Portillo Restaurant - Rionegro

We'd enjoyed savoring drinks before at Hotel Movich's pleasant poolside restaurant, and decided one weekend to sample the food at the hotel's El Portillo Restaurant, which is patently the most luxurious establishment around the Rionegro airport area. The hotel has been reviewed extensively in this forum, and while I agree the property is kept immaculate and the exterior is tropically lush, the inescapable impression of the building is that of a four-story Motel 6. The cookie-cutter rooms, while neat and pleasant, are distinguished among standard, junior suite and the reverential Presidential Suite. Besides (and possibly including the last,) they are all boxy, the junior suite sporting a hanging screen to serve as a room divider.Common areas of the hotel undeniably verge on some elegance. To ascribe 5 stars to the establishment (like at booking.com) would be editorial exuberance. Venere calls it more accurately at 3 ½. Early on, perhaps, the hotel was ascribed having three restaurants: Colombian, International and Seafood. These seem to have been eroded away to a single venue serving an upper rotunda dining area and the pool area.Entry to the restaurant, which is open both to guests and the general public, passes an impressive wine collection room divider. The dining room on this upper level is dark and gloomy, in my opinion.Much better is to descend to the pool area dining tables, which is convivial with families and children making good use of the pool. We picked out a pleasant table in the midst of it all and took some pictures of the surroundings.In a festive mood, we ordered classic and strawberry Margaritas, respectively. My partner wisely also opted for gin and tonic. We were tempted to order the standard parillada grill lunch, which was an opulent plate of grilled punta de anca (culotte steak,) chicken, sausage, and smoked ribs. These were accompanied by a little of mixed salad cup of corn, chopped tomatoes and avocado; baked potato with sour cream, and the ubiquitous banano (sweet plantain) and arepa (Colombian corn bread).First disappointment was the Margaritas. Sour, diluted and flavorless, they simply defied one to sip them. Inexorably, I followed by partner to nab a gin/tonic, which was unassailable to destroy even by the untrained.Things went downhill from there, I regret to say. The impressive grill selection, served on an iron plate over a wooden board, looked most appetizing. The salad was presented with scant dressing and exceedingly bland, assisted weakly by sprinkling on salt. In order of preference, the chicken was tender and flavorful; the sausage was delicious; the steak was dull and gristly; the ribs were stringy, tough and inedible under an unexceptional sauce. The dogs enjoyed them immensely.Service virtually disappeared after presenting the entrees.Deserts were uninspiring: a daily “special” – never identified; Caramel Flan; Chocolate Cake; Cheesecake with Red Fruits Sauce; Figs

We decided to try the new Portillo's Restaurant in Brookfield. It was an absolute disappointment. The decor was interesting, but that is all the good I can say about it. Our order took minutes to obtain and was completely incorrect. Even for production line...food, this is less than satisfactory. Our drink order came back with one accurate drink out of and I'm pretty sure that was on accident. The food was greasy, the French fries were soggy and the burgers were burned. The entire place was ABSOLUTELY FILTHY! The soap in the bathrooms was out, the floor throughout the entire restaurant was sticky and full of visible spills in addition to food remnants. It was clear that at pm, the place had not been cleaned all day. Customer service was non-existent. The staff was rude and obviously did not want to be there. We will NEVER go back again!

We'd enjoyed savoring drinks before at Hotel Movich's pleasant poolside restaurant, and decided one weekend to sample the food at the hotel's El Portillo Restaurant, which is patently the most luxurious establishment around the Rionegro airport area. The hotel has been reviewed extensively in this...forum, and while I agree the property is kept immaculate and the exterior is tropically lush, the inescapable impression of the building is that of a four-story Motel The cookie-cutter rooms, while neat and pleasant, are distinguished among standard, junior suite and the reverential Presidential Suite. Besides (and possibly including the last), they are all boxy, the junior suite sporting a hanging screen to serve as a room divider. Common areas of the hotel undeniably verge on some elegance. To ascribe stars to the establishment (like at booking.com) would be editorial exuberance. Venere calls it more accurately at ½. Early on, perhaps, the hotel was ascribed having three restaurants: Colombian, International and Seafood. These seem to have been eroded away to a single venue serving an upper rotunda dining area and the pool area. Entry to the restaurant, which is open both to guests and the general public, passes an impressive wine collection room divider. The dining room on this upper level is dark and gloomy, in my opinion. Much better is to descend to the pool area dining tables, which is convivial with families and children making good use of the pool. We picked out a pleasant table in the midst of it all and took some pictures of the surroundings. In a festive mood, we ordered classic and strawberry Margaritas, respectively. My partner wisely also opted for gin and tonic. We were tempted to order the standard parillada grill lunch, which was an opulent plate of grilled punta de anca (culotte steak), chicken, sausage, and smoked ribs. These were accompanied by a little of mixed salad cup of corn, chopped tomatoes and avocado; baked potato with sour cream, and the ubiquitous banano (sweet plantain) and arepa (Colombian corn bread). First disappointment was the Margaritas. Sour, diluted and flavorless, they simply defied one to sip them. Inexorably, I followed by partner to nab a gin/tonic, which was unassailable to destroy even by the untrained. Things went downhill from there, I regret to say. The impressive grill selection, served on an iron plate over a wooden board, looked most appetizing. The salad was presented with scant dressing and exceedingly bland, assisted weakly by sprinkling on salt. In order of preference, the chicken was tender and flavorful; the sausage was delicious; the steak was dull and gristly; the ribs were stringy, tough and inedible under an unexceptional sauce. The dogs enjoyed them immensely. Service virtually disappeared after presenting the entrees. Deserts were uninspiring: a daily “special” – never identified; Caramel Flan; Chocolate Cake; Cheesecake with Red Fruits Sauce; Figs Cheese; Tiramisú; Neapolitan Cassata; and highly touted Peach Melba. We opted to cut our losses. Most remarkably, when I requested the bill, the server brought a tiny chit of printout displaying a total. (We had just viewed the neighboring table reviewing a long detailed printout of everything they had consumed I requested a detailed check, which greatly flustered the server. This invoked a visit from a manager, who assured me it was the norm to settle the bill before receiving any detailed accounting. I protested that in Colombia, this is never the case. So, crouching at the edge of the table, this fellow read to us each of the items consumed. We never had a chance to review the detail with associated costs. Relenting, I proffered the credit card in payment, requesting the server’s tip be added. That was not possible, they informed me, and presented the charge slip for signature. I signed and never left the smallest amount of tip, for which I am regretful to deprive the servers of any remuneration and for which I totally blame the inept management of the restaurant. It will be many blue moons before we return to the El Portillo Restaurant at Hotel Movich Las Lomas.

We decided to try the new Portillo's Restaurant in Brookfield. It was an absolute disappointment. The decor was interesting, but that is all the good I can say about it. Our order took 30 minutes to obtain and was completely incorrect. Even for production line...More