Italian Lunch Near the Portuguese Parliament: Il Matriciano on Rua de São Bento

Where it is

Il Matriciano occupies the ground floor of Rua de São Bento 107, in the São Bento neighbourhood of central Lisbon — the parliamentary quarter. The Parliament is on the same street. From the front entrance of the Assembleia da República, the walk to the restaurant takes under a minute.

Rua de São Bento itself runs between Largo do Rato at one end and Praça das Flores at the other, threading past the Parliament's eastern flank. The restaurant sits a few doors uphill from the Parliament's main façade. Sora Lella, the pizzeria spinoff opened by the same owners, is on the same street at number 99. See directions and a map.

Lunch hours

Il Matriciano serves lunch Monday to Saturday, 12:30 to 15:00. The restaurant is closed on Sundays. Dinner runs separately from 19:30 to 23:00.

The two-and-a-half-hour lunch window fits the working rhythm of the parliamentary quarter — long enough to seat a working table without rushing, short enough not to overspill into mid-afternoon. Tables are typically held at a reasonable pace; orders are not rushed.

What's on the menu at lunch

The kitchen leads with Roman pasta. The signatures:

• Tonnarelli all'Amatriciana — square-cut Roman pasta with a sauce of guanciale (cured pork cheek from Sano di Amatrice, in Lazio), tomato, Pecorino Romano DOP, and chilli. The dish that gave the restaurant its name.
• Tonnarelli cacio e pepe — Pecorino Romano DOP and black pepper. Two ingredients, no room for error.
• Mezze maniche carbonara — short tube pasta with guanciale, egg yolk, Pecorino Romano DOP, and black pepper. Made the Roman way: without cream. Read how we make Roman carbonara.

The pasta itself comes from Pastificio Verrigni (Roseto degli Abruzzi, Abruzzo) and La Pasta di Aldo (Monte San Giusto, Marche), both recognised by Gambero Rosso International — with fresh shapes made by hand in-house each morning. Beyond the Roman core, the menu carries antipasti (vitello tonnato, burrata, prosciutto), seasonal pastas (ravioli di burrata, tortelloni, trofie, orecchiette, fettuccine), grilled fish, and meat secondi. More on our pasta.

The setting

Il Matriciano has around fifty seats indoors, a covered esplanade with roughly twenty more, and ten uncovered seats outside — about eighty across all areas. The room is small, the tables close-set, the service Italian. Conversation is possible — this is not a loud restaurant — and discreet enough for a working lunch where the next vote, briefing, or budget round is on the table.

Time Out (English edition) describes the restaurant as "part of the wave of good Italian restaurants to have opened in Lisbon in recent years, where the raw material, much of it coming from Italy, is taken very seriously by Alessandro Lagana, the owner" (Time Out Lisbon).

A March 2026 TripAdvisor review captures the location and the cooking in one line: "this is a super little restaurant — with a little bit of style — very near the parliament — service delicious food. […] The pasta and risotto rice absolutely masterfully cooked. Flavours deep and luxurious." (eddi10c, TripAdvisor.)

TripAdvisor lists the restaurant at 4.2/5 across 374 reviews (#531 of 6,549 Lisbon restaurants). Google shows 4.5/5 across roughly 1,144 reviews.

How to book

Lunch reservations can be made by phone on +351 213 952 639, by email at ilmatriciano.info@gmail.com. For tables involving multiple guests or a specific timing, calling ahead is the safer route — the lunch window is finite and the room is small.

For walk-ins, the better arrivals are at the start of service (12:30) or after the first round has cleared (around 14:00).

Why this fits a working lunch

A Parliament lunch needs three things: short walk, reliable timing, and a setting that fits a conversation. Il Matriciano sits at the intersection of all three — geographic proximity to the Assembleia da República, a defined service window, and a room where serious conversation is possible without competing with the dining room. The food is the same at lunch as at dinner; the dishes the kitchen does best — Roman pasta with named Italian provenance — work as well at midday as they do in the evening.