99 Restaurante — Restaurant in Vitacura

Worst experience of my life eating in a restaurant

I should have listened when I received an email informing me that my reservation had been canceled due to a system error, which would have saved me money and a lot of hassle.

To begin with, I informed when I made the reservation that I was a pescatarian and, even so, my dinner had three meat dishes, which I overlooked because I chose fish because of a preference to eat fish, not really a food restriction. Well, when we arrived, the sommelier asked us if we would have a paired menu for dinner and we said that we wanted to see the wine list to decide, to which we were informed that there was no such option, that is, we could either eat with the pairing proposed by the restaurant or eat without wine. So we decided that my husband would have the full menu and I would just have the food. Here, two problems: 1. The sommelier said that she would bring a small glass of white wine and another of red wine during the dinner (of nine courses), which I understood would be a courtesy of the house, since I could not choose from a “wine by the glass menu” and because I was served just a bit of wine, but they ended up being charged (detail: I did not drink the white wine and the glass was taken from the table while still full); 2. During dinner, a table with two women ordered a bottle of wine outside the fixed pairing (a bottle of a special and expensive wine, which was chilled and decanted, distracting the sommelier from the other tables and delaying the service). After that, this table began to be treated differently until the end of the service. Still on the subject of the wine service, during the dinner, eight drinks were served in quantities that did not even add up to half a bottle. The impression was that the house decided to open a single bottle of each wine and make it available to all diners. Regarding the food, two of the dishes were overly salty, one of the “desserts” was three little crackers with dulce de leche (with a slight difference in the preparation between the three versions) and, at the end, the second “dessert” (and last dish of the night) was two cubes of goat cheese with a quarter of an apricot in homemade syrup. And that’s it.

No coffee or tea was served to end the dinner. They didn’t give a written menu. Considering the way the restaurant presents itself, it doesn’t correspond.

And the service was super slow. Almost four hours in total, a long time between each dish.

The night was wrapped up with the staff disappearing from the dining room after the last dish was served (it seemed like they were already cleaning up to close the restaurant), while a single person brought the bill to each table (one table at a time), instead of speeding things up and prioritizing the customer’s time.

In short, very sad. We had been to 99 Restaurante in the past, when it was still in the Providencia neighborhood, and we had great memories of the atmosphere, the service, and the food. Our expectations were high and they were dashed.

On the positive side, we ate delicious trout and a horse meat skewer, which was...

“I got 99 problems but this restaurant ain’t one”, especially if you’re dining here for lunch. Their three course lunch, which will set you back roughly AUD $25 is extraordinarily good value. Funnily enough, we were put onto this restaurant whilst dining out in Buenos Aires and the restaurant was referred to us by a Japanese guy who now calls Santiago home.

It is an alfresco dining space on a relatively quiet street in the CBD. The setting is tranquil, a number of tables neatly aligned and a few of groups entertaining a business lunch. The service is professional and swift, to accomodate those on a lunch break.

As we are much accustomed to in South America, we are provided with house made bread served with mushroom butter, provided on a cool rustic display, the butter served in a small piece of copper half pipe.

With a range of drinks to choose from, we opt for the red wine. A traditional and once common Chilean grape variety Paise that went out of vogue, and is apparently now coming back into trend like the three stripe adidas tracksuit. The wine is easy drinking and quite light with sweeter notes of blueberries. The wine is exclusive to this restaurant and supplied by Don Modesto.

The lunch menu consists of 6 items, you have the 6 item tasting menu or a half serve. The 3 course menu was perfectly suitable and worked out well considering our contrasting tastes. Plus it was a generous serve and there’s no way we would have finished 6. Half of the menu is vegetarian so it is suitable for many diners. The menu items are locally inspired. The first course options were both very tasty and very different. The Espuma d papa y yema curada was a potato and yam foam, with nice texture and very much soup like, served with an egg yolk and crisps. It aaa served in a beautiful ceramic bowl. Then there was also the Sandwich de lengua, which is a beef tongue and cheese sandwich/slider. Don’t be scared by the “tongue”, it is essentially their version of a typical local beef and cheese sandwich. The tongue was nicely stewed and they certainly did not skimp on the cheese. Served with some potato crisps and chilli mayo, it was a great starter.

For the main, we both opted for the papada de Cerdo y lentejas. This was essentially Jamon and lentils. The Jamon was served crisp and melted in your mouth. This was sitting atop lentils, which were served with egg and pecorino cheese on top and it was a very flavoursome and hearty dish.

The desserts were a standout. The Brownie, manzana y chocolate was a rich peanut butter brownie nicely presented with a chocolate mouse and a sorbet to cut through the richness, the pais also served this purpose nicely.

The lighter delicate option being Bavaroise frambuesa y marscapjone, the texture of this dessert was dreamy. It was a block of strawberry flavoured mousse cake with a cookie crumb, sorbet and fruity sauce. This dessert was delightful and a perfect to end to a great meal.

The staff were lovely and efficient. We thoroughly recommend this restaurant and it is outstanding...

Odd dining experience to summarize my experience at 99 Restaurante. Food was mediocre with no dishes that stood out in terms of excellence. I think I went on a bad night as the head chef was out, and the sous chef preparing the food was brand new (he noted in conversation that it was his first week).

The somme who explained the food, while kind, rushed me and my dining companions through the dishes as if she had somewhere to go; we were asked many times "Are you done yet...are you still eating". There were a number of times where my party was enjoying conversation only to be told to hurry up eating as the somme wanted to serve the next dish.

The wine pairing was the only bright spot of the meal, and I will say that the somme was generous with her pours. After the meal, the somme and head chef socialized with my party which was very kind and they were generous in pouring us more wine. Overall, while the somme and head chef were kind people, the food was unremarkable and the service very odd. Would not return given these two aspects in addition to the...