iTaste is the best restaurant guide for Laguna Jose Ignacio

Famous throughout Uruguay and very likely Argentina as well, this restaurant is located on the beach and is an absolute delight. The menu is not cheap (you will pay European prices) but the atmosphere is unrivaled. Bohemian chic, where you see a mixture of people but with an overriding preference for the informal. There seems not to be a typical uruguayan cuisine of great significance but the dishes here, from the grilled meats, to the fish patties, to the dulce de leche dessert will blow you away. Great music playing, wi-fi, and the occasional band. Extremely busy in January but OK the rest of the year. Wonderful bathrooms and great outdoor deck. Valet parking. Book well ahead in January unless you are with locals. Gourmet magazine apparently ranked it as the best beach restaurant in the world. Not sure about this but certainly up there with Basils in Mustique and a few other exceptional beach front restaurants I can think of....

"Nothing" although there are sometimes a few comments about service which is laid back rather than super on the ball....

Francis Mallmann has made himself quite a reputation in Uruguay, although he is Argentinian and obviously, going further back, Swedish. His fame in Uruguay comes mainly from the restaurant El Negro in Jose Ignacio, but is being surpassed by Garzon, the new in-place to hang out and possible by land (Paul Smith is rumoured to have just bought a plot). A small square in the middle of beautiful countryside, it is surrounded by a handful of simple buildings and seems much like something out of a Hollywood cowboy movie. In SHort, it is a beutiful setting and driving up t Mr. Mallmann's restaurant ion one of teh corner's of teh sqaure seems somewhat surreal when you think of his reputation an dteh expectations you have for his cuisine. Inside you will not be disappointed. In sunny weather and high season make sure to reserve and, is possible, to get a table around the pool. Indoors the decor is original with high ceilings and a colonial/other-worldly feel. A look at the menu raises some eyebrows as starters are priced at 30-40 Euros and main courses at 50-60 and this in the middle of nowhere in the middle of nowhere. But hey, we have all paid over the odds before for amazing culinary experiences and this one promises as much as you sit and take it in. Result: mixed. Excellent wines including the Uruguayan Tannat (tsimilar in taste to the Malbec of Argentina but not the same grape). Excellent starter of zucchini shavings, lemon, mint, and olive oil (an excellent oil from the Garzon area). Bread and service also top, but the mina courses disappointed. One was lamb cooked for 7 hours. When we mentioned it was not what we expected it was not charged. The other main was a tender steak with chimichurri sauce (typical in Uruguay) but it just did nit stand out for the price charged. Would have been perfectly acceptable at 20 Euro. This said the manager came to speak to us and I would certainly go back again to try more dishes and to give the chef another try (Mr. Mallmann was not in the cuisine)...

The main courses disappointed....

Amazing restaurant, nestled on the Laguna of Garzon a few hundred meteres after you pass with the ferry (soon to be a bridge). Part of a floating eco hotel complex, the restaurant has been taken over by the owners of Café Misterio and the setting is to die for. The food is presented with excellence, with local products, original ideas, artistry, and taste to match. Cannot recommend more. Try the Alvarino wine from Garzon...

Not cheap, but worth it...

Not many really nice restaurants in this area where you can eat decently in a nice setting FOR A REASONABLE PRICE. So was fantastic to find this discovery in the area of La Juanita just before you get to José Ignacio. Highly recommended based on our one experience. Log fires burning in a lovely setting with a very chic clientele in the evenings. Several starters shared between four: all good. then a lovely piece of meat, grilled, shared between us....

Service a bit slow, but otherwise nothing could have been better....

Lovely little spot. One of those places that can only be made with love and passion and a bit of soul. IN fact there is a lot of soul in this La Barr's restaurant hidden down a small road near the bridge that leads from Punta del Este. Barra is the hip part of Punta and where most of the parties are in the summer. On a nice sunny day you can sit out on the porch of this restaurant listening to great tunes and eating very healthy food (the toasted pit bread they serve is delicious and you should try the dark Argentinean ale they serve. Hi had a chicken breast (which was enormous) with vegetable and left knowing I had just discovered one of the restaurants I am going to love coming back to for a long time....

This is a quite sort after restaurant amongst a certain set and is open, it seems, most of the year. Decor is nothing to get excited about, service is OK, food is rather blah! I would not go out of my way to eat in this place but am willing to go back one more time to see if I was just having a bad night....

Almost everything...

This is considered one of the better restaurants in Punta, but I have to say it was simply expensive and not really that amazing. It is situated in the port of Punta and has nice views of the latter. The decoration is of the "marine/sailor" variety which one fortunately does not see to often any more. The service is present but absent if such a thing is possible and the food is just not worth getting excited about....

Service, decor and food: the triple defi....