Leo — Restaurant in Bogota, Capital District

SERVICE: making a reservation was easy via the website. It would have been helpful if the 13-course tasting menu was clearly specified, even if not on the website but at least upon arriving at the restaurant on a piece of paper. The on-site staff were all very friendly, however the translation was terrible, the server was friendly however he talked excessively in broken English, which became distracting because it was exhausting for us to try to figure out what he was trying to communicate to us, that heavily distracted us from focusing on the dishes. In addition, his exaggerated descriptions of the tastes and quality set expectations way too high before trying the dishes, so we were disappointed each time. Aside this specific server, the kitchen took entirely too long to prepare each course, and in total we spent just over 5 hours - we arrived at 7:20 PM and left at 12:30 AM. Lastly, during this 5+ hour lost in translation session, the staff was unable to resolve stabilizing the freezing temperatures from their central AC. I understand if the system was malfunctioning, but just the mere idea that they pretended like it wasn’t absolutely freezing, and barely made any efforts to fix it was annoying given this is marketed as a 5-star restaurant.

FOOD: This was on the list of the “Top 50 Restaurants in Latin America” in Colombia along with El Chato, Harry Sasson, and Celele, so we were expecting this place to be on par in tastes, creativity, and quality as the others, all of which we dined at within the prior week. However, it was not competitive with the tastes of the other restaurants. Every restaurant had multiple dishes with impressive tastes, but Leo honestly did not even have one. I think the problem was the food was lacking fundamental core tastes, which speaks to either or both issues of preparation and/or quality. We also leaned that portions are incredibly important for developing flavours. Some tastes require more than a bit size for the flavour to develop, but all the dishes were essentially tapas sized. If Leo chooses to continue this approach, they need to understand that the smaller the portion, the more intense, finely crafted, and nuanced the flavour must be, as well as more precisely delivered to the taste buds. In contrast, the presentation was nearly prefect, with hand crafted ceramic plates, silverware, and glasses/cups. However, none of these had any positive impact on the tastes.

PAIRING: The non-acoholic pair was underwhelming given the vast variety of resources in Colombia; the fruits, vegetables, herbs, teas, flowers, etc. The only drinks that appeared effortful were a blackberry juice, and the fresh mountain water, but so little of it was served. The server was entirely too hyperbolic about the alcoholic pairing options - speaking about the wine like it was unlike anything I would have had previously. Surely some of the wine and liquor was good, but it was far from the best or most surprising in its category. The choice of cava for the aperitif seemed more like convenience, seeing as how cava is very common, and not necessarily the best to start out with. I think they could have explored a lot more in the Spumante category, but what was most lacking was a digestif among the several drinks served. Even a standard amaro would have sufficed. Lastly, the alcoholic options severely lacked exploration into Colombia wines, beers, and spirits, and for non-alcoholic there was no cocktail elaboration.

RECOMMENDATION: Of all the 4 “Top 50 Restaurants in Latin America” in Colombia, Leo was the most exaggeratedly priced and most underwhelming in taste - no other place came close to it’s cost and disappointment. For two people it came out to roughly 1.300.000 COP or $427 CAD or $347 USD, which is completely unaffordable for even many Colombians with money. For this reason, it is the only restaurant on that list that I would not recommend. For that price point, you can dine at other, better restaurants multiple times, and have a far better experience, well...

I have to admit I am a bit upset to write this review. I have been to Leo over the years and it has always been one of my favorites in the world. The first visit was incredible and I hold it in the same esteem as my visits to Pe Se. This last visit was not the same.

The presentation was still excellent. The descriptions were detailed. The colors and textures were vivid and playful.

They were generous with the wine and spirit pours and the pairings were quite good. The variety and selections did a great job highlighting the food.

On prior visits, I remember the flavor palette being wider. While the rich, savory brown sauces were exquisite they were all pretty similar so several dishes had a common theme. This was a bit disappointing as I remember a much broader experience. Flavors that touched all corners of the tongue. The creativity and breadth seemed to be traded for deep savory flavors that were repetitive. Delicious but repetitive.

