When a friend invited me recently to a Harry Potter restaurant in Sintra called Platforma 9 3/4, I jumped at the chance, especially when she said, “You have to come. Reservations book out here a year in advance. I’ve been trying to get in for months, but sometimes they open up new times at the last minute when people cancel, and that’s how I finally got in.”
“Wait, there’s a Harry Potter restaurant in Sintra?” I replied. “That place is magical enough on its own but add Harry Potter to the mix? I’m in!”
Harry Potter, the world-famous “boy who lived,” who just seems to get more popular with each passing year, actually had his literary start in Portugal. In 1991, after the death of her mother, JK Rowling moved to Porto to teach English and ended up falling in love, getting married to a Portuguese man, having a daughter, and writing the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Harry Potter, you could say, has some Portuguese DNA and so it is only fitting that a Harry Potter-themed restaurant should open in the most magical place in Portugal – Sintra – with castles dotting the surrounding hills, initiation chambers practicing ancient rites, and gardens filled with exotic plants.
Let the Magic Begin
Your experience at Plataforma 9 3/4 (known as Plataforma.Rodizio on Instagram) begins with a role call at the front door by a “professor” dressed in a Hogwarts-like robe. The professor first asks the group of guests if they can remember a spell from Harry Potter to get the front door to open. When the group recites it all together, the door opens and then, just like being students at Hogwarts, each reservation is called, and guests are welcomed into the restaurant individually. A blue car, meant to resemble the Flying Ford Ford Anglia 105E Deluxe from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, sits just outside the entrance, which guests can pose with for photos with as they wait to be called. I visited during the Christmas season and the Flying Ford was decorated with presents and snow-dusted wreaths. The professor greeting us at the door also raised his wand into the air and “made it snow” before he called our names, quite a special touch when you’re in a part of Portugal that hasn’t seen snow since 2006.
Spend the Day in Sintra Before Your Harry Potter Dinner
We arrived 20 minutes late to our 7pm dinner reservation due to terrible traffic coming out of Lisbon. This meant that we missed the role call and actually saw it in the second seating of the evening, which started at 9:30pm. Although Portugal is a place that notoriously doesn’t emphasize being on time, you should try your best to come on time for the reservation because of the role call. You don’t want to miss it, as it is a special part of the experience.
If you have a dinner reservation for the 7pm seating, leave no later than 5pm from Lisbon to avoid any potential traffic jams and the biggest part of the rush hour. This means that you may end up arriving super early and need to kill time, but it’s better than being stressed about missing your reservation due to unforeseen circumstances. I started calling an Uber at 5:15pm for the 30-40-minute drive to Sintra and still didn’t arrive until 7:20pm. That’s how long it can take when Ubers start canceling on you and traffic piles up during rush hour.
Another alternative would be to spend the day in Sintra and then grab a car for the 15-minute drive to Plataforma 9 3/4, thus avoiding the Lisbon rush hour altogether. If I could go again, this is exactly how I would do it. The restaurant is not really reachable by public transport so it is essential to get a car there, whether it is from Lisbon or Sintra.
Try to Get a Seat Upstairs
Once you get inside the restaurant, you will be seated on the ground floor or the first floor. We were seated just inside the front door but noticed the steps to the second floor and didn’t get a chance to check it out until the end of our meal.
Trust me – you want to be on the second floor. Not only is it more beautifully designed, with its Hogwarts wall and Gringott’s Wizarding Bank corner, but it also has a beautiful Christmas tree set up in the center during the season, which made it feel like you were in a cozy part of an old house. There is even a faux fireplace with floating books, Gryffindor regalia, and a Sorting Hat. When we come back, we definitely want to be on the second floor. Don’t miss your chance to check it out if you are like us and don’t get to eat there.
That being said, the first floor has its own charms. The bar has lots of playful drinks suspended in the air pouring a variety of multi-colored liquids into beakers and glasses. There are wizarding signs across the walls reminding students when they should and shouldn’t use their magic. The front of the Hogwarts Express juts out of one wall and provides the backdrop for a photo session which takes place in the middle of dinner when one professor brings out a stuffed Hedwig in a cage and asks if anyone would like their photo (we did!). Adjacent to the main dining room on the ground floor is the potions room where children are asked to gather at a different point in the meal to see more magic and get little gifts to take back to their tables.
