Mi Viejo — Restaurant in El Calafate

Seriously 10/10 experience in every way. From the food to the service to the atmosphere… to the price!

Absolutely one of our best meals out while traveling throughout Argentina.

The two of us shared: -Cordero Patagonico (typical lamb from Patagonia) -Entraña (a cut of steak) -Croquetas de cordero (lamb croquettes) -Tostada con stracciatella, mortadella, pistachios -Salad of blue cheese, poached pear, and beets

We ordered entirely too much food but honestly I wouldn’t change a thing. Everywas so delicious. We’ve had Patagonian lamb several times and this place was our favorite. The steak was also cooked to a perfect medium rare and was so flavourful and tender. My partner loved the lamb croquettes and I loved the mortadella stracciatella toast.

The service was perfect. We walked in without a reservation on a Friday night and were welcomed by the hostess who ve try kindly informed us that it would be a 40 min wait. We decided to go elsewhere as we didn’t want to wait. However we were back again when the other place we tried going to told us they had run out of lamb. So we waited for a bit, they have a small but cozy waiting area with a sofa.

After 5 mins, a waiter brought us some complimentary sparkling wine! And not the cheap stuff, it was delicious. Honestly better than the expensive ones we had at wineries in Mendoza. This small gesture seriously is so appreciated and truly makes guests feel welcomed, and yet is so rare these days.

Service throughout our meal was always prompt yet never intrusive. The waiter made an excellent wine recommendation after listening to what we liked and our budget.

The atmosphere is upscale casual, not pretentious or stuffy. Honestly, the look of the restaurant made me think the prices would be higher, but everything was priced affordably, at or slightly lower than other comparable restaurants in Calafate.

All in all, we enjoyed a terrific meal out without hurting our wallets. I highly recommend this place and wouldn’t...

The food at Mi Viejo is good, the service is poor. We went there in the late evening. It is nice that they have a waiting area in front with a couch and some stools where you can wait for a table to become free. We wanted a wine while we waited. The waiter came and showed us the menu and just told us which wines he likes, he could not tell us which one is dry or anything else. Basically he showed us the menu and the prices. We were seated after about half an hour which is really fine. We both had steaks and they were good. The price was really afordable but the service was bad. I wanted a skirt steak and the waiter said it is bad. I think he said that because it was cheaper than the rest. Why would you say your own food is bad. In the end we both had the rib eye steak. We got some bread and tunapaste at the start but the waiter just threw it on the table and did not even say what it was. The bread was cold. I had to fill up our wine and water the hole night, sorry expect more from a good rated restaurant. Also the waiter brought one steak first and only after a while the second one and the sidedishes. We got some sauce with the steak but again not even a slight information about what was in it. We felt he was very unpatient and there was no interest in making a good atmosphere. At the end we wanted to pay in USD and the rate was worse than in all the other restaurants. When we gave him no tip he pointed out that the tip was not included and afterwards he did not even say goodbye when we greeted and left. Really bad service. Unfriendly. Food was good. So in our opinion the place...

WARNING SCAM: I would have given this place a 5-star review had it not been for the waiter scamming us over a bottle of wine. He was very friendly at first, engaging with our family and being so kind and accommodating. Unfortunately, it seems he had a plan to scam us. We looked at the wine menu and picked a $75000 (or U$S75) bottle of wine. He said he’d bring that one and a second one for us to try. He took the menus away at this point. He brought both bottles over but did not open them both for us to try. He said he’d recommend the second bottle (not the one we picked) because it’s an excellent wine that only cost U$S10 more, although at other restaurants it’d be U$S130. He said this multiple times and we said if it’s only U$S10 more, we’d go with his recommendation. When we got the bill, the bottle of wine was U$S125. I asked them what happened because he said it was only U$S85. He got nervous and started telling me that he did say that but also he had shown me the menu with all the prices and I should have noticed. I told him I didn’t memorize all the prices on the menu. I just remembered the one we initially picked and then trusted him when he said the second bottle was U$S10 more, making it U$S85. When he saw my frustration, he said he’d give us a “discount”. He still charged us U$S100 for the bottle of wine. This was so wrong. It ruined our experience there and we will not come...