This is a list of the 5 best restaurants in Lagos, Portugal! This post includes pictures and descriptions of what we recommend!
Lagos is an amazing seaside town with so much to do and a plethora of great food. However, if you're not careful you can definitely walk into a tourist trap!
There's quite a big variety of restaurants in Lagos, Portugal especially in the Old Town which is the pedestrian area where everything is happening. There's everything from Portuguese restaurants, seafood restaurants, Italian restaurants to brunch cafes, Indian restaurants and sushi restaurants. Like every other vacation spot, there's a chance you can walk in and have an average meal.
Overview of our favorite restaurants in Lagos, Portugal:
- BARBOSA Bar & Kitchen
- Coffee & Waves
- Nah Nah Bah
- Pastelaria Gomba
- 7 Hills Indian Restaurant
We spent five days in Lagos. We enjoyed all of our meals and did our research while we were there. I'm hoping to save you the time and make sure you have a great experience. So, let's head to our top 5 restaurants in Lagos, Portugal!
Restaurant 1 - BARBOSA Bar & Kitchen
This restaurant was so good we came here 3 times....embarrassing I know but trust me, after you go you'll understand why!
First of all, the restaurant was designed nicely. It was modern yet had a nice representation of Portugese culture with the tiles. The presentation of the plates and drinks was great. Plus the service was top notch!
Our dinner experience was great! We shared small plates when we went so we were able to try a bit of everything. The flaming chorizo was delicious and it came on a flaming grill type plate. You have the ability to grill the chorizo to your liking.
The sautéed shrimps was one of the best dishes we had during our whole Portugal trip. Like all Portuguese dishes, it's a very basic dish but full of flavor. We also shared the quinoa avocado salad. We always try to get a green dish in our meal. You can't go wrong with roasted octopus in Portugal! Another great dish exploding with flavor.
Finally, we ended the meal with two espressos and the almonde tarte. You can't leave without trying this dessert, it was one of the best of our whole trip. We seriously considered going back the next night just to have the tart!
BARBOSA also has a great happy hour. We went for lunch/happy hour a couple times also. We tried the Per Se spritz during the happy hour. Krista really liked it; I liked it but I prefer an aperol spritz. We also shared a veggie board. It doesn't sound like much but trust me it was delicious. The spreads and cured vegetables were so good, we wiped the board clean!
It is safe to say this was our favorite restaurant in Lagos, Portugal!
https://www.instagram.com/barbosalagos/?hl=en
Restaurant 2 - Coffee & Waves
Picture a modern, trendy brunch spot with great coffee, homemade desserts, delicious food, housemade wine and some relaxed music. Sounds pretty good, right?
The vibe in here was so nice, you didn't want to leave. We met the nicest people who were open to conversation and interested in speaking. The people working there were from all over Europe, it was cool! From the people working to the food, everything just fit.
Everything on the menu sounded great. We shared an acai bowl and avocado toast with a poached egg. The acai bowl topped with the fresh fruit was really refreshing on a hot day! The avocado toast was really good. It was topped with spiralized vegetables of different colors on top of delicious sourdough bread. The egg was cooked perfectly as well. With all of the colors on the toast, I felt healthier just looking at it!
We had our fair share of iced lattes on this trip but the ones here were one of our favorites. The smell of coffee took over the restaurant so we knew we're getting lattes from the moment we stepped in. Add a homemade chocolate chip cookie and a pasteis de nata to the coffee and you can already imagine the smile on our faces! They had other pastries and homemade cakes so it was a hard decision. Next time we'll get the croissant I had my eyes on ;).
Warning: make sure you go here BEFORE you get hungry or else there's a chance you'll become hangry and nobody wants that. The wait can be long and there are no reservations. Don't let it steer you away though! You can put your name down on the list and enjoy the Algarve sun!
https://www.instagram.com/coffee.waves/
Restaurant 3 - Nah Nah Bah
In the mood for a laid back night with burgers and fries? This is your spot!
