For our September 2019 Medellin Foodie Meet Up we decided to try the Italian Restaurant Cucina Simpatica, located in the Lalinde neighboorhood in Poblado.
For this meet up over 20 people signed up, so we had quite a big group. Cucina Simpatica specializes in pasta dishes, but also has pizza and some Italian meat and seafood specialties.
What did our Foodies think about the food and the service?
Read their reviews here:
Andrew (Vegan):
I really like this place. The way the place is laid out makes it easy to have large groups or even just a table for one.
As an appetizer, I ordered the marinated olives, which were tasty. They give you complimentary bread, which is freshly baked on-site.
As my main dish, I ordered the Pesto di Sasilico, which is long pasty in pesto sauce and pine nuts. It was delicious! And the portion size was good enough for me.
To wash it all down I ordered a Corona.
So the food was very good, and the service, well it was some of the best service I’ve experienced in Medellin in my 9 years here.
The waiter was very attentive, always filling our water glasses up, and the food all came out at the same time! That’s amazing because we were a 20 person group.
I’d highly recommend Cucina Simpatica. I’ll definitely be going back.
Gabriela:
Both my husband and I enjoyed our dinner at Cucina Simpatica. I ordered pappardelle with carbonara sauce and my husband the linguine with mushroom and shrimp in white sauce.
We both agreed that it was delicious and we will be back again. I am closing my eyes and remembering the flat wide noodles, the creamy sauce with bacon bits, and the sprinkling of Parmesan cheese on top. Every bite was pure joy. Unlike some dishes, the delight didn’t wear off after the first three forkfuls. I usually only remember the most tantalizing deserts this vividly.
My husband is a picky eater and I haven’t heard him express such approval for any dinner lately. He also praised his desert, a variation on apple strudel with vanilla ice cream. I shared a tiramisu with a friend, which was average. I think the amaretto liquor was missing, should would have given it the needed extra punch.
We appreciated the bread basket served after orders were taken. The service was good, although it seemed that ordering and serving our large party was a bit challenging. I arrived late and it was hard to get the waiters’ attention to get something to drink as quickly as I would have liked, since I was very thirsty.
Overall, the experience was excellent and we look forward to visiting again.
Silvia and George:
We ordered a pizza with Serrano and arugula and a pasta dish with homemade ravioli, filled with ricotta and spinach in Arrabiata sauce.
The waiter was friendly and made a professional impression. Due to the fact that we were over 20 people, we were sitting on three different tables. It took a little while till they took all the orders from all the tables but they managed to bring out the food at the same time at each table.
The pizza was good, the arugula fresh and the dough was thin. It was not the best pizza I had in Medellin but it was good.
The pasta was homemade and well prepared. The sauce had a nice tomato flavor.
The homemade bread that they serve on every table was delicious.
The pizzas were around 30k and the pasta dish 35k – 40k, so I would definitely categorize this restaurant as rather high end.
Overall we liked the food, the service and the ambiance of the restaurant and we’ll certainly come back.
Sandy and Jeannette:
We had an excellent dinner at Cucina Simpatica and a great group of people from Medellin Foodies Facebook Group.
The restaurant had a nice atmosphere, tables and chairs were comfortable. Food was excellent, flavored well with a nice presentation.
Jeannette had Cozze, Asparagi e Pomodorini with fettuccini noodles. She enjoyed every bite.
I (Sandy) had the Misto Mare e Pomodori Secchi with fettuccini noodles. Great flavor. The table breads had good flavor and were soft.
We will definitely come back to this restaurant and do recommend it to others.
