Bitter Sweet Sympathy
Pro Some decent Latam flavours.
Con A shortish menu, but welcome touches of authenticity.
Pay
€€
Per Person €20-25. Shared: Starter. Solo 2 beers, main. Gratis: nothing. El tenedor offers may be available.
Find
Website Link
ℹ️ Dietary Info Not on menu.
Access Small step to enter.
In Short
Hopes. Relaxed eating, authentic flavours.
Reality. Lots of good quality food. An outstanding picadillo. Some sadly antisocial customers.
First Impressions. It's been redecorated since its previous incarnation.
The offer in three words. Big meaty flavours.
Service! Amiable and informative.
Friend friendly? Mostly meaty.
Rating for dating. Just about, yes. Good for relaxed, unpretentious food and drinks.
Tip? A well earnt sympathy one. See below.
Change one thing? A horrendously selfish group who drove customers away.
Revisitability. Yes. We have unfinished business and owe dessert a fair try.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Macuto's offering a very good value selection of dishes from around Latin America. The menu's not huge, but, all being well, we reckon you'll leave happy and hunger-satisfied.
Welcome to the starters/picking plates. We've invented (we think) picking plates as we don't know what else to call them. Yes it's a dodgy, translationy sort of thing, but if you've got a better idea Tweet us, Facebook us or, look, send a carrier pigeon. We're not proud. We'll credit you, but almost certainly steal your idea. Anyway, the eight - eight! - tequenos enclosed a creamier cheese than usual, which went very stringy like provolone. They came with a nice guacamole pot - we've not tried the one with the other before and it works well.
The tinga and cochinita tacos of the day were top notch too, meaty, juicy and fresh with a killer pot of chilli sauce which tried to steal the show. Ask what's on the filling agenda, but €2 (€2!) a go, you'll not be shortchanged. Try them.
And so hello, main courses.
Paisa is the classic Colombian mixed grill, Macuto's was, dominated (yes, Doctor Freud, I know what I'm typing) by a frankly intimidating (see Sigmund, told you) chorizo that would make a mother superior's mother blush. As usual, there's lots of fun to be had mixing and matching flavours, textures and even colours. Creamy avocado with spicy sausage? Deliciously cooked beans with cutlet? It goes on. A highlight was one of the tastiest, juiciest, most plumptious picadillos I've had. Amazingly rich and spicy, a whole plate with a couple of eggs would be a hangover-busting brunch dish people'd be queuing up for. Even the arepa was fresher and moister than they tend to be. The egg could have been runnier, though as a creamy yolk is a real plus on this dish. Bottom line though - at €12, this is good value and, after some picking plates, a couple to share would probably do a group of four quite nicely, thank you.
The burrito was enormous and very filling, It would have benefitted from a few bells and whistles - we asked for more of the excellent chilli sauce we'd enjoyed with the tacos. It worked. Instant fun added. Everything within was well cooked, although the beans were a touch harder than they might be. €9 is good value.
We stuck with beers this evening and a very light, well-chilled Venezuelan I can't remember the name of was excellent. Service was timely and informative too, with three staff looking after a compact small space. We should add we didn't do dessert, but that's absolutely no slight on Macuto as we liked the four dishes we had a lot.
But, after an hour or so, we were 18-rated language fed up with a group who'd decided it was their bar and everyone else, staff included, were extras in the interminably tiresome movie of their evening. Noisy doesn't begin to cut it. We're talking evacuation alarm volume. So, a lesson to the socially selfish. When your means to get attention is to SHOUT AS IF YOUR UNDERWEAR IS ON FIRE, it's because you know full well you're intrinsically not worthing hearing. We felt for Macuto. There was nothing they could realistically do. Prospective customers started leaving without ordering. We resolved to make the most of our main courses, then tell the management we'd be back.
And we're not at home to "It's Spain on a Friday night". No, it's not. Spain is good at kind, thoughtful people. Since when was it a given for customers to decide to ignore that they're annoying other people and damaging the image of the place they've - presumably - chosen because they like it? Is it, for example, that hard to be an adult and move your chair so staff can serve other tables?
As and when we return, we'll update and repost this with a dessert update. I want to comment on the food, not write a school report on the customers.
Food 🟊🟊🟊🟊 Service 🟊🟊🟊🟊 Decor 🟊🟊🟊 Idiot Customers 🙈🙉🙊
Pro Some decent Latam flavours.
