Juan Esteban - Salento

We had lunch here today choosing among several restaurants recommended by our hotel. Seated on the shaded patio, our order was promptly taken by a Spanish speaking waiter. First came a beer and huge Lemonado de Coco, then a small salad and huge fried banana chip with salsa, then our meals; deboned grilled trout, and the large local workman's Bandja Paisa. As we ate, the restaurant filled with locals and a few tourists, making the waiters hop, delivering drinks and satisfying the constant bell from the open grill noting 'meat ready'. We used the clean restrooms and complete wash center before paying the reasonable 43,500Cop bill. Great meal.

We went on a Saturday night with many tables available and the service was not very good. However, the chunchulla was very good and so was our churrasco.

We visited Juan Esteban during our roundtrip of Colombia with our three children aged 7, 5 and 3.We had a late lunch and the restaurant was pretty quiet. Spanish speaking waiter was very friendly and helpful. No problem dividing two kids meals with the three kids. The children had a skewer with pork and chicken with fries and pineapple juice. We had a churrasco with chimichuri, plantain, potato and a small salad. Don't expect too much from the salad, although it was good. But the churrasco was great (both taste and size).The food is prepared behind the bar on a large grill, making the whole restaurant smell of the nice food.If you are around in Salento and near the town square it's absolutely worth to visit Juan Esteban. I would come back and try something else of the menu, for example the ribs.

The place has a charming atmosphere. The staff is helpful although they don't speak English. Unfortunately no English menu available either. We managed to get a nice "aripa", mushroom soup and a nice steak. For international standards the stakes are average, but given that it is a small town in the mountain, i was happy with it. The stake should have been aged and not marinated. I must mention that the sauce for the stake was actually pretty good. Therefore my rating is very good instead of average.

I have never left anything but positive reviews - if I don't have a great experience, I just don't leave a review because, as Momma says, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. But this was so bad that I felt an exception was in order: We went for dinner tonight, and we were immediately hustled into a side room (even though tables were available in the main dining area). We are not shady or scruffy-looking people - I wasn't sure why that happened. The lady taking our order was nice but seemed very hurried and frustrated/stressed - I didn't get it because they weren't that busy. Salads were dropped off without a word. When our food came, I ordered a glass of wine, which never came. We tried to flag someone down to get some ketchup, but never could get any help, and no one came back to check on us during the entire meal. They had two or three wait staff personnel for the three or four tables that were occupied, but no one seemed to know or care that we might need something. We waited for a bill but never got one, so we went to the hostess stand, looked up our meal cost, and made our way to checkout. We told them what we had, handed them the cash, and left. Then, to finish it off, they chased us into the street saying we didn't pay for beers that we never ordered. The meat was tough but not terrible, but the service was so overwhelmingly bad that I can't give them anything but one star. Do not go here!