The Meal
Alright, let me start by being honest. You don’t come to Plataforma 9 3/4 for the food. It’s passable at best and very overpriced for what it is. You are here to enjoy the staff dressed in robes, the magic at the table, and the fun Harry Potter decor. This is essentially an all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant where, just like at a Brazilian steakhouse, staff come around and ask if you want a slice of the next pizza being served to everyone. You can keep saying yes until you are full. Interestingly, when we were there, no pizzas were repeated and they eventually stopped whether we were done or not. In total, we each had about nine slices of pizza. Vegetarians did have an option to have a cheese only pizza or one with only onions and mushrooms, but there were no gluten-free or vegan options.
Butterbeer is the highlight of the drinks menu, although it is referred to as “Carmelized Beer” on the menu, and my Butterbeer had not been well mixed when it was served, so I encourage you to mix it yourself to get the full Butter Caramel effect. I did think it tasted quite nice once I mixed it up. You can order Butterbeer with or without alcohol.
Cocktails range between €12 and €13 and include “Snake Acid,” “Pure Magician,” Paloma’s Kiss,” and “Lovephoria,” while mocktails cost between €8 and €13 and include “Goblin Coin,” “Colada Express,” and “potions” in three different flavors.
Besides the drinks, the only food option is all you can eat pizza, which is €25 per person for adults and €12.50 for children aged 4-10 years old. There are five desserts on the menu and they excel at keeping with the Harry Potter theme, whether it’s “Dragora Vase,” a Mandrake Oreo mousse in a flower pot, “Monster Book,” which is a brownie with ice cream with a magic tongue sticking out of the book, “Magic Cauldron,” “Strawberry Charm,” or a small Happy Birthday cake. These range between €4.50 and €7.
Magic Moments at Platforma 3/4
In addition to the magic moments I’ve already mentioned, Plataforma 9 3/4 did its best to entertain and enchant guests during the entire 2-hour experience. Not only did we get a chance to take pictures with Hedwig and watch it snow, but we also got to play with a wand at our table and use it to light the candle at our table. There were also four jellybeans in a tiny cauldron at our table (Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans or not? You will have to find out.) and a moment when we were asked to think of a magic word and use it to make a cauldron bubble over and mist over our entire table. There were also moving pictures on the stairs between the ground and first floor, making me feel very much like we were at Hogwarts.
The only non-magical moment would be the bathroom facilities. They seem to be the one place where not much care was taken to keep with the theme and I think much more could be done to make even the bathroom feel like an enchanting experience. Perhaps a cameo appearance from a Portuguese-speaking Moaning Myrtle in the toilet from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?
Bring a Portuguese-Speaking Friend
One other thing about Plataforma 9 3/4 that is important to mention is the wide use (as it should be) of Portuguese. Although many of the staff are young and probably do speak English, we didn’t get the impression that much English is spoken at the restaurant. The entire menu is in Portuguese, as is the role call and potions room experience. Be prepared to navigate in Portuguese or bring a Portuguese-speaking friend or translation device with you.
How to Get There and How to Get Reservations
Where: Largo Joaquim José Correia, 2635-047, Rio de Mouro. (Plataforma 9 3/4 in Google Maps)
When: Every Day, 7pm – midnight
How to Get There: Definitely by car, Uber and Bolt are your best bets to call a car, with Bolt being the cheapest
How to Get Reservations: You can make reservations on the website directly. Keep checking every day for last-minute cancellations. Dinner is served in two seatings: at 7pm and 9:30pm.
Final Thoughts
Harry Potter fans will definitely appreciate their trip to Plataforma 9 3/4, which tries it best to give guests a memorable experience. The food, however, is quite forgettable and this experience isn’t cheap, especially by Portuguese standards (we each spent about €40 euro including pizza, drinks, and dessert). But the overall experience is a nice getaway from it all for two hours and you really will feel that you are in some kind of in between world waiting for your trip to Hogwarts.
The restaurant is not within walking distance from central Sintra nor is it really close to anything else. In fact, it really feels like you are somewhere closer to Privet Drive in Surrey, Harry’s home when not studying at Hogwart’s. This adds to the feeling of being whisked away to somewhere magical once you are inside the restaurant.
I would come again especially with my tourist friends visiting me who have an appreciation for Harry Potter. It’s a unique experience in Portugal but don’t go in with incredibly high expectations due to the food only being 2-3 star. On the Harry Potter theming, I would give them an 8/10.
