descubro um novo pecado. Nas entradas, só tive dificuldade em descobrir qual era o petisco mais saboroso: seria a Farinheira com Crosta de Broa e Coentros ou o inovador Cornetto de Sapateira com Guacamole? Ah, mas as Vieiras com Abacate também souberam tão bem… Já, nos pratos principais, o Risotto de Cogumelos, com queijo e toucinho, não estava nada de especial, mas, em compensação, adorei o Tártaro de Atum. No capítulo das sobremesas, o cheesecake é, sem dúvida, o maior destaque.

Este sítio fica numa das zonas mais nobres e cosmopolitas da cidade. A entrada do restaurante baralhou-​me um pouco, não cheguei a perceber bem como está feita a circulação e estava tão entusiasmada de ir experimentar uma cozinha «avillezca» que me senti numa dimensão fora do real. A decoração, apesar de, na generalidade, as pessoas acharem diferente, conheço locais com o mesmo conceito (cadeiras diferentes, o cruzar do contemporâneo com a antiguidade, etc), o atendimento achei pouco atencioso, mas vamos ao que interessa, a comida. Aqui, meus caros, está entre o top de Lisboa. Para entrada pedi alguma diversidade para degustar vários sabores. Gambas, empadas, fígados, por aí… Quanto ao segundo prato, foi, sem dúvida alguma, o melhor risotto de cogumelos que já comi na vida… cremoso, salpicado com pedacinhos de bacon! Que vontade de ir lá, outra vez… e para finalizar Avelã ao cubo. Eu que detesto avelã só não comi mais porque não podia!