Con A shortish menu, but welcome touches of authenticity.
Pay
€€
Per Person €20-25. Shared: Starter. Solo 2 beers, main. Gratis: nothing. El tenedor offers may be available.
Find
Website Link
ℹ️ Dietary Info Not on menu.
Access Small step to enter.
In Short
Hopes. Relaxed eating, authentic flavours.
Reality. Lots of good quality food. An outstanding picadillo. Some sadly antisocial customers.
First Impressions. It's been redecorated since its previous incarnation.
The offer in three words. Big meaty flavours.
Service! Amiable and informative.
Friend friendly? Mostly meaty.
Rating for dating. Just about, yes. Good for relaxed, unpretentious food and drinks.
Tip? A well earnt sympathy one. See below.
Change one thing? A horrendously selfish group who drove customers away.
Revisitability. Yes. We have unfinished business and owe dessert a fair try.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Macuto's offering a very good value selection of dishes from around Latin America. The menu's not huge, but, all being well, we reckon you'll leave happy and hunger-satisfied.
Welcome to the starters/picking plates. We've invented (we think) picking plates as we don't know what else to call them. Yes it's a dodgy, translationy sort of thing, but if you've got a better idea Tweet us, Facebook us or, look, send a carrier pigeon. We're not proud. We'll credit you, but almost certainly steal your idea. Anyway, the eight - eight! - tequenos enclosed a creamier cheese than usual, which went very stringy like provolone. They came with a nice guacamole pot - we've not tried the one with the other before and it works well.
The tinga and cochinita tacos of the day were top notch too, meaty, juicy and fresh with a killer pot of chilli sauce which tried to steal the show. Ask what's on the filling agenda, but €2 (€2!) a go, you'll not be shortchanged. Try them.
And so hello, main courses.
Paisa is the classic Colombian mixed grill, Macuto's was, dominated (yes, Doctor Freud, I know what I'm typing) by a frankly intimidating (see Sigmund, told you) chorizo that would make a mother superior's mother blush. As usual, there's lots of fun to be had mixing and matching flavours, textures and even colours. Creamy avocado with spicy sausage? Deliciously cooked beans with cutlet? It goes on. A highlight was one of the tastiest, juiciest, most plumptious picadillos I've had. Amazingly rich and spicy, a whole plate with a couple of eggs would be a hangover-busting brunch dish people'd be queuing up for. Even the arepa was fresher and moister than they tend to be. The egg could have been runnier, though as a creamy yolk is a real plus on this dish. Bottom line though - at €12, this is good value and, after some picking plates, a couple to share would probably do a group of four quite nicely, thank you.
The burrito was enormous and very filling, It would have benefitted from a few bells and whistles - we asked for more of the excellent chilli sauce we'd enjoyed with the tacos. It worked. Instant fun added. Everything within was well cooked, although the beans were a touch harder than they might be. €9 is good value.
We stuck with beers this evening and a very light, well-chilled Venezuelan I can't remember the name of was excellent. Service was timely and informative too, with three staff looking after a compact small space. We should add we didn't do dessert, but that's absolutely no slight on Macuto as we liked the four dishes we had a lot.
But, after an hour or so, we were 18-rated language fed up with a group who'd decided it was their bar and everyone else, staff included, were extras in the interminably tiresome movie of their evening. Noisy doesn't begin to cut it. We're talking evacuation alarm volume. So, a lesson to the socially selfish. When your means to get attention is to SHOUT AS IF YOUR UNDERWEAR IS ON FIRE, it's because you know full well you're intrinsically not worthing hearing. We felt for Macuto. There was nothing they could realistically do. Prospective customers started leaving without ordering. We resolved to make the most of our main courses, then tell the management we'd be back.
And we're not at home to "It's Spain on a Friday night". No, it's not. Spain is good at kind, thoughtful people. Since when was it a given for customers to decide to ignore that they're annoying other people and damaging the image of the place they've - presumably - chosen because they like it? Is it, for example, that hard to be an adult and move your chair so staff can serve other tables?
As and when we return, we'll update and repost this with a dessert update. I want to comment on the food, not write a school report on the customers.
Food 🟊🟊🟊🟊 Service 🟊🟊🟊🟊 Decor 🟊🟊🟊 Idiot Customers 🙈🙉🙊