Cervejaria Ramiro, Lisbon: what to order and how to get in

Cervejaria Ramiro is the Portuguese grande dame that has been serving up the best seafood in Lisbon since 1956. Here’s my full review: what to order, what the menu costs now, how bookings and the queue work, and whether it lives up to the hype.

I wasn’t sure what to expect on my trip to Cervejaria Ramiro.

Sure, my sources (and Anthony Bourdain) had told me that this was one of the best restaurants in Lisbon and hands down the best seafood restaurant in the city, but I just wasn’t sure.

Lisbon’s food pretty much had me hooked: how much better would this restaurant be?

How good would a place that called itself a cervejaria (a place to drink beer) really be at serving up seafood?

The answer is very, very good.

I’m always happy (well, not always) to put my hands up and acknowledge when I am wrong about a place. I was wrong to have doubted Ramiro. This was one of the culinary highlights of my trip and a must-visit for anyone visiting the Portuguese capital.

Quick verdict

Ramiro is a loud, bustling beer hall that happens to serve some of the freshest shellfish you’ll eat anywhere: oysters, clams, prawns, crab and lobster, cooked simply and served without fuss, with a steak sandwich to finish. It suits seafood lovers, anyone who prefers a buzzing local institution to hushed fine dining and anyone curious about the place Bourdain made famous. If you don’t eat shellfish, or you hate queues and noise, it isn’t for you.

My rating: 4/5

It was excellent value when I went, and the freshest seafood, simply cooked and left to shine, is exactly why it has lasted.

Ramiro at a glance

• What it is: a seafood beer hall, open since 1956, on two floors (ground and first floor, no lift).
• Address: Avenida Almirante Reis 1-H, 1150-007 Lisboa, on the edge of Intendente.
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, noon to midnight; Sunday, noon to 11pm. Closed on Mondays and for the whole of August.
• Bookings: online through TheFork for up to six people, with a €25 per person deposit that comes off your bill; tables are held for two hours.
• Walk-ins: some tables are always kept back; take a ticket from the screen at the door and wait for your number.
• Price: about €50 to €60 a head for a spread of oysters, clams, prawns and a steak sandwich with a drink; much more if you order lobster or carabineiros.
• Getting there: a two-minute walk from Intendente metro station (green line), or about seven minutes from Martim Moniz.
• Must-orders: oysters, amêijoas à Bulhão Pato, a grilled giant tiger prawn and a prego (steak sandwich) for dessert.

What’s so special about Ramiro?

Cervejaria Ramiro started off in the fifties as a casual place to drink beer. It opened on 7 April 1956 as a small casa de pasto, a no-frills neighbourhood eating house, but when the founder started serving seafood, he found the cervejaria grew in popularity.

Before long, locals were coming to Ramiro as much for the seafood as for the beer, something that has continued through the decades and the generations. For many, Ramiro is seafood in Lisbon. Anthony Bourdain sealed its international reputation when he ate here for the Lisbon episode of No Reservations, and these days the queue is as likely to be made up of visitors as locals.

I headed over to Ramiro late on a Sunday afternoon after my awesome sidecar tour of Lisbon. I had thought that I was being very clever by going fairly late in the day, as it was less likely to be busy.

Not quite: the first thing that told me this was going to be something a little different was the small queue outside the door to the restaurant. I dutifully joined and after about ten minutes was shown past the bustling tables downstairs to the (it turns out) huge upstairs section of the restaurant.

The menu

The waiter handed me the menu. At first I just glanced down, then I looked again, and then I knew that this was going to be something special.

The menu is a seafood lover’s dream: oysters, clams, prawns, lobster, crab, crayfish, goose barnacles; you name it, it’s on there.

Ramiro’s menu is large, but the staff are more than happy to talk you through it and make recommendations. Much of the shellfish is priced by weight (per 100g or per kilo), so it’s worth asking how much a portion will come to before you order.

Now, I know that oysters are a love ’em or hate ’em kind of thing, but it just so happens that I love them (because there’s always time for oysters). I couldn’t not start my meal with a dozen of Ramiro’s oysters.

And of course, I needed something to wash them down with. I opted for a deliciously sharp vinho verde, though this is a cervejaria, so an ice-cold beer is the other classic pairing.

Ramiro is also famed for its pata negra (black-footed Iberian cured ham, today a Cinco Jotas selection on the menu). I didn’t get to try this, but it comes highly recommended, particularly if oysters aren’t really your thing.

Next up, I chose some clams in a garlic, butter and parsley sauce (amêijoas à Bulhão Pato, named after the 19th-century poet Raimundo António de Bulhão Pato). The clams were incredibly fresh and full of flavour, and the sauce so delicious that I used up the (very) generous portion of warm, crusty bread at the table mopping it all up.

