I'd heard quite good things about this new restaurant in the Mio Hotel, in particular, their pork cutlet milanesa, which impressed more than one writer enough to wax poetic about it. We decided to give it a shot for date night recently. It's a pretty spot, with an open kitchen, and they still have the waterfall at one end of the room. Service was attentive and friendly. The menu - a bit of sticker shock.
Yeah, it's a hotel restaurant and all that, but... when one orders a chorizo for 130 pesos, one expects a little more than a single "chorizo bombon", a mini version of the classic sausage, about 3 bites, and accompanied by nothing but a little dish of chimichurri. Yes, it was a delicious chorizo, don't get me wrong, but that's a little steep. But, we'd known it was going to be a pricey night out, so no surprise for a 205 peso provoleta, likewise excellent, and topped with caramelized red onions and accompanied by a mildly spicy tomato sauce.
My companion ordered up the ribeye steak - which is available in three sizes, he went with the smallest, which was still a 550 gram steak (670 pesos!), more than a pound, and accompanied by more chimichurri, some herbed croutons (not quite sure I get that - a little weird to put on a steak), and some roasted garlic cloves (yes please). Came out cooked a perfect medium rare, and properly seasoned, and was tender as could be. Since the steak didn't come with any sort of real side dish... he also ordered a side of roasted potatoes. Excellent. Actually, maybe the best thing on the table, they were perfectly cooked and seasoned. 165 pesos.
And I went with the aforementioned pork cutlet milanesa. I have to say, I don't quite get the poetry to be waxing about. It's a decent pork cutlet, on the bone and pounded thin. It's breaded in what tasted like it might be cornflakes, which gave it a weird flavor. The accompaniment of a charred lemon was a nice touch, but they need to give you a... hygienic way to squeeze it over the pork - it's covered in oil which makes picking it up and squeezing it, even on the tines of a fork, a mess for one hand at a minimum. And a large spoonful of whole grain mustard is just sitting atop it - I don't get the spoon. The salad - pretty "plain jane" - some mixed lettuce leaves in a very basic vinaigrette. There's so much more they could have done, particularly in presenting something like this. 390 pesos.
Add in a couple of waters, a couple of glasses of wine (140 pesos each, and very good quality), a 90 peso per person cubierto charge (and they have paper napkins on the table... come on, for that price, and being in a high-end hotel, use some real napkins!) and a tip, and we topped out at barely shy of 2400 pesos - roughly $56. Not outrageous, just expensive. read more