There is a burger for everyone on the list. From beef, chicken to vegan and vegetarian options! We ordered two burgers and of course we shared them (you'll see that's a common theme). We ordered the Toucan burger which won an award for the Top 50 Burgers in the world. It did not disappoint! The bacon, pineapple and secret sauce was so full of flavor. However, our favorite was our second burger which was Luis Figo's Wet Dream. After taking a bite, I see why they chose the name. I couldn't believe I took a bite of a grilled chicken burger! The chorizo added to it and the piri piri sauce just brought it all together. Do not skip over this burger!!
I think the chips deserved a special shoutout. Instead of french fries, they provide homemade chips topped grated parmesan cheese. The crunch on these were crazy! We wanted to order more!
And yes, we managed to slip some greens in! We ordered the House Herbs salad. A basic salad full of greens with a nice vinagrette.
This spot is very popular so we recommend making a reservation beforehand. We used TheFork, which is an app we used throughout our Portugal trip for reservations. There were a couple of nights where you could get a discount from booking a reservation through the app so keep an eye on that!
Restaurant 4 - Pastelaria Gomba
Now, honestly when you see this place you won't think too much of it. It's an old time, cash only bakery. We were a bit skeptical when we went in but we needed to grab a quick sandwich. We decided to just go with it and settled on a ham and cheese croissant.
After one bite, my eyes lit up. I couldn't believe that a basic ham and cheese croissant could taste so good! Krista and I both agreed that it could be one of the best sandwiches we've EVER had. This croissant wasn't a regular croissant. Portuguese croissants are more like brioche bread so the sweetness and pillowy texture of the croissant with the simplicity of the ham and cheese was unbelievable. No sauce or anything else added to it either! To top it all off, the sandwich was 3 euro!!
Restaurant 5 - 7 Hills Indian Restaurant
We needed a break from Portuguese food for the night so we decided to try some Indian. It's really highly rated on Google with almost 5 stars and over 2000 reviews so we thought why not!
It didn't disappoint! We shared a paneer tikka masala, dal and chicken biryani. The dishes were fresh and full of flavor. Almost forgot! We also ordered garlic naan, can't forget that! We chose to sit outside and we ordered a bottle of green wine as well. It was the perfect spot to enjoy delicious Indian cuisine, talk and people watch. If you're looking to deviate from Portuguese food for a night definitely check out this place.
We made a reservation for this restaurant and we were really glad we did. The line outside was CRAZY! It isn't the biggest restaurant so seating is limited. If you catch nice weather you can sit outside but do yourself a favor and make sure to make a reservation. You can make it through TheFork as well.
FAQ - Restaurants Lagos, Portugal
Short answer: YES! Remember, this is a touristy vacation spot that can be very busy. We had one night where we didn't make a reservation and it was a nightmare! I recommend downloading TheFork for reservations. There are some nights where you can get 10-30% off at certain locations if you use them for a reservation.
No, we didn't find that at all. All of our dinners were below 100 euro including 1-2 drinks each and dessert.
Yes! We loved all of our meals in Lagos. I mean you really can't go wrong with seafood dishes or traditional Portuguese dishes. Like any other touristy beach spot you can find places that don't serve good, fresh food. Our recommendation is to have a plan before hand. We had already scoped out where to not eat and what was around the area. Luckily for you, you have this blog post!
I hope this post helps you with your trip to Lagos, Portugal. Again, these were our favorite restaurants in Lagos, Portugal and we're sure you'll love them as well. We absolutely loved our time there. Between the beaches, activities and food it was hard to leave! We can't wait to share even more about our trip to help everyone make their planning smooth and easy.
If you're interested in a free Lagos and Lisbon travel guide, check out this MAP!
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If you found this post helpful please leave a comment below. It would really help our business grow. Thank you!
Ken
You guys are great! Will be using this for our upcoming trip.
Michael
We are so happy to hear that, Ken! Enjoy your trip!