San Carlos de Bariloche Tourist Traps

We were told by more than one person we had to eat at the Restaurant Familia Weiss in Bariloche - they all said the food was excellent and it was a Bariloche institution. Well, all I can say , if the meal and service we experienced was anything to go by, it's an institution that is really resting on its laurels.

We had misgivings right from the moment we walked in the door - the overly-kitschy decor looked like a set for Hansel and Gretel, plastic menus with photos of the dishes never instill me with confidence and when someone started playing an accordian very badly (I quite like the accordian, it's a great folk instrument - in the right hands) my heart sank. A waiter who obviously couldn't have been more disinterested as he took our orders didn't help.

I wish I could say the food - when it finally came - dispelled my fears. It didn't. Skin forming on thick, floury sauces; sad salads and chips that looked at tasted as though they'd been shaken out of a freezer bag onto an oven tray, cooked and kept warm for hours - it was the worst meal we ate in all our weeks in South America.

So why isn't this in the Restaurant section? Cheap 'n' cheerful I can do - if it's value for money. Restaurants have off nights. I just thought this was neither good value nor a one-off, and in a town like Bariloche, full of tourists here today and gone tomorrow, I'd call it a tourist trap - somewhere to avoid.

I visited this restaurant in 1999 and its was great, but ever since it has turned into a lame tourist trap, pricey, with a tacky and presumptous host that acts more like a bouncer, and food barely OK. The place remains gorgeous and pretty but their business has geared into shoveling hoards of Brazilians, they even speak at you in Portuguese for no reason!! They keep you waiting for hours in a shop with crappy handicrafts and dubious drinks.

This place boasts the fact that Bill Clinton dined there during a certain summit late in the 90's, but as far as I'm concerned he is a sort of fast-food junkie, not to mention his bad taste demonstrated in other walks of life... so don't fall for that.

Sorry to report it like this, I loved the 1st time but will not go back after this 2006 disappointment.

Fun Alternatives: Bariloche is so full of alternatives... don't shed your bucks in this one!