Two Italian Restaurants in Docas
On both of my last two weekends in Lisbon I have visited the “Doca de Santo Amaro”, which is a waterfront area more commonly known simply as Docas.
Here, the old dock warehouses under the spectacular 25 de Abril bridge have been converted into restaurants, cafeterias and disco-bars, making this a very popular area both during the day and at night.
The cafeterias and restaurants all have outside terrace tables, sheltered by large sunshades during the summer and warmed by huge terrace heaters during the winter, allowing pleasant views of the yachts and boats in the port, the bridge and across the water to the imposing Cristo Rei statue.
On the first weekend I visited the Pasta Caffé restaurant (at least I think that is what it’s called; I can never remember if it’s Pasta Caffé or Caffé Pasta). We sat outside on the terrace and ordered garlic bread with cheese, pasta and Italian red wine. The waiter totally forgot about the garlic bread but this didn’t bother us because the pasta was more than sufficient and very tasty.
On my second visit to Docas we went to Don Pomodoro. This time, to cool off, we went inside to the top floor by the window. This restaurant seems just a bit more authentically italian, perhaps due to the decor and the variety of dishes offered on the menu. We had pennette all’arrabbiata and rigatoni pasticciati, accompanied by a delicious and refreshing champagne sangria with strawberries which I can thoroughly recommend, although you have to be careful since it’s very tempting to drink this down like water! The waiter even offered us a second half-caraffe on the house, since we were so enthusiastic about it.
All in all, I would say Don Pomodoro was the best of the two restaurants and the prices are very similar. They also have convenient menus for kids (possibly the Pasta Caffé does too, but we weren’t with children there so I didn’t notice this)