Cervejaria Ramiro is a wildly popular seafood restaurant in Lisbon, Portugal. The restaurant is packed during and off peak hours even though there are two floors in the restaurant.
Cervejaria Ramiro was my first meal in Lisbon and it set the standard for my days in Lisbon. Lisbon is a port city. With every port city, the seafood tend to be really good. It’s the same situation as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and so forth. Lisbon reminds me of San Francisco with its hills and narrow streets. However, Lisbon was a lot more charming due to the old Portuguese architecture.
Cervejaria Ramiro decor is pretty bare bones and it’s a no-frills-and-all-grill restaurant. The restaurant has an extensive line outside and expect to wait even though you have reservations. In addition, don’t be surprise if you are seated at a communal table. The restaurant does this to try to accommodate as many patrons as possible. It’s a fun experience as you get to sit next to random people and have conversations with them.
The menu is on a tablet and consist many of seafood. However, there are some land animals like steak but those are the appetizers section of the menu. The service is efficient. It’s not Michelin level but it’s good enough where you won’t complain about it. The food arrives fairly quick after you place your order and doesn’t taste like it’s precooked.
Now, the food. We ordered a bunch of items on the menu. The majority of the items included garlic and butter cause they provide a great complement to seafood.
- Steak Sandwich – The steak sandwich was apart of the appetizer section but it was the size of an entree. The perfectly cooked steak sandwiched in between a hard outside crust and fluffy doughy interior. The steak was lightly salted, juicy and fatty. The bread didn’t proportionally contained the whole slab of beef as parts of the steak hung over the bread. It was a great steak sandwich.
Steak sandwich - Tiger Shrimp – The massive shrimp was cooked in butter and served with lemon. The lemon provided a great balance to the rich buttery flavor of the tiger shrimp. The plump shrimp wasn’t over cooked and had a good bite to it. It tasted fresh, moist and had all the juices perfectly in tact.
Tiger Prawn - Lobster – The grilled lobster was cut right down the middle then served for our palate pleasure. The moist lobster laid in a puddle of melted butter and topped with a lemon. The juiciness of the lobster was fantastic and the butter puddle provided a great dipping sauce or dressing.
Lobster - Clams on Garlic – Cervejaria Ramiro does clams very well. The fresh clams were cooked in a garlic sauce and served opened. The flavors of the clams were really fresh and the garlic sauce tasted amazing with the clams. It was a fairly large serving but you’ll be surprise how fast you will consume them after the first one. They were like a bag of chips. You couldn’t stop at just one.
Clams on Garlic - Shrimps on Garlic – The vein-less shrimp laid in a peppery garlic sauce. The spiciness wasn’t overpowering the rest of the sauce but provided additional flavors to the butter and garlic in the sauce. The juicy little bite-size morsels were plump and the sauce really took over the show when you dipped the shrimp into the sauce.
Shrimp on Garlic
If there was one essential restaurant to eat in Lisbon, it would be Cervejaria Ramiro. Cervejaria Ramiro is a quality seafood restaurant that doesn’t break the bank and it really highlights Lisbon as a seafood city. The fantastic use of butter, garlic and peppers where it wasn’t too rich or overpowering the main ingredients. I would highly recommend them when you’re in Lisbon.
Check out our other Lisbon articles here.
- Service - 7/107/10
- Presentation - 7/107/10
- Flavors - 9/109/10
- Decor - 6/106/10
- Ambiance - 8/108/10
Summary
Cervejaria Ramiro is a family run restaurant providing quality seafood with reasonable prices. The line could get really long but you have a better chance of being seated at off peak hours. I would have to say Cervejaria Ramiro is probably my favorite restaurant in Lisbon.
