Cervejaria Ramiro is a seafood restaurant in Lisbon, Portugal, that will serve one of the best seafood meals you’ll ever eat in Lisbon. My husband and I just call it “Ramiro’s” when raving about it to our friends. This is the Portuguese classic that has been serving up the best seafood in Lisbon since 1956. Chefs dine here. Anthony Bourdain dined here. My husband, who is occasionally more of a food enthusiast than I am, was hopping with delight at the reviews of Ramiro’s.

A little history: Cervejaria Ramiro started off in 1956 as a casual place to have fresh seafood and drink beer. Locals came to Cervejaria Ramiro as much for the seafood as for the beer – for many, Ramiro’s is seafood in Lisbon. We walked over to late on a Friday afternoon after a day wandering the city sights of Lisbon (blog post to follow). It was a long day, and we thought it would be quieter to go later in the evening (it would be less likely to be busy).

We were so wrong. Despite our reservation, there was a small line out the door to the restaurant. We put in our name (awkwardly, as we still don’t speak Portuguese!) and waited a little under ten minutes for our table, past the bustling tables downstairs to the large upstairs section of the restaurant.

What to order:

First, ditch the fancy ‘going out to dinner’ outfit. This is your elbows-on-the-table kind of place, kind of like a pub, just a lot nicer and with a large mix of locals and tourists. The food is hands down fresh. And although the menu offers excellent pata negra (local cured ham), it’s really only about the seafood here. Our order wasn’t anything to scream home about, but the quality and flavor most certainly was! We almost always ask the restaurant for recommendations, simply because they know what’s best that day, and ordered Ameijoa à Bulhão Pato (clams in sauce prepared with olive oil, garlic, cilantro, salt, pepper and dry white wine) and grilled giant tiger prawns, both prepared exquisitely, simply, and full of fresh flavor. Warm crusty slices of bread loaded with butter came as the side dish, and it became an absolute necessity to soak up all the delicious broth from the clams. Dessert? Honestly, we were a little full … but the generous plate of bright fresh golden mangoes from the Azores was the perfect end to a perfect meal.

Menu:

The menu is a seafood-lover’s dream: oysters, clams, prawns, lobster, crab, crayfish, goose barnacles – you name it, it’s on the menu! The best part of the large menu is the staff, who are happy to make recommendations.

We return to Lisbon regularly, and have had wonderful meals there, never the same, of course, but always delicious! Among our other favorites are the dozen oysters (I know, not everyone loves them, we do, and these are everything an oyster is supposed to be: yummy and briny), pata negra (the local cured ham), large crab, the steak sandwich (that’s another story for another day!)

Service:

Cervejaria Ramiro is a busy restaurant but there is no question that it offers great service. As in much of Portugal, the service industry is professional. That means, attentive, courteous, and timely. I appreciate the restaurant where the waiter will discuss the menu and recommend what and how much of each item we should order (the menu is priced by weight), especially when my appetite isn’t always huge (or sometimes the opposite), or when I have allergies.

And we truly appreciate the attentive waiter who notice when our drinks are low or our plates empty, but doesn’t hover.

As with all our reviews on this site, we only recommend the good experiences, and will never write about a bad dining experience. We hope you visit Cervejaria Ramiro when you’re in Lisbon and hope you have an excellent meal!

Cost:

Cervejaria Ramiro was excellent value – meal for two under €65.01.

Contact

Cervejaria Ramiro Lisboa. Avenida Almirante Reis, 1-H, 1150-007 Lisbon, Portugal

Tel: +351 218 861 647

www.cervejariaramiro.pt