Oviedo

We have been to Oviedo once before, but I never got around to writing about it and neither of us could remember it very well.  We have since read in both TimeOut magazine and seen it listed on the current Favorite 5 list on the SaltShaker blog, so we decided to give it another go.  

Oviedo (Beruti 2602 y Ecuador, 4821-3741) is in Recoleta right near the German Hospital.  TimeOut describes it as having a "clubbish atmosphere", but it seems more antique-train-station themed to me.  The atmosphere is comfortable, though the tables are incredibly close together, something that I remember now from our first visit.  Our service was the sore point for us, which we were reminded of on this visit.  Our waiter took three times to get our drink order right, and he was only asking if we wanted our water sparkling or still.

That being said, the food was outstanding - start-to-finish.  We began with a ceviche appetizer that was, possibly, the best I have ever had.  They had the large fried cord kernels and a crispy topping, but the real treat was the green sauce which was crisp, refreshing, and citric, but I have no idea what it contained.

For our main dishes I had the salmon ravioli, which the waiter said was served with a mushroom sauce - though I didn't find any mushrooms.  Regardless of the sauce, the ravioli was homemade and delicious.  It was just the right amount of food too, not the usual overindulgence of pasta that I'm used to - which was good because I would have eaten the entire dish, no matter how much was there.  Jon ordered one of the trout options, I think there were three available on the menu.  The option that he chose came with thin cut green beans, mashed potatoes and a grilled pepper and onion sauce. Again, a tasty and unique option.

We shared a dessert, the chocolate volcano dessert that is present on almost every dessert menu in the city.  Oviedo's version was good, not much different than most of the others we have tried, but it was a great way to top off a really good meal.

Again, the disappointment here was the service.  It was disjointed, in some ways rushed (they cleared our dishes immediately after we finished, asked us if we were ready to order numerous times, etc) and in other ways absent (they never asked if we needed drink refills, we had to flag someone down for the check, etc).  Jon said that it most closely reminded him of a restaurant in the US, which makes sense if you take out the waiter's attempt to turn the table or build up the check with additional drinks.  The food was fast, and the dishes really made up for the lack of service fluidity.

We may return, hopefully with a larger group so that we can sit at one of the larger, more spacious tables.