Las Vainas de Mi Pueblo — Restaurant in Cartagena

I was looking for something quick and authentic after first arriving at my hotel. It wasn't busy, just a couple of people so I decided to give it a try. The portion was a decent size and the fish soup was delicious. However, when it came time to pay the bill there was a minor hiccup. Their electronic payment system was not working and they were only accepting Nequi (similar to CashApp) or cash (which I did not have because I hadn't had the chance to withdraw any). So after a couple of rounds of Google Translate a nice gentleman walked with me to an ATM as I just wanted to pay the bill and be done. It would have been nice to have known that so I could have gone and withdrawn and returned before ordering or chosen someplace else. Lesson learned...if you're eating here just make it easier on yourself and bring cash. The food was super cheap but...

We ordered 3 menus del día as per what was on the board outside, I specifically said "3 menus", but when the bill came we were charged for full meals. Apparently the board lists the specials, not the "menu" options, and she didn't think to mention that when I ordered the "menu", but after we'd eaten. Unsure if it is an intentional con, or just bad service. Either way, if you want the cheap menu del día, ask what the options are and make sure they know you're only paying the menu price not the meal price. Food was fine for a menu del día, but...

Food was good, we came here looking for authentic Colombian food and the ladies served exactly that. We ordered a bandeja paisa with fish and specifically said no other meat. However they billed it as 2 separate dishes (bandeja paisa with meat + fish) and we ended up paying 40,000 for a meal that was supposed to be 25,000. We tried to reason with them and explain that we didnt order or pay for the meat with the original dish because the meat we asked for was fish, but gave up in the end. Felt cheated and left...