Restaurants

Yesterday we went to La Parrilla Secreta de Tito, a funky little hidden restaurant I wrote about several years ago, with its “cerrado” sign prominently posted on the always-closed door.

Good food, very reasonably priced, as always. But their new $6000 cubierto for the two of us seemed extreme, for such a modest place. It made me wonder, in an attempt to avoid constantly increasing prices, if some restaurants are simply increasing the cubierto beyond its original intent?

I agree. What are typical cubiertos these days? I think we’ve been paying more like 800-100 per person.

It’s a cover charge, meant to pay for the cost the restaurant incurs for cutlery, tablecloth (if any), basket of rolls, glass of water (by law, but rarely observed), and any other little appetizer or condiment the restaurant chooses to put on the table, whether you want /eat it or not.

In expensive restaurants, with actual laundry charges for table linens, it is usually a lot higher than in more ordinary places (like Tito’s), with plastic placemats, which usually charge something very nominal.

Restaurants don’t charge cubiertos in Chivilcoy?

It started happening here years ago. 20 years ago, only a small minority of restaurants charged cubiertos. Around 8-10 years ago, more started doing it, although only a few pesos. Now, it’s just another way to charge more without having the prices of individual items noticeably increase.

Bombonera , we went to the Parrilla you told us all about, and enjoyed it very much. It’s very atmospheric, too.