Zonda, Cocina de Paisaje — Restaurant in Luján de Cuyo

Short Summary: 7 course set lunch experience with wine pairing

Overall I thought the restaurant had a lot of great things going and had lots of potential but our experience was definitely sub-par for a Michelin star restaurant charging ~200$ USD per person.

Wine pairing was overall fantastic with very knowledgeable wine sommeliers

Food: very hit or miss, some dishes were fantastic, others were a complete miss. (Salad was wilted and poor quality with a bug found in one of our salads. Generally would expect higher scrutiny and quality from a Michelin star restaurant)

Service: service was overall good, they did completely forget to serve the side of bread with the main entree. Thought the wine pairing and wine sommeliers did a particularly great job.

Atmosphere: very beautiful setting with large windows and a great view of the on-site vineyard. Would have given 5 stars but there were over 10 house flies flying around near the tables sat near the windows. They were constantly disturbing the dining experience often landing on the wine glasses of all nearby tables.

Further explanation of dining experience: The Main entree was a wonderfully cooked steak served with like 7 different plates which was confusing as there were some dishes (fried potatoes) that would be enjoyed hot but by the time you had a bite of your steak and had a drink of your wine pairing the rest of the food was cold.

Wished they would have broken up the main entree experience into smaller pieces to reduce the clutter of the table (not helped by the fact that they had all wine glasses from the entire 7 course meal sitting out the entire meal, it created a wine glass wall that made navigating additional plates very awkward). Or they could bring out individual wine glasses with each pairing to reduce table clutter. They also didn't ask how we would like our steak cooked until after the steak was already served which was really odd. We were fine with medium rare and how it was served but if you didn't want it cooked that way I'm not sure how they would have fixed it.

Additionally, the home grown salad served with the main steak entree was terribly wilted and unwashed in some parts (there was a small bug in my partner's salad).

Service was generally good but they completely forgot to serve the bread with the main steak entree (which was bizarre because they brought out salt, pepper, olive oil and a house made butter for the bread specifically. The bread was also cold and was served from a large basket with a bunch of bread slices thrown in together, would have hoped it was made/cut fresh so the bread wasn't served cold and soggy) They could potentially avoid situations like this if they broke up their main entree.

The dessert (lemon sorbet) was a complete miss for us as it was generally uncreative and a little too acidic especially considering it was at the end of a meal with 7 wine pairing. The wine plus the acidic sorbet and the addition of another sorbet served earlier in the meal was just a little too much.

Overall, I thought the restaurant had a lot of great things going and had lots of potential but our experience was definitely sub-par for a Michelin star restaurant charging ~200$...

I would give it 9 out of 10 for the Zonda Experience.

The food was great. The service was exceptional. The tea in the garden was a nice touch. The walk through the vines and explanation was pleasant. The paired (9) wines were all done well except one. Every course in the 11 course lunch was nice.

I prefer my duck cooked a little more. Considering the Asian theme to our meal, I think a chinese Peking duck style or crispy smoked tea leaf duck would be a better option to pair with the wine.

The welcome breakfast was okay, nothing special.

Our only two complaints and i share these so this place as we would like to come back for a different menu /season some day.

The coffee with the breakfast was colored water /weak.

We upgraded to the zonda experience with the chance for a lesson with their chefs in the kitchen. Essentially we were taught how to make the dough for a tortilla /chapati / puri. For three older experienced folks, this was a pale comparison to my experience at a similar venue in Italy ... agriturusmo tenuta Castel venezze.

For now, go for the food, dont bother to upgrade to the Zonda experience, not worth the price difference ... 170k vs...

We loved our experience at Zonda Cocina. We did the full experience with a tour of the Lagarde winery grounds, (including the garden) followed by the full tasting menu + wine pairing.

It wasn't just a meal, but a half-day experience where we truly felt connected to the place and the food being prepared for us. We also got to participate in the cooking by making a traditional pastry that was served later in the meal. We were able to pick some things in the garden to try fresh off the vine, and enjoyed listening to their process for selecting seasonal ingredients.

Our sommelier, Hipolito, Poli was so detailed throughout our experience giving us detailed explanations of each wine and how they highlight particular dishes. He was warm, funny, kind, and we really appreciated that he set clear expectations for how the experience would go throughout the day.

I will be thinking about the empanadas and filet mignon with peaches until we return to Mendoza, absolutely...