What to order at Cervejaria Ramiro

• Oysters: sold by the piece (about €3 each on Ramiro’s online menu).
• Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato: clams in a garlicky, herby sauce (about €15 a portion), with bread for the sauce.
• Grilled giant tiger prawns: sold individually (about €19 each); smaller tiger prawns are about €7.50.
• Gambas al ajillo: prawns sizzling in garlic and oil (about €14 a portion; add chilli for €1.50).
• Percebes: goose barnacles, a Portuguese delicacy that tastes of the sea (about €9 per 100g).
• Steak sandwich (prego): the famous “dessert” (about €7).
• Vinho verde: young, fresh and sharp, the perfect match for shellfish.

Prices are from Ramiro’s own online menu in October 2026 and change with the market, so check the menu at the table.

I almost always go for lobster in a seafood restaurant, but this time I wanted to try something a little different, so I went for the grilled giant tiger prawns.

Happy to say that was also a success. The firm meat was perfectly grilled, and came with a lemon to squeeze over it and nothing else.

The dish was the perfect example of simplicity done well. Sometimes you don’t need lots of elaborate dressings or emulsions; you just need the very best quality ingredients to speak for themselves.

That’s where Ramiro’s success truly lies: serving up the freshest seafood and letting it shine. A grilled crayfish or lobster is the obvious next step if you’re going all out.

The tables surrounding me were full of Portuguese couples and families having a casual Sunday lunch. One young kid in particular was relishing cracking open her prawns and tucking into the meat.

Everywhere, people were talking, eating and generally having the kind of dinner that can be hard to find outside of home. What could be greater for a Sunday afternoon?

The family of six across from me working their way through a few (giant) crabs, the couple next to me eating prawns in garlic: everyone seemed perfectly relaxed and very much like they were enjoying their food.

I followed up my meal with Ramiro’s signature dessert.

Yes, that is a steak sandwich. The steak sandwich is the dessert to have at Cervejaria Ramiro. If you ask anyone “Hey, I’m heading to Ramiro, what should I order?”, they’re bound to mention the steak sandwich: a prego of thin, garlicky beef tenderloin in a soft roll, best with a squeeze of mustard.

Of course, you can also choose from more traditional options like chocolate mousse, cheesecake or sliced mango too. But really, the steak sandwich was so tasty, it would be rude not to. When in Lisbon and all that.

How to get a table: bookings and the queue

For decades, Ramiro didn’t take reservations, and the queue on Avenida Almirante Reis was part of the experience. That has changed. You can now book online through TheFork for up to six people per table. You pay a deposit of €25 per person (children included) when you book, which is taken off your bill at the end; you can cancel for a full refund up to 24 hours before. Your table is held for 15 minutes and is yours for two hours from the booking time. Larger groups should email [email protected].

Walk-ins still work. Ramiro always keeps some tables back from online bookings, and they’re given out in order of arrival: take a ticket from the screen by the door and watch for your number. At peak times (Friday and Saturday evenings, weekend lunches and summer evenings) the wait can stretch from 45 minutes to well over an hour.

Service, cost and tipping

Ramiro is a busy restaurant but undoubtedly offers great service.

My waiter was happy to talk me through the menu and recommend how much of each thing to order (much of the menu is priced by weight). The waiters are brisk, with a cheeky glint in their eye, but they know the menu inside out.

He was attentive enough to notice whenever my glass was low or my plate empty, but not so much that it felt like he was hovering over the table at all.

Cervejaria Ramiro was excellent value: roughly €40 a head when I went. Prices have risen since, and today a similar spread (half a dozen oysters, clams, a giant tiger prawn, a steak sandwich and a glass of wine each) comes to about €50 to €60 a head. Lobster, spider crab and carabineiros (scarlet prawns) can push the bill up fast.

Service isn’t usually added to the bill in Portugal. If you’ve enjoyed your meal, leaving around 10% is a kind gesture; my guide to tipping in Portugal has the details.

The catches

• The wait: without a booking, expect to queue at busy times, and Ramiro is closed on Mondays and throughout August.
• Pay attention to weights: shellfish priced per 100g or per kilo adds up quickly, so ask for the price of a portion before you order.
• The bread isn’t free: the toasted bread and butter that arrives at the table is charged (about €3.90 a portion). As anywhere in Portugal, you can send back anything you didn’t order.
• It’s noisy: this is a beer hall, not a romantic dinner spot, and the upstairs room has no lift.

Address and getting there

Cervejaria Ramiro, Avenida Almirante Reis 1-H, 1150-007 Lisboa.

Take the metro’s green line to Intendente: the restaurant is a two-minute walk away. From Martim Moniz (green line, and the tram 28 terminus) it’s about seven minutes on foot. If you’re driving, Ramiro lists a car park at Travessa do Maldonado 1.

Bookings are online only; for group bookings, email [email protected]. Ramiro also runs a take-away and delivery service (+351 969 839 472), open Tuesday to Sunday from noon to 9pm.

My verdict

Cervejaria Ramiro is a must-visit for anyone visiting Lisbon, and it was one of the culinary highlights of my trip. Go for the oysters, the clams and the tiger prawns, finish with a steak sandwich, and either book ahead or arrive early.

My rating: 4/5

Map

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