Bar San Roque — Restaurant in Asuncion

The best restaurant in the worst neighborhood of Asuncion. This is one of the few areas in the city where, especially at night doesn't feel great to go walking (although it is still completely safe), but as soon as you enter the San Roque - very much a restaurant rather than a bar, as the name otherwise suggests - you leave the city and the 2020s behind. Both the atmosphere, the decor and the menu feel like you jumped back in time to the 1970s or 1980s. The style is incredibly outdate, to the point of being endearing, but the place is very well kept and popular. The menu is pretty extensive, usually a bad sign, but if you read with care you'll notice it is actually a few ingredients in many different preparations, which is much better. Classic recipes include the ones that remained popular (breaded steaks, filet mignon, roast chicken) and the ones that have been largely forgotten and are now hard to find anywhere else (mostly offals). Portions are generous, food is impeccably prepared and very tasty, prices still very honest in spite of the growing popularity of this historic restaurant that opened its doors125 years ago (in the year 1900). What's not to like?...

A good reason to visit the otherwise uninteresting Asuncion old town is this lovely restaurant. An antique building, testimony of the colonial era, greatly kept, transports the diner in time. Of the several fine dishes available, my preferred ones are Cazuela de Surubi (surubi stew) and grilled surubi. Beer is good, the typical sopa paraguaya is ok but i have tried better. Generally, a must go. Every time i visit Asuncion, it's my "can't miss"...

Terrible service and tasteless food. Save you the trip. Meat was not tender and was chewy and that was a tasteless mandioca, red sauce on gnocchi tested like water with ketchup. Sopa paraguaya was TERRIBLE to the point I had to spitted out. Cesar salad and milanesa were ok. Service needs to improve as our waiter was in a bad mood and did not want to answer our questions and take the time to explain what everything was....