A Baiuca

I cannot say enough good things about this local Alfama fado restaurant! I originally saw it on Rick Steves show from years ago when he went to Lisbon. There are so many touristy fado restaurants, but trust me when I say, this is the place you want! It is a small, intimate place so the singing just really gets into your soul. I cried because it was so beautiful and I couldn’t believe I was experiencing something I’d also wanted to! The singers and musicians were fantastic, the food and drink were absolutely delicious! It was worth every penny and much cheaper than the big touristy places! You felt like a family dining here and enjoying the singing, everyone made me feel so comfortable. I was traveling solo and was put at a table with other solo travelers who I am now friends with and stay in touch with so this place really is what Portugal is all about! I’m sure there are other great fado spots, but this is the best for so many reasons, namely the gorgeous Alfama neighborhood you get to explore before and after the show and dinner! We stayed til the very end! Don’t miss it while you’re in Lisbon! Thank you, A Baiuca for making my first night in Lisbon and Europe, a truly unforgettable one!

If you stay only one night in Lisbon you definitely need to visit here! Incredible atmosphere, very friendly service and good food. First time experiencing Fado and it's going to be a memory that's gonna last!

I called to reserve. They said they were fully booked but if I arrived early, maybe I could have a table. I was there first! And I got in! What a privilege that was. I felt like home! Traditional food was amazing! Fado was….. WOW… no words! And Clara the owner, was kind and attentive with us! We even got a chance to listen to her sing! What a great expérience! Thank you all for this amazing moment! I will definitely be back!

We had a wonderful night of fado and food in this tiny, hot restaurant. The fish cataplana was delicious (and huge - beware Portuguese portions!). The service was extremely charismatic. One highlight was when the woman serving is suddenly started singing fado! Highly recommended. It is a good idea to book a table as they are full most nights.

We were lucky to get a reservation through Instagram, and I’m so glad we did! The place itself is charming, and the staff were incredibly warm and welcoming. The Fado performances were amazing and gave me goosebumps. It’s a small, intimate venue that makes you feel like part of something truly special. Food wise- The gambas and the codfish cakes stood out in particular. The octopus was pretty average! But overall, food was quite nice. However, I was left disappointed at the end of the evening when we received the bill. From the moment we sat down, our table (like all the others) was set with bread, cheese, olives, and prosciutto. There was no mention that these would be charged, so we were surprised to find them included in the final bill. It felt misleading and left a sour note on an otherwise incredible evening. That aside, a heartfelt thank you to the lovely staff and talented performers who made the night so memorable.

We booked a reservation through Facebook, so glad we did. This was a top hilight from our week in Portugal! An unforgettable experience because of the staff, amazing singers, and authentic Portuguese dishes. We would recommend the fish stew! Thank you for a lovely evening.

An unforgettable experience! An intimate Fado Dinner with great food and incredible Fado music, both voice and instrumental. The restaurant is small and has a lot of character. The menu is a la carte and the performance is included in your meal price! Friendly, attentive staff. I doubt you’ll find a better experience anywhere else! Make sure you book in advance and try and get in early - we were a couple and were lucky to get a small table to ourselves. Highly recommend!

A cosy and warm Fado place and we love it. We got a good table for the performance and love how they dim the entire restaurant during the performance. The only thing we noted was they put in the bread, butter and olive into our bill when we didn’t consume. However, we enjoyed the night so much we decided to just pay for them as tips. Do reserve as it’s a small place and very popular. They do speak English and take card.

Enjoyable, cozy restaurant with attentive and friendly service. Food is good and ambiance is cozy. Liliana (I think her name is!) was so kind and attentive. Love it here.

Great mom-and-pop place in Lisbon. The menu is traditional and fresh. I had one of the fish plates and it was cooked to perfection! The wine list paired well with the menu. The staff was courteous and attentive. If you're looking for some no-frills Portuguese food in Lisbon - this is the place!!

We had a lot of fun here. Great vibe and very friendly. Feels like you're watching Fado in someone's home. I believe the owner and her Mom were two of the three performers who sand. Food was average but they made up for it with the authentic experience and everyone was nice. We enjoyed our evening here.

This specific area in Lisbon, and Portugal in general, is known for its fado music. I was not familiar with fado music before visiting Portugal but it's a unique style of music that was invented in the country. It's a musical style that focuses on struggle and heartbreak. One might say that it's depressing music as you don't have to understand the words to know it's somber. You can tell from the inflection of the singer and the guitar strings. It's an experience. A Baiuca was recommended in our guidebook as the best place to check out fado music. We stopped by late after dinner and were able to experience three different fado singers. It's a small bar with limited seating but luckily we were able to grab some seats. After ordering some Porto, I kicked back and enjoyed the experience. A Baiuca brings in different singers throughout the week and it was a unique experience. Afterward, the artists sold CDs, although at an inflated price. Service was good but keep in mind that they're cash only. I didn't have enough cash so I had to stop by an ATM which was a bit inconvenient.

