Jacinto — Restaurant in Montevideo

There are restaurants and restaurants. Many that have pizza, pasta, meats, poultry, and fish, a little of everything, but not good at anything. Then you have places like "Jacinto". As stated in the NY Times travel section (March 16th, 2017) - Millennial Entrepreneurs Give Sleepy Montevideo a Fresh Jolt, “leading the restaurant pack is the retro-chic and market-driven Jacinto, headed by Lucía Soria, an alumna of the famed Argentine chef Francis Mallmann. Ms. Soria frequently appears on television, participates in food festivals like Degusto and headlines as the top guest chef in supper clubs like Mesabrava.” She has a vast international experience, and is now one of the Judges in “Master Chef Uruguay”. I went to Montevideo twice this month, and obviously I went to Jacinto twice. From the home-made bread, to the meats, salads, and desserts, Jacinto is a must go place if you visit Montevideo. If you pay with an international credit card, Uruguayan law requires the establishment to discount the IVA (VAT, sales tax) which is about 18%. Waiters are happy with a 10% tip, that can be added to your card, or you can leave more in cash if you think the service was...

The menu was so varied, my friend and I couldn’t agree what to order for our meal. We finally decided on: Beef empanadas very good! The flour was very crispy and thick. The insides was vey JUICY and flavorful. Wow, impressed at their design. Chicken Milanesa -Holy hell! What a beautiful piece of crispy meat. I never order chicken, especially breast. HOWEVER, this golden piece of goodness was absolutely delicious, paired with the charred sweat potato “Boniato.” Wow. I made sure to make it my last bite! sweetbreads. Good! However the night before I had sweat breads at Lo De Tere in Punta del Este, and the ones in Jacinto were just okay in comparison- but still good on their own.

We came back the next day and ordered a delightful Corvina fish of the day and a so-so sweat potato gnocchi- it was very soft/pillowy- too much of an okay dish.

I’ll dream of the first time we came here. Oh! And they have a wonderful white wine. Yum!

Service was better the second time. I think there’s just a disconnect about service that I need to get used to. Felt slow...

The food was excellent, but the service left much to be desired.

Initially, the experience started well—our food arrived surprisingly fast within the first 20 minutes. However, after that, the waitress disappeared and didn’t check on us again. A young man from the kitchen noticed that our table hadn’t been cleared and kindly asked if we needed anything or if the food was good. He even took the dishes away for us, which was appreciated.

Later, another waiter came by and asked if we wanted dessert. We said yes and selected one, intending to order another cocktail as well. Unfortunately, once again, no one came to take our order. After waiting another 15 minutes, we decided to ask for the bill, which then took an additional 10 minutes to arrive.

It’s worth noting that the restaurant wasn’t crowded, so the delays weren’t due to being short-staffed. Additionally, we were using a Bigbox voucher, which left us wondering if customers with vouchers are given...