El Gato Gris — Restaurant in Bogota, Capital District

Hands down the worst dining experience we had in Colombia. I genuinely wish there was a way to warn people off eating here based on the food reviews from days past. The location is truly beautiful and the menu sounds delicious and is presented in a fun, offbeat way that’s full of character. Those are the only good things I can say about Gato Gris.

My partner and I stopped in here for an early dinner on our last night in Colombia, excited to continue exploring the city after. Unfortunately we waited almost a half an hour to be greeted at our table (even though a server repeatedly came to serve another table and we were told someone would be with us soon). When we finally ordered, we waited another hour and with no food and no attention from a server. We watched, helpless, as all our time trickled away and every shop we wanted to visit closer while we waited for food.

Finally a host walked by, saw our distressed faces and asked if we were okay. Explaining our dilemma and frustration, we assured us that our food would be coming soon. Shortly thereafter, we received the least flavorful, most underwhelming meal we had eaten our entire time in Colombia. The risotto was utterly without flavor or spice and the “pancetta” actually consisted of jerky-dry, greasy cubes of fat. My partners vegetarian dish was tolerable but in no way worth the time, energy or frustration.

Most upsetting about the whole experience was feeling Iike a hostage at an establishment where absolutely no one cared to check in or take responsibility for a diner’s experience. I honestly wish we had cancelled our food order after the first half hour of waiting and gotten to enjoy the rest of our time in Bogota. Dining here ruined our last night...

The food is average to decent - no issues there. The atmosphere is great. My biggest issue is that twice now I have come here, they were “out” of the food that I ordered, and this happened with both appetisers, drinks, and entrees. And this happened both times, sometimes multiple times. The menu is in Spanish (which is fine), but after arduously translating the words I didn’t know, I’d order an appetiser and they would say they didn’t have it, so I’d get back to translating, order another appetiser which they said they DID have, and then they’d come back to tell me they were actually out. The entrees are a similar story. I’m sorry but being out of items on your menu is kind of a dealbreaker. Being out of one or two items is ok and understandable, especially if they alert me before I start reading the menu. But when nearly half the menu is unavailable and I have to play mental gymnastics to remember all the stuff they pointed out that’s available and unavailable, it becomes unacceptable. They clearly cannot sustain their menu so they need to cut it down to where it is manageable to keep the items in stock. Like one of the appetisers they didn’t have was literally just bread, tomato, cheese, and oil. How could you be out of that? Like c’mon. Like I said, the entrees are a different story. I’ve come here twice now and one night they didn’t have steak and the other they didn’t have chicken. It’s like they need two different menus for different parts of the week so as to not make it confusing. If you’re in Bogotá, I would recommend spending the extra money on a taxi to go a little further to a place that can sustain its own menu. The (dangerous) location of this place doesn’t make the minefield of a...

Unfortunately not it. And make sure to check your bill. Food is mediocre at best and would have given it a 1 for the price but I have to admit the cocktails were good. It's a funky building with people dining in lots of different areas which is interesting but kills the vibe of being in a restaurant a bit. But it really falls down with the service. Very slow, and because of the broken up layout it's pretty much impossible to get anyone's attention. So we didn't get our wine until half way through our dinner. What was worse was that prices of the wines kept changing and when we selected one the waiter came back to say that he messed up the prices and that the one we selected was actually the more expensive one. We settled on another wine (which it turns out they also sell by the glass) and he said he preferred to open the bottle in the kitchen which I later realized meant we were served an open bottle of wine (or worse). And to top it off, when the bill came the waiter (Pedro) mentioned (after we checked the bill) that there was a mistake in their computer systems and that the price of the wine was actually 70% higher than what was on the bill. We said that was ok and asked him to update the bill. When he came back he explained he had made a mistake and that a different grape variety of the same label was the one that was 70% more expensive, so the original bill was correct after all. I think it was clear where that 70% was going to end up. Such a shame to experience this after spending 5 weeks in Colombia meeting so many wonderful and...