Kali P.
Yelp
I was excited to visit this food court after reading a travel article about it. When my husband and I got there, the staff at the door explained the concept - they give you a card and you put all food orders on the card and pay at the end. You order from the food stalls, but get drinks from wait staff at your table. My husband and I went in and checked out the options on the first floor. We each ordered a dish and sat at our table; we waited several minutes before needing to flag down someone to take our drink order. For our first order, we got some raw oysters and cod fritters. The food was all okay but nothing special, especially given the price compared to other places we dined in Portugal. After our first course, I decided the check out upstairs for the other food options. I tried to order from the sushi restaurant, only to learn that you had to sit in the sushi bar in order to get food from there. This had not been explained at the door, nor were there signs to indicate as much. However, we agreed to move tables to have some sushi upstairs.
We went upstars and sat at the sushi bar, which we often do because we enjoy watching the sushi chefs. We were twice asked if we wanted to sit at a table instead, but we stayed there. We ordered another round of drinks and some food; the drinks were more expensive in the sushi restaurant than downstairs. We got an order of nigiri and sashimi - again, it was all fine and good quality but nothing special. We asked for the check and got up to go downstairs to pay. A waiter ran after us and said we had to pay for the sushi in the restaurant, not with the rest of the food. To me, this completely misses the whole point of the food court, which is that all your food is put on the card and you pay once at the end. Now we had to pay two bills. Again, this had not been explained to us, nor were there any signs to indicate this was the case. When you read the menu posted outside, the sushi menu is listed along with all the other menus, so it seems as though it is all part of the food court. Nonetheless, we paid upstairs for our sushi, then went downstairs to pay for the rest. For the food we got (4 small dishes and 4 drinks), we paid 50 EUR, which to me was highly overpriced for the quality and amount of food. Nothing was great, everything was just okay. It was by far the most expensive meal of our 2 week trip to Europe. In addition, it was one of the most confusing and frustrating dining experiences my husband and I have ever had. I think this place could be better if they could fix some of the confusion and tighten up the concept; if the whole idea is that you can dine at multiple restaurants in one building and pay one bill at the end, that needs to be the case no matter if you dine upstairs or downstairs.
On the plus side, I will say the interior is absolutely beautiful, especially upstairs. If nothing else, go get a drink and enjoy the beautiful interior.