For our last meet up in 2018 we chose a traditional and famous fish and seafood restaurant located in Barrio Manila/Poblado. Frutos del Mar restaurant exists since 1980 and be categorized as a high end restaurant. Main dishes start at about 45,000 COP. They accept reservations and have enough space even for bigger groups. Continue reading to find out if the Foodies think that this restaurant stands up to it’s good reputation…
Silvia:
I had this restaurant on my list for quite some time, especially because there are not too many seafood restaurants in Medellin and Frutos del Mar is one of the oldest and most famous ones.
The first thing I want to point out that is the service was excellent. We had a glass of water as soon as we arrived and the waiters kept refilling it during the entire evening. So far this is only the second restaurant in Colombia where I have seen that, the other one is Herbario, also in Medellin/Poblado.
I ordered the mixed (seafood and fish) casserole but only with shrimps and fish because I don’t like calamari and squid. All dishes came with a very tasty salad as starter and garlic bread. My casserole was accompanied with rice. Everything was well prepared. I personally found the taste a little plain, but then I am aware that using lots of spices is not the Colombian style of cooking.
The restaurant is definitely pricey for Colombian standards, most dishes are 50,000 COP and up. I think it’s a good place for a business lunch/dinner or for a more formal meet up with friends and family but it will not become my usual lunch or dinner spot due to the high end prices.
Sanford:
My wife and I had a great dinner with the group last night at Frutos del Mar, our first. Thank you Silvia for planning this. Food was wonderful. Service was excellent. I had the house special Peruvian paella, excellent. Jeanette had the special of the night, salmon. We enjoyed the great conversations with all at the table. We will be regulars.A
Pete:
I had the ceviche mixto. I was offered the choice of 2 bases for it, and I chose the red sauce (to try something different). Good selection of fish. The sauce was a tomato base. I enjoyed it. Service was very good considering the group size and activity in the restaurant as it was busier while we were all eating.
Ruth:
I had the cazuela de mariscos with the not quite fitting translation of seafood casserole. It was a big portion with lots of seafood, very creamy and tasty.
Brian:
I was happy to try a seafood place in the city, and as already mentioned, the service was great, the best I’ve experienced in Medellin. I shared a salmon paté starter with Karen that was not on the menu, and was a decent price and size for 2 (as well as sharing a taste with the other foodies around us). I think it was about 15.000 COP and came with crackers as well as the bread that was refilled on the table and stuffed me before the main came out! We shared a parrillera platter that had fish, squid, shrimps, a small lobster tail: it was definitely good, but nothing that blows your mind and makes you want to come back the following week to spend over 100.000 COP on it. In total we spent about 140.000 COP with one glass of wine, which is not too bad when sharing, so I’d consider going back to enjoy the service, but would definitely try some other places around town before coming back.
Lois:
The baked “Corvina Portugesa” was excellent, a nice portion of fish, tender and lightly but well spiced. The green bean and potato side dish that came with it was rather generic and didn’t add to the dish; it was okay but might have chosen something else. The tasty fish made up for it.
As others have noted, service is “old school” excellent and was very responsive, particularly given the large group. The restaurant itself is absolutely charming. Great for your out of town guests to discover one of the many dining gems Medellin has to offer.
Don:
I’m not that much into seafood so as is custom I usually try out the steak at seafood restaurants. Very nice cut of beef which was cooked just right. Service was excellent. Servers were all in black tie and it felt like old world European without the pretense. The price point by Colombian standards skewed towards the high side, but if you are used to USA or European prices then you will be pleasantly surprised.
Andrew:
Frutos del mar is definitely for seafood lovers. Not for vegans, like me, lol. That being said, I ordered the vegetarian dish, which is also vegan. It was about $40,000 pesos and was not impressed at all. The best part was the bread that they brought out with olive oil and balsamic. I also had a gