Don't even bother coming here if you are a tourist and are not (a) fluent in Portuguese, or (b) familiar with "the system" of this cafe.
Wasn't too crowded at 11:00, but we were not even acknowledged... completely ignored (not even an "ola!" or "bom dia!" as we usually get everywhere else here.) We could not even tell if the tables/restaurant were open for actual dishes... we wanted lunch, but there was no sign or indication if they were serving cooked dishes yet (and nobody at the tables), so we went to the cafe counter where people were having pastries and coffee, and we started perusing the savory baked goods (filled with meats, fish, shrimp, etc. -- we hadn't eaten in 5 hours and needed some protein.) We discussed what we were going to get (a bacalhau pastry, one filled with shrimp, and one filled with meat)... still ignored. So I raised my hand to try to get their attention with a "Disculpe..." or "Eu gosto" or "Posso temer...?", then the man who had been tomando cafe (coffee/breakfast) at the counter suddenly cut us off and made an order... consisting of almost EVERYTHING we had just discussed. And he didn't just order one or two... they pulled out the trays and completely emptied them into a box for him.
No more shrimp pastries (rissols de camarao)... he took all 10 that were left. No more bolinhos de bacalhau, either... he took all those, too.
So, we just left. We couldn't even get a SINGLE greeting, or a SINGLE rossoi or bolinho that we wanted. Avoid this place... apparently they don't want tourist business AND they only make enough food to apparently feed a SINGLE customer. (We returned out of curiosity later in the day, around 15:00... and, sure enough, there were still no rissois de camarao. One customer literally bought their entire stock for the whole day.)
Don't even bother giving this place a try. Too difficult and unfriendly. read more