We were ending our 9-day stay in Portugal and still hadn't seen a fado performance. The hotel our friends were staying at recommended this gem of a place and made reservations for us (a must.) We walked into this tiny establishment off of one of Alfama's charming streets and enjoyed a lovely evening. We started off with their house wine and enjoyed the olives, cheese, and ham starters. All codded-out, we opted for the sea bass, octopus salad, a vegetable pasta, and the acorda soup for me (a garlicky bread soup with poached egg.) We all agreed that it was one of the top meals we shared during our trip. The fado singers were the owner and her mother, both of whom were fabulous, as was the guitar-playing gentleman who also sang. The atmosphere was so cozy, as if we were dining in someone's home while they performed for us. We all felt it was the perfect ending to our vacation. There are so many fado establishments throughout Alfama, but I'm so happy we ended up here, and would happily recommend it.

What a lovely food and fado experience! The hosts made us feel at home and part of the family. Loved the clever coordination of food service and fado performance so one could enjoy both at the same time. There were 4 different singers and 2 guitarist and all of them were amazing. The shellfish with rice for two was absolutely delicious. Couldn't have asked for a better time.

What a wonderful experience! We were seated in a cozy corner of the restaurant and were treated with hospitality from the staff. We got to hear four phenomenal voices and awesome guitar playing during our meal, all by seemingly local people who were also servers, owners, etc. Family vibe. Visiting during Fado is an absolute must- even though we were right next to the performers, the music was never too loud and provided breaks every three songs or so to allow for conversation. The morcela and açorda à alentejana were excellent, the shrimp was bland and too oily. Overall, one of the best experiences we had in Portugal.

We were looking for a place to experience fado without paying an arm and a leg. This restaurant is admitted a rather touristy venue (more on that later). But if you come prepared with the right frame of mind, perhaps you will enjoy the experience as much as we did. First, we didn't have high expectations on the food. This helps because food is secondary here (and I think with many similar restaurants). As usual for the vast majority of Portuguese restaurants, they provide appetizers on the table without you asking for it, but you can always say you don't want. Be warned, the menu is quite limited and home style. I think there's one older lady who works in the kitchen, so if you're hungry, I suggest ordering some appetizers as it may take some time to get your food. We ended up sharing a pork stew. It was quite fatty, but fairly tasty. Second, this place is very small. We made reservations two hours before the restaurant opened on a weekday in October and it was fine. They even took walk-ins just as the music started (which I think was about half an hour after the restaurant opens). But I doubt you could do that on a weekend or during the busier tourist season. As the place is very intimate, be prepared to sit family style with strangers. Personally this added to our experience. We enjoyed chatting with our neighbour, but only when the musicians took a break because you don't talk during the performances. Lastly, this venue is technically for "amateur singers". We don't know fado, so I'm sure professionals are probably better. But for us, this was great. I mean the main singer had Cds she was selling, so I don't know how amateur she actually was. But don't be surprised when the waiter starts belting out some tunes. We loved the variety (there were 5 singers in total) and the unexpectedness of having someone at the door to come in and sing. Don't be mistaken though, they do know what they're doing and all the singers/musicians clearly know each other as well. We ended up staying for a few hours and after some people left after dinner, there were a handful of possibly locals who came in just for drinks. So for 25 euros per person - a night of okay food, but great entertainment in an intimate, unique environment was just perfect for us.

How is this place rated so well? Have the reviewers giving it 4 and 5 star ratings been to other restaurants in their lifetime? A Baiuca was without a doubt the worst meal I can remember having, ever. This is not hyperbole. The food was hilariously poor quality and to top it off we had the pleasure of paying €60 for two entrees, a half bottle of house wine, and the bread and olives the ever so graciously charged us €7 for that were supposed to be on the house. I also became very sick following this meal (even though each of us only had two bites of our entrees before we gave up), and I have an iron stomach. This is a tourist trap at best. Can you tell I'm pissed off? Oh, the fado music was great and the waiters were nice, so yay, they get one star.

