With kids, give Fado Show a miss.
At its best, hauntingly moving — a single voice and Portuguese guitar in a hushed room, the most emotionally Portuguese thing you can do in the city. The honest catch: the entry says picking a real casa de fado is everything, so here are real ones. Clube de Fado (Alfama, by the cathedral; stone walls, a Moorish well, top names) and Mesa de Frades (a tiny former chapel lined with 18th-century tiles, intensely intimate) are the benchmarks; A Parreirinha de Alfama, founded by the late fadista Argentina Santos, is the old-guard, rustic option. Expect a minimum spend or set menu rather than a ticket, book ahead, and go for the music — the food is rarely the reason. Avoid the open-door places on the tourist lanes with menu boards out front and rushed sets.