Restaurant El Fogón — Restaurant in Pucón

I only wanted to try or sample empanadas at least once on the Chile trip because most of my time had been spent on trails or in the bush eating minimally from the backpack. The two waiters were patient with me when I asked them about empanada ingredients. At first I insisted on empanadas filled with meat and vegetables as well as a good dose of spice, but I gathered from their reaction that's not how it works in the Chilean kitchen. So, I settled for meat but insisted on no cheese anywhere on the plate. I have no idea if these meat empanadas were of high quality, but they were hot (not just warmed over in a microwave or air fryer) and tasty, especially with the sides of merquen and aji sauce to give the rather bland empanadas a kick. I was happy about them. The restaurant was nearly empty of patrons at the time, but regardless, the wait staff were gracious with my questions and even friendly. The restaurant's interior decor is nice. I would have needed more time in the country to return for a full and proper...

Thoroughly unimpressed. Nothing was terrible; it was death by a thousand paper cuts. They didn't have the wine I ordered, or the one I ordered after that. They didn't have the empanadas my wife ordered (indicating that they probably don't make them there) and the mini cheese puffs they ultimately delivered certainly seemed like the frozen variety. My wife's "consomme with chicken, egg and vegetables" was nothing more than some chicken broth with an egg and some cilantro whisked in and a couple tiny flecks of chicken. My sirloin was quite tough and, worse than that, seasoned with fake smoke flavor. I don't see the point. The fries were good. The overall impression was one of superficiality and middling quality. I...

Lugar ubicado en avenida Bernardo O’Higgins, una de las principales calles de Pucón, en donde encuentras gran variedad de opciones para comer. El restaurante tiene una especialidad en carnes, cuenta con pocas mesas en terraza y dentro del lugar, el ambiente es cálido y la atención rápida (hay que considerar que había poca gente). Se pidió unas empanadas de queso como entrada, una bebida y jugo natural, estando este último bastante bueno, recién hecho, y con una buena cantidad de fruta (arándanos), de hecho pedimos nuevamente otro jugo. Las empanadas buenas, con harto queso y calientes. En cuanto a los platos de fondo, pedimos un lomo arriero (lomo a la parrilla acompañando con salsa de ajo más puré picante) a lo cual se nos alerta al momento de pedir que el puré era instantáneo, el punto de la carne fue el solicitado, pero abusaron de la cantidad de ajo que cubría totalmente el trozo de carne, el puré no estaba picante; con respecto al otro plato, fue un bife chorizo (350 grs de lomo liso a las brasas) más papas fritas, la carne estaba jugosa, en el punto 3/4 solicitado, de buen sabor, las papas fritas eran de bolsa, de corte grueso; en cuanto a aderezos tenían de la marca Hellmann’s. Comentar además que si bien estaban cercanos al horario de cierre, al momento de ir finalizando nuestra comida, nos retiraron todo, sin siquiera terminar bien nuestros platos, lo que dio la sensación de que debíamos irnos rápido....