El Gordo – Tapas Bar 52

Nasty stale food. The only benefit here is good beer. Our calamari was overdone and stale. Do not come for the food!

This is one of those instances where you are grateful for Unilocal.With Unilocal you have a little power to stop others from making the same mistake you did.
We found ourselves in this neighborhood hungry one night, and couldn’t decide on the restaurant. So we stopped at the fantastic pizzeria up the street and had a little food. 6 euros for 6 pieces of fantastic pizza. Then not so hungry we went into this tapas bar for a drink and snack.
We ordered a beer and a Pepsi, and had to wait at the bar 20 min for a table outside. We got the octopus and pork buttons at the recommendation of the server. He said they were fantastic with this look of orgasmic enthusiasm in his eyes. The octopus was 9 euros and the pork was a special, but how much could it really be right? Portugal is in a debt crisis and Greece is pulling down the euro.
The octopus tasted like it came out of a nasty can that you would get from some guy named jimbo in the Florida Everglades after he had left it in the sun for to long. We left it and the server saw this and asked us not to make a bad review on Unilocal,there’s a red flag. He said he took it off our bill.
Then the pork came and it was good. Very tasty, but I would later learn it was 16 euros. So you say this is kinda reasonable, debt crisis aside, right? Well the pork was like two little nubs. If you make a circle with your index finger and thumb, provided you aren’t shaq, this was the size of eight euros apiece.
The kicker was then the bill came. 32 euros. We had a Pepsi, beer, bread, they removed the octopus, and left on the pork. Think of all the better things you could do with 32 euros. I actually bought a new blazer at Zara man for 24 euros. As a comparison.
Ultimately time is on our side Unilocalers. Places like this will go out of business when mobile data plans are standardized internationally. Until then places like this will continue to rip you off because you will probably not look at this review until it is too late.
We all make our mistakes in like and sometimes you get taken advantage of, hopefully this might help a few travelers to avoid my mistake.
Now if you have finished reading this review open google and search for Faz Figura. This is an incredibly inexpensive michellin grade restaurant. Take the money that the tapas bar would have stole from you and use it for a wonderful meal overlooking the bay.

I realize that some reviewers have slammed this place as an overpriced tourist trap, but I was actually quite happy with my whole experience. I made my way to the bar and was quickly served by a friendly bartender.
This is a Tapas bar, so you are expected to explore the menu, and yes, if you’re not careful things can quickly get out of hand. However, the prices are clearly marked, so all you really need to do is count as you go: 2 euro each for chicken samosa, veal cake, and lamb fritter = 6 euros + another chicken samosa because those little babies are delicious and 3 beers at 5 euros each = 23 euros+ the piece de resistance, a 9 euro plate of octopus in garlic Olive Oil! = a grand total of…32 euros. Ok, this is math that I can do for once to the square root of Yum Yum.
So was it expensive? I guess so, but the food was completely worth it. I haven’t had octopus like that since I had studied in Spain many years ago. It was perfect with a somewhat nutty flavor, and the rest of my tapas were equally yummy.
My only issue was that they had smoking within the bar area (loss of a star) which for even in Europe is like clinging to something as archaic as a pager or VHS tape. Time to let that one go guys.

Bem localizado junto ao parque do Príncipe Real, oferece uma boa seleção de «petiscos» e vinhos num ambiente acolhedor e temáticamente bem decorado.