I was also a bit disappointed with the service. There was some VIP in the restaurant that the staff fawned over. Mind you there were only 7 guests in the whole restaurant and most of the tables were empty. It was a table of 4, the vips were 2 and then there was me. So only three tables and the service was a bit lacking. On several occasions I was left waiting. As an example I was asked if I wanted coffee (listed as a course on the menu) and I agreed. I watched them prepare the service setup and it sat waiting for over 15 minutes on the service tray to be brought over to me. The host came over to chat seeing that I was sitting for a long time and I told her I'm waiting for my coffee. It took maybe 5-10 more minutes for them to come make it after she told them again that I was ready. Considering that there were several waiters and assistants I was a bit confused as they doubled up for the other tables and just left me waiting. I'm a very patient person and would not think twice about this at a normal restaurant. But when visiting what could be a 3-star venue these details matter. Especially when the meal is 2+ hours for a full set of courses, adding 15 minutes here and 10 minutes there turns a long meal into grueling situation. I forgot to check the time I left but I believe that total service time was over 3 hours for me.

And the final point was the value. I remember paying about $175 for the full (13 ish course) menu with the non-alcoholic pairings last time. This time I went with the alcohol pairing and the total bill was an eye-watering $387. As a reference the non-alcoholic pairing was about $40 cheaper for apples-to-apples comparison, so roughly doubled in price. While not extreme for a meal in Europe or The States, for Columbia this is astronomical. I wonder if this is why the restaurant was so empty. The value proposition used to be wonderful. Now its several times the cost of other restaurants that have equally good food and are only a couple of blocks away.

On the food and service alone I would probably go with 3-4 stars but the high cost and low value pushed my review down to 2 stars.

While I enjoyed my meal I will likely not be making a special stop in Bogota again just to eat here (maybe a special occasion when I'm already in town).

They have a tapas bar that is attached and has much better value. I will definitely be trying that...

Quite honestly - I have no idea how this restaurant managed to get into the world top 50. Food, drinks and service were all massively sub par for this type of experience (and this amount of money)! Came here with lofty expectations given the other reviews and accompanied by two other guests. All of us left utterly disappointed.

For the record, the price is how much higher at 420,000 COP for the alcohol pairing, 300,000 COP for food only. Because of this we were expecting something exceptional, but it was completely to the contrary:

first course drink was Pacific Ocean water (that’s it). Pure salt water from the ocean with nothing else, completely undrinkable - they call this a “cocktail”. We expressed concern about the drink and were ignored. one of the drinks that came out was the incorrect one. Staff admitted to the mistake but did nothing to fix it. When we enquired further we were ignored. Service was extremely unprofessional, particularly for this kind of restaurant in supposedly the world top 50. Some dishes and drinks they forgot to explain. Empty dishes and glassware left out for ages. No synchronicity or rhythm between or within courses, it was quite honestly chaotic. They did not ask for feedback on anything, and did not apologise for any of the numerous mistakes. Bottle of wine was corked, we were served wine with cork pieces floating in it. They did not apologise or even realise that they should take it away - and only did so after we were insistent. Wine bottles opened fresh tableside rather than decanted. For this type of restaurant - very amateurish. It is supposed to be a wine pairing but this threw the timing way off. Approx 3/4 of the food dishes were just unpleasant to eat. I really do appreciate the philosophy behind the food, the creativity and the wonderful ingredients sourced from all over Colombia. But the final dishes were not thought through, flavour balances were way off and the experience was simply not enjoyable at all. Simple mistakes - dry meat, way too much salt, unbalanced acidity etc. that you would not expect for a restaurant with such repute. For us three seasoned foodies, we never waste anything - but time and time again we left plates and drinks because they tasted so terrible. Drinks were even worse than the food. Mentioned about the wine previously and the “salt water cocktail”. One of the other cocktails that was completely bewildering was yuca starch + water (essentially a starch slurry you might use to thicken a sauce or stir fry, but served as a drink, had no flavour). Many were undrinkable. Most were simply unpleasant. The (only) light above our table was broken, flickering on and off the entire evening. When we asked politely for something to be done we were ignored three times, and nothing was done. One single unisex toilet with no waiting area, waited ages for a single toilet.

There were some good elements. The Pirarucu dish was outstanding, and the desserts were fantastic. But overall this was definitely one of the worst fine dining experiences we have ever had. I will be sticking to street eats and casual local restaurants...