La Macheleria Steakhouse Calle 109 — Restaurant in Bogota, Capital District

Extremely Disappointing Experience

This was an extremely disappointing experience. My husband and I decided to try this place because we love steaks and burgers and we live in the neighborhood, but it turned out to be a terrible mistake.

We ordered the carpaccio and portobello mushrooms as appetizers. The carpaccio was completely drenched in balsamic vinegar, trying to mask the smell I would think. It was clear the meat was far from fresh. It smelled like that old meat you have in the freezer since last Christmas.

As main course we ordered two burgers. As difficult as it might seem to ruin a burger, this place managed to do it. The patty was thick, which could have been a positive, but it had the same unpleasant, old taste as the carpaccio. It was nearly inedible. I tried cutting alongside to make the patty thinner and mixing it with the other ingredients, hoping to mask the foul flavor, but it didn’t help. Cutting the patty was like sawing through rubber. To make matters worse, the bun was stale, adding to the overall disappointment.

We’ve tried over 20 burger spots in Bogota, some better than others, but this place takes the prize for the worst burger we’ve ever had.

We spent $50 USD for a disappointing spread: carpaccio, mushrooms, two burgers with fries, two sodas, and a beer. Needless to say, we won’t be coming back, and we definitely don’t recommend this place to anyone looking for...

A place that used to be excellent, the service was great and I used to recommend it often! Been visiting since they opened and it's sad to see how they turned out and now they have a lazy staff. I had a birthday invitation and over all the amazing steak houses in the city (ex. La biferia, lomos, 7-16, la boutique de las carnes, etc...) I decided to visit this venue, been tasting the renewed menu, bad decision they won't even let you have a good table. They told us that until they don't fill the other tables(lousy) they won't use those ones ( good ones) , basically we arrived at the restaurant at the point where the good tables were taken, and two short to have a good one again. We took the one next to the bathroom , and after some minutes in which the menu or anything was explained we decided to go a couple of blocks away to biferia ( a more diverse menu).

It's a shame to see how they drop the ball, at this restaurant level a big part is the service.

I would recommend their food, I would probably return eventually, but on special and important meals I'll rather go somewhere else. Basically they turned from a good place to a place for casual dinning but then again prices are not...

At La Macheleria my steak was l tough and dry. I didn't bother to eat all of it. It was a similar experience at La Biferia and at Storia D'Amore. These restaurants are considered to be quite well known and successful but in the steak department it's beyond me. Their other dishes are well prepared, the service is attentive and the dining rooms are comfortable but the steaks are inferior. I've got many years of experience with steak dinners in many cities and having only recently moved to Bogota I must say that I'm still searching for a decent steak. I've had many delicious and tender steaks at Medellin's El Correo steakhouse so why can't I find one like this in Bogota? Oh well, give me time. I just moved here so eventually...