El Chato — Restaurant in Bogota, Capital District

I have very few good things to say about this place. First of all, the service was overbearing and I had 3-4 waiters constantly hovering over my table. I had only just sat down when a waiter handed me a giant ant to eat with my fingers, I asked him if I could have a second please. He just stood there next to my table forcing me to eat it. I really wanted to wash my hands first and also prepare myself mentally before eating the insect. The waiter finally agreed to leave me alone and he was actually upset that I wanted to have a second to settle at my table. It was so uncomfortable and unprofessional. As for the food, I had eggplant as a starter which was not the most pleasant dish considering the eggplant itself had been fried however it was barely warm. The dish was covered in thick raw onions (shallots) which I could not even get a knife through. I asked the waiter if the dish was supposed to be served at this temperature and sadly he did not know the answer, but tried to play it off as if whichever way it arrived at my table was the correct way (it wasn’t). Next I had the chicken hearts which I actually enjoyed a lot flavor wise but my plate had roughly 30 hearts on it so by the end of the dish I started getting nauseous. The portion size was way off. I had tuna Wellington as my main which would have been a 10/10 dish however the pastry was completely raw. You could scoop up all the dough with a spoon. It was extremely disappointing. I had finished half a piece before I noticed what I was eating and then became nauseous once again. I asked a waiter to come over and showed him all the raw dough on my plate. I asked him to remove the plate and to not bring me another one as I wasn’t feeling well. This part was actually the most disappointing part of the whole experience. The waiter did not apologize to me and looked at me as if I had done something wrong. He looked at me as if what I was saying was not even true since supposedly this is one of the best restaurants in South America and surely they could have not served me inedible food. Sadly they did. After a while they sent over a girl who served me a very arrogant and insincere apology. She behaved as if they were doing me a massive favor by removing this dish from the bill. It was honestly unbelievable considering that it was inedible and I did not eat it. The most obvious thing to do is to not charge me for it and it’s the bare minimum. After all this the waiters started behaving as if I was the one that had done something wrong and suddenly my table was more or less ignored for the rest of the night. Dessert was very nice and the best dish of the night.

When I was served the bill, I had another unpleasant surprise. I had 1 glass of wine with my food. I had arrived and told the waiter to bring me a very simple glass of sparkling wine. He told me he’ll bring something over for me to try, he didn’t show me the wine list, he actually removed it. He came over with a very cheap wine so I was like fine, let me try it. Instead of trying it, he immediately poured me a whole glass, which is something that should never happen in a fine dining restaurant. I was shocked when I saw the bill because this one single glass of made up 50% of the entire cost of the bill. I know the wine they served me well as I’m also a sommelier. For 1 glass they had charged me 8 times the value of a whole BOTTLE of this stuff. It’s one of the cheapest wines out there.. had I seen the price on the wine list, I would have simply laughed and obviously never ordered it.

Furthermore, all other restaurants in Colombia have always asked me if they can add service charge to the bill. Here they brought me the bill and then simply stated that they already added it, it was not a question. And they should have obviously never added it due to my experience and I was not happy with the service the whole night neither. I felt pressured to pay it so I did…

I wholeheartedly recommend any other fine dining restaurant in Bogota instead...

The best restaurant in Colombia? I don't understand how.

My wife and I came to El Chato for the dinner tasting menu. We decided not to do any pairings as we aren't big wine drinkers, and instead opted to choose a few cocktails each.

First thing to address is price. Three weeks before coming I checked online and saw that tasting menus without pairings were approximately 300k, with wine about 400k+ We were charged 600k per person, with no pairings. I do not understand how a restaurant can justify doubling their prices in three weeks. Absolutely absurd. At least the meal could have justified the price. It did not. In the end we spent 1.5million COP for two people.

We were the second table to enter the restaurant, arriving before our scheduled time and yet we were consistently one of the last tables to be served.

Drinks took forever to come, even water, we had to ask several times.

The service staff were absolutely chaotic, it was clear that the majority of the servers were completely confused and only one or two actually knew what was going on.

The table next to us ordered the wine pairings and did not receive their first course's pairing until after the course was over.

Servers would bring courses to tables that had not yet finished the course they were currently on, only to awkwardly touch the diner's full plates and then walk away having taken or served nothing.

We were ahead of both of the tables sitting next to us in terms of courses, even finishing our food before them, and yet somehow we ended up two courses behind with other tables being served dessert before we had even touched our mains.

On top of the chaotic service was the time. It took almost 5 hours for a ten course menu. This is excessive. You could see all of the tables around us becoming frustrated and impatient.

We tried to talk to someone about our experience while we were still in the restaurant but were completely dismissed. We were told that 5 hours is normal for a tasting menu and that it is because the dishes are "elaborate." It was clear that no one cared to hear our feedback. Following the meal I responded to the automatic feedback form, once again nobody cared to respond. I tried writing to the email provided on the website only to have my email bounce back. I was finally able to get a hold of someone to share my experience and was told that they "understand, and are working on all areas." That's it, zero apology, zero humility, it feels as if they really don't care to take anything other than positive feedback.

Another strange thing is that there was only one washroom available which lead to people literally lining up in the dining room waiting. Often standing next to the table near the washroom.

In the end the food was good, but nowhere near worth the price, the time, and having to be subjected to a service staff that operated as if it was their first day in the job.

It would be great if this review would be taken seriously and if I would be able to get an actual response from the restaurant, but I doubt that...

When my girlfriend and I planned a trip to Colombia, after little research El Chato went to the top of our list of dining destinations. We were so excited to eat here that we decided to make reservations for our very first night in Colombia after a long travel day the day before. After a long day of sightseeing, we arrived at El Chato at 9:35, 5 minutes late for our reservation. As soon we stepped out of our taxi the staff at El Chato was incredibly welcoming. They escorted us upstairs to the tasting menu dining room with a great view of the kitchen. As soon as we sat we were greeted by the Sommelier, Sebastian who was exceptional. Soon after Sebatian left the table, our server, Valeria was quick to greet us. Valeria was so welcoming and knowledgeable, her service was absolutely top notch. Unfortunately this is where my story takes a turn for the worse, but not because of El Chato!! Soon after starting the meal, my girlfriend started to feel very sick due to the long days and high altitude of Bogota(we came from sea level). I felt fine so I was able to enjoy 4 or 5 stunning courses. Sadly at that point my girlfriend became far too sick to enjoy anything and with extreme reservation we decided to ask if the kitchen could box up the remaining courses so we could get home. We really did not want to do this as we know what kind of inconvenience that is for a well oiled kitchen like El Chato, which executes to perfection. But we decided it was better to do this than have my girlfriend struggle through what was supposed to be a super enjoyable experience. We did this with great regret, but I must say the staff at El Chato was extremely accommodating of this request. The graciousness shown to us despite our inconvenient request was nothing short of astounding. Valeria made sure we were entirely taken care of down to calling us a safe taxi and walking or bags out for us, wishing us well on our way. We couldn't have imagined for a more incredible experience given the unfortunate situation. That said, do not do what we did! El Chato is a world class restaurant from top to bottom and they deserve to have your full attention when you go. Make sure you are feeling well and are ready to eat because you will experience some of the most magical food and marvelous service you can receive anywhere in the world. We cannot thank El Chato enough and we look forward to returning when we are ready to take in the...