34 Best Restaurants in Chiado and Bairro Alto, Lisbon

People might come for the views of the city and Tagus River, but they stay for the refined Portuguese cuisine, which blends tradition with modern flair. Named after the mythical water nymphs of the Tagus, Tagide is divided into two parts—a sleek modern dining room upstairs and a more relaxed wine-and-tapas bar downstairs. Both spaces face the river, with window tables highly sought after.

This unpretentious traditional tasca (cheap eatery) hidden among Bairro Alto’s noisy cocktail bars and tourist traps serves hearty portions of excellent Portuguese food at fair prices. Game on offer includes stewed pheasant and boar, served either grilled or in a bean stew, and there are rarely found local fish dishes such as fried shad with açorda bread soup. There's also a potent bagaço (Portuguese grappa) to round off the meal.

Locals and tourists who don’t show up early often wait for as much as an hour for a table, knowing this is where you can still eat the good old-fashioned Lisbon way. Staff rush from table to table, serving doses of reasonably priced standards like grilled tuna and garlic prawns accompanied by a good house wine. Reservations are not accepted.

A visit to this restaurant—in a space that was once the refectory of a 13th-century monastery—is a quintessential Lisbon experience, although these days it's a pricey one. Transformed into a cervejaria (traditional Portuguese restaurants known for serving beer alongside seafood and hearty meat dishes) in 1836, it's the city's oldest and one of its most ornate, packing in locals and tourists under the vaulted ceiling to sample dishes from a menu devised by Michelin-starred chef Alexandre Silva. Non-diners are welcome to step in off the street at any time from 10 to noon or 3 to 7, to see the colorful azulejo tile panels in the bar area.