Restaurante Saman - Rionegro

Just lately, the menu identifies the restaurant at the Movich Las Lomas Hotel in Rionegro as Restaurante Samán. The hotel is named after its multi-national creator and owner, Germán Efromovich as part of Grupo Synergy (which owns Avianca Holdings and many other things) out of Rio de Janeiro headquarters. The restaurant offers spacious open terrace interior seating as well as peaceful pool-side tables often graced by peacocks strutting around the grounds..Previous visits to the restaurant were frankly disappointing, even ordering Colombia's hallmark mixed grill meat platters. The cocktails were also criticized as inexpertly mixed.But this visit marked a change of opinion. The Gin Martini was ice cold, potent and refreshing. Iced tea (unsweetened) was similarly tasty, kind of like an iced aromatica.Every Friday, the restaurant hosts "Rice Festival" (Menu attached) with half a dozen international rice dishes, like Peruvian Chaufa, Chicken Curry, Coconut Shrimp, Asian Vegetable, Seafood and Mexican interpretations. All sound interesting. The menu lists no prices, but I imagine they would cost between $8 and $13 at this time.My partner ordered Filet Mignon served with thick spaghetti ($12.) The steak was impeccable! Thick, juicy and flavorful. The pasta was served with a light meat gravy. All was accompanied by the restaurant's signature rolls and butter.Two appetizers were what I craved, so I tried the Fresh Spring Rolls and the Mexican Tortilla Soup. I was delighted the chef had discovered Asian rice noodles, which were used to form two rolls around small shrimps, lettuce, cucumber, avocado and crispy-fried carrot strips in a light soy sauce. Tasty. But at over $9, not cheap.The Tortilla Soup would not have been recognized by any Mexican I know, though it contained the requisite chicken, avocado and fried tortilla strips. The liquid was very thick, like tomato sauce, more suitable to be poured over pasta, and priced a bit over $5.Bottom line, I'd say that Samán had somewhat redeemed itself in my estimation. There's nothing like a perfect, thick, juicy steak. And the fresh spring rolls were tasty and imaginative.Yes, we'll go back to Samán to enjoy sunny poolside dining. Just need to be careful (or experimental) in what we order.