Leitao Portuguese Cuisine

We had friends visiting from New Orleans and they LOVED Leitao as much as us. From the atmosphere and service to the food and wine selections, we are in heaven. Love love Leitao

The New Year’s Eve menu was fantastic. As a Portuguese person, I’m always looking for delicious authentic Portuguese food and Leitao never disappoints. It takes classic dishes and makes them modern without losing what makes the dish special.

Thank you for an amazing night! The food brought us right back to a trip to Lisbon a few years ago and the staff were SO accommodating and friendly with our toddler. Truly a great night!

Leitão is one of those places that quietly reminds you how good Portuguese food can be when it’s done right. They keep raising the bar in NYC, bringing an incredible level of quality to both the food and the overall experience, in a way that really feels unmatched. The menu is thoughtful and confident, rooted in tradition but far from predictable. Every dish feels carefully prepared, using great ingredients and clear attention to detail. On top of that, their cocktail list is excellent, creative without being flashy, and the Portuguese wine selection is one of the best around, well curated and genuinely fun to explore. What ties it all together is the service. Warm, attentive, and knowledgeable, without ever feeling forced. From the food to the drinks to the people, Leitão delivers an experience that stands apart and continues to redefine what Portuguese cuisine looks like in New York.

Spectacular!

The food was great. The octopus salad and the steak are 10/10. The octopus was impossibly tender. The sauce with the perfectly cooked steak was so savory and peppery. The broccoli rabe was a perfect accompaniment with the steak. The red pepper sauce paired well with the bitter greens. The Arroz de Mariscos was 7/10. It could have used a little more salt and some of the seafood got lost in the flavor of the soup. The pasteis de nata was the perfect end to the meal. Service-wise, we sat at the bar and Juliana took great care of us! I can see her name mentioned in many reviews. She was so warm and friendly. She also paced out our meal perfectly so we didn’t feel crowded with plates at the bar. The rest of the bar team kept our water glasses full throughout the night. 10/10 service.

Great food!

From the minute we walked in, we were treated with red carpet service. The food not only matched but exceeded in flavor. This is a destination visit. One of the best meals I have ever had.

We were very grateful to get a table as a walk-in around 5pm without a reservation. The appetizers were much better than the main courses. The polvo was the best dish of the meal, the clams were extremely fresh, though the sausage was a bit salty. The Mediterranean white bread with olive oil was amazing; my mom even ordered an extra one. For mains, we ordered the grilled chicken and the seafood rice, and both were quite underwhelming. The chicken lacked flavor and was mostly just covered in chili oil. Surprisingly, the seafood rice was less flavorful than the clam appetizer and also tasted bland. We finished with a Portuguese egg tart, which we expected to be a specialty of a Portuguese restaurant, but it wasn’t really to our taste. It felt like flour was added to the custard, giving it a slightly sticky texture, and the flavor was just okay. The service, however, was excellent! Special thanks to the gentleman who took great care of us.