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Lisbon's dining scene has evolved dramatically in recent years to include any number of high-end dining opportunities, but amid the international fare, Michelin-starred restaurants, and molecular gastronomy, the city's simplest and most traditional restaurants still do a roaring trade. Meals generally include three courses, a drink, and coffee. Many restaurants have an ementa turistica (tourist menu), a set-price meal, most often served at lunchtime. Note that you'll be charged a couple of euros if you eat any of the couvert items—typically appetizers such as bread and butter, olives, and the like—that are brought to your table without being ordered.
Lisbon's restaurants usually serve lunch from noon or 12:30 until 3 and dinner from 7:30 until 11; many establishments are closed Sunday or Monday. Inexpensive restaurants typically don't accept reservations. In the traditional cervejarias (beer-hall restaurants), which frequently have huge dining rooms, you'll probably have to wait for a table, but usually not more than 10 minutes. In the Bairro Alto, many of the reasonably priced tascas (taverns) are on the small side: if you can't grab a table, you're probably better off moving on to the next place. Throughout Lisbon, dress for meals is usually casual, but exceptions are noted below.
Although the name suggests it's only open to members of the press, the Brazilian-owned Journalists' Club is an excellent restaurant open to everyone. It has a cozy dining room lined with azulejo tiles, but in the summer everyone usually heads straight to the pleasant garden and plops down at one of the umbrella-shaded tables.
For light meals and cocktails against a jaw-droppingly beautiful backdrop, Portas do Sol (meaning "doors of the sun") is the place. Don't expect award-winning cuisine, but you could do far worse than a couscous or caprese salad washed down with a tangy caipirinha or freshly squeezed juice.
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