STAY AWAY!!! You’ve been warned, this is a stereotypical parasitic tourist trap that preys on the english-​speaking (and therefore presumably foreign-​ers). Oh, and that aside, the experience is pretty terrible too.
So, my boyfriend and I were seated immediately when we stepped into this busy restaurant that we happened to stumble across. Ravenous from the million uneven/​stone hills that line every single street of Lisbon, we were a bit disappointed when we waited in our seats for roughly 15 – 20 minutes before anyone came by to bring menus. We brushed it off though because right after bringing the menus, the waiter came over with a basket of bread, a dipping sauce of aioli (as they called it, though it was really just mayonaise and ketchup), and a plate of chorizo. Being that I lived in Spain for a bit, I knew better than to assume it was free, but we were so hungry that we ate the bread dipped into the sauce. We ordered tap water (and of course the waiter brought over two cups of water already poured and then the bottle he poured it from-​this cost us 4 euros), and the «Octopus Galega Style» Yet another 20 minutes later, the waiter comes over with a plate of deep fried calamari. We told him that this wasn’t what we ordered and told him what it was we really wanted, and he said that they had already made the calamari and we should just eat it and he would also put in the correct order. Another 15 minutes later, the smallest portion known to man of thinly sliced octopus drenched in oil came to the table. The food was tolerable BUT when the check came, they charged 2 euros for the bread we never ordered, and 2 more euros for the sauce they had the nerve to call aioli! (which we also didn’t order). Then, they charged 4 euros for the water and also 9 euros for the calamari which we also didn’t order but the waiter said we should keep, never mentioning he would charge for it since it was his mistake.
All in all, 24 euros to sit in a loud restaurant that was playing terrible WWE/​WWF style wrestling on it’s televisions, slow service, and tourist traps abound. ALSO, patrons smoke right in the restaurant and ash on the floor/​tables. We left still starving, a little more broke, and both REEKING of cigarettes. Stay far far away, you were thoroughly warned.

Good atmosphere, but quite expensive.

(In)Felizmente, trabalho em cozinha e desde há algum tempo que percebo como funcionam os restaurantes. Isto faz-​me descartar à partida todas essas tascas «gourmet» /​restaurantes de tapas que por aí existem, salvo raras excepções. Não há cuidado com os ingredientes, nem com a preparação dos mesmos e acho um absurdo os preços praticados.
Na minha visita ao El Gordo, pedi uma morcela grelhada (feita no forno ou na salamandra, toda seca), salada de polvo (5 ou 6 pedacinhos de polvo escondidos num mar de cebola e pimentos) e salada de favas (congeladas, por descascar e mal cozidas, no mesmo mar de pimentos e cebolas) mais duas imperiais.
Sei que paguei um balúrdio, mas não me lembro bem quanto foi. Devo estar a querer recalcar a memória.

eu adoro tapas e a cozinha espanhola é exímia nesse modo lento de comer. Acresce que, por vários motivos, nunca posso jantar a horas decentes. Depois como trabalhei algum tempo na zonado Principe Real, descer a D. Pedro V à meia-​noite e comer umas batatas bravas com um delicioso gazpacho é tudo o que se pode pedir!

Já fui ao Tapas 52 mais que uma vez. E das duas vezes fiquei com uma opinião diferente. Da primeira adorei: o serviço era excelente, os petiscos vieram deliciosos, o ambiente super agradável, nota dez!
Da segunda vez, o atendimento foi menos simpático, mas os petiscos mantiveram-​se na onda do muito bom!
É um bar à espanhola, come-​se tapas e bebe-​se cerveja ou vinho! Gostei muito e recomendo, o difícil é escolhermos que tapas pedir.
O preço podia ser mais simpático.

Das melhores tabernas espanholas de Lisboa. Fica na zona do Príncipe Real praticamente frente ao Pavilhão Chinês e difícil é…conseguir mesa.
No Tapas Bar 52 as Tapas são fantásticas ainda que considere nalguns casos as doses demasiado pequenas para o preço mas mesmo assim e dada a qualidade continuo a considerar das melhores tapas de Lisboa, ou não fosse o proprietário filho do ex-​dono do «El Gordo.»
Frequentado por gente jovem e turistas que procuram um local descontraído e com ótima musica para uma cerveja ao final do dia ou um jantar mais tardio. Recomendo a sangria de vinho branco, deliciosa.
A partir das 20:00h preparem-​se para a dificuldade de estacionamento.