Café Mosaico — Restaurant in Itchimbia

Highly disappointing. I've been here several times now, and I likely won't be coming back. The good view and generally nice atmosphere made this restaurant tolerable in the past, but my last visit left me extremely disappointed.

The food is awful. I ordered the grilled chicken breast, and aside from an ok seasoning on the chicken, the rest of the very pricey dish was not what I ordered or inedible.

I specifically asked if the dish came with fries, pointed to the Hamberello (portobello "hamburger" my friend had ordered that had said fries), and the waitress assured me it did (with several witnesses confirming I was clear with my question). However, I was served boiled potatoes which had no flavor. The waitress, recognizing her mistake offered to change the potatoes, but warned me it "would be a WHILE" and I had already waited quite some time, so I declined, but first bite into my boiled potatoes and I regretted my decision.

They had obliged my request to switch the cheese sauce that normally comes on the potatoes for guac since I have a dairy allergy, but the guac tasted sour, and not in a good, lime and zest kind of way.

Finally, the salad was completely inedible. I never leave food, especially if overpriced. However, I actually had to discreetly remove a biteful of tomato from my mouth because it tasted so bad. The lettuce could have been several weeks old, the tomatoes cut days before, the large chunks of raw onion didn't help the matter, and the shredded carrots were browning already. The only edible part of the "salad" were 3 tiny chunks of avocado. It also came with no seasoning/vinaigrette or dressing of any kind.

My drink, a canelazo, was too sweet, bitter at the same time, and generally flavorless. The only resonating flavor was very strong cheap puntas (cheapest alcohol you can get).

Lastly, the surprise cover charge, despite only going for about an hour, during which the band was mostly taking a break (I heard maybe 5 songs total), was a rather unpleasant surprise.

When I communicated my displeasure with the wait staff charging me upon my departure, the man just apathetically said "he would let his boss know".

$25 for a chicken breast, 5 very small boiled potatoes, an inedible salad, a large spoonful of old guac and a severely overpriced, tasteless canelazo is the same you can pay for a main at a 5 star restaurant in Quito.

My recommendation, go anywhere else.

I work in tourism and not only know what it takes to offer good food to my guests, but have guided several groups to many great restaurants...

One of the worst dining experiences of my life. My friend and I spent a lovely first day exploring the historic city center of Quito. We had nothing but hospitable experiences everywhere we went. We read that Cafe Mosaico is a must so we requested a reservation to which they promptly replied "yes." We arrived upon an empty entry vestibule with no one to greet us. In front of us was a sign that said cafe music room and also sign pointing upstairs for cafe mosaico. We followed the sign upstairs and were greeted by a frantic waiter who barked at us in Spanish that we had to sit downstairs. We went back downstairs and were seated in a terrible atmosphere (ever been to Chili's?). Our waitress took 20 min to even greet us and was so incredibly rude and clearly wanted nothing to do with us. We asked for bottled water, hummus, a caprese salad, and llapingachos (we couldn't wait to try the "#1 food to eat in Ecuador"). They were out of them. So we ordered onion rings. The hummus, water, and caprese salad came out 45min later. These were all items that were uncooked and tasted like they came out of a jar, yet took 45min to prepare. The onion rings took one hour to prepare. Overall, the staff was incredibly rude and couldn't care less about providing good service. I will never return to this establishment and do not recommend...

Place is 3.5 - 4 stars. I am a multi restaurant owner from New York City. I am critical about simple things that they can correct easily. I will start with the good. We were very excited to go there. On a Thursday night got there around 7.30 Pm. We went there because of the band. Most of the restaurants on that block has a great view. Waiter said band start at 8.30pm. But actually they start around 9 pm. Band is 5 stars. Food is expensive. I would have dinner somewhere else and go there around 9pm for drinks. Things I am not crazy about. Kitchen staff is hanging around with their dirty aprons in the dining area and chatting away. Not sure how & what to say about the dog situation in the restaurant. THEY ARE A DOG FRIENDLY RESTAURANT. I love dogs. I have one. Sitting on the front seat by the band is the cutest thing. But begging from diners I am not a fan of. Some people we were feeding from their plates. One dog had the paws on the lap of a diner. They obviously didn't mind it. There were only 3 - 4 tables were full. Place was pretty empty. View and the band like that this place should be packed. They are doing something wrong. I am trying to put a finger on it. Next time I am in town I will go there to listen...