We ended our day with a dinner in the area we were staying : Alfama. We walked past a cute little restaurant which seemed to be a traditional Portuguese places: Taberna A Baiuca. We were seated on a very narrow table just right next to some other people despite the fact there was three empty tables around, my boyfriend and I thought this was a bit weird and impersonal. Without ordering anything we were offered some chorizo, olives, beans salad and some sheep's milk cheese. The waitress dropped everything on our table without saying any words, we didn't have time to stop her to order some drinks. Once we managed to catch her attention we discovered this was not on the house and each little plate was price 9 euros. we only had the olives and the very fatty tasteless chorizo. She tried to sell us a bottle of Porto while she was starting to open it without our agreement at the same time. We managed after 15 minutes to negotiate with our waitress what we really wanted and not what she wanted to gave us and we placed our order. I was very annoyed by the attitude of this waitress, which happened to be the owner of the restaurant at the same time. And then the nightmare started...we were in a traditional Portuguese place which had Fado music, from the moment we ordered our mains (19 euros each) and finally had the mains in front of us we listened to one hour of horrible Fado music where we were not allowed to speak or stand up. I am usually the first person to enjoy discovering new culture and traditional things but these singers were just terrible and we were starving. The food arrived and looked horrendous. I know we should not judge a book by its cover but in this case...the food tasted terrible too. I had the octopus dish and my boyfriend had the bacalhau. My dish was cold and served with uncooked fries. I am sure the octopus was not even fresh as after few bites I started feeling awful and sick. My neighbour on the next table, who didn't have their food still after an hour wait like us where not feeling confident about the food... they could tell by the look on my face! As it was a mission to catch the attention of the waitress, my boyfriend stood up in the middle of the fado to pay at the counter. At this step he discovered there was a minimum charge to pay per person 25 euros. As they noticed I felt sick I think we were very lucky to only pay 51 euros for the two awful plates of food we didn't even touch, two beers each and a plate of olives. This place is without any doubt the worst place I have even been: horrible music, pushy and annoying waitress, long waiting time, poor quality, overpriced and awful food. On the other side, this place is the best in one category - the best tourist trap ever.

The people that complain about the bad service are ingrates. Characters from the neighborhood just stroll into this place and sing songs of love, sorrow, and passion and they all sing like they wouldn't be out of place on a professional stage. Granted the man in charge might try to con you into buying his CD and perhaps did not graduate at the top of his class from maitre d' school but you're not there for the food. Embrace the Fado!

We were able to make a reservation on the same day (Thursday). The restaurant felt a bit uncomfortable. Small restaurant. It was very hot inside and it felt overcrowded. We were 4 and we shared a table with a friendly couple. It did feel like a very local experience. 3 musicians and a good variety of singers (about 5). Great singers and Authentic Portuguese fado. Food and green wine were very good. $25 per person minimum. They took credit card.

Wonderful singing and a very intimate setting. Felt like having dinner with family! The food was ok and the seats weren't very comfortable but it was worth it for the wine and the show!

Horrible experience here! The food and fado was good, but we were treated so poorly! I went with a friend, both of us young looking Asian girls. After ordering, we sat and waited. And waited. And watched as three tables around us, who had all arrived and ordered after us, all received their food. Which were the exact same dishes we had ordered! We had to grab the server multiple times and keep asking, until finally he said "oh there was a mixup in the kitchen". We didn't receive our food until over an hour after we had ordered, and after the tables around us had already finished their meals. Just unacceptable!

My husband and I went there for 1 hour of drinks and fado. It was great. We ordered half a litter of wine for 5 euros, which was fine. A ambience is great. Woman has an amazing voice.

We head about A Baiuca from our tour guide as a local place to experience live fado music while enjoying great food. A Baiuca did not disappoint. We emailed the email address we found on their Facebook page to ask for a reservation the day before. The place itself doesn't stand out. It's on a back walkway with the name hand written barely large enough to notice when you walk by. Hint: if the alley opens up and widens you've gone too far. It seems to be owned by a local Alfama family who's love for music is unquestionable. The vinho verde was one of the best and one of the cheapest. The main courses we ordered ranged from fish, to octopus, to meat stew and were all delicious. Two warnings: 1. This is NOT a place to converse with your group while the singers are performing. Its purpose is the Fado performance and they just happen to serve amazing food 2. There is a minimum per person of ~25€ but if you have a small appetizer, drink, and meal you will easily meet it. As a person who enjoys learning about the culture of a place A Baiuca stands out as one of the most notable times I had in Lisbon.

Nice small restaurant where you can hear quite good fado. The atmosphere looks really authentic, although I would still wonder if the singers are being paid to come for tourists. You have to admit that because of the great location in the heart of Alfama, in a small street, doors open, it is always full - inside as well as outside! The food is good, a bit more expensive than a regular simple Portuguese restaurant : around 20€ for a grilled fish, around 60€ for a light dinner for 2, which is Till much less expensive than many of the Casas de fado in the area.

Hi! The waiter is deliciously over-the-top camp... which compensates for the prices because you can get the same great food for less 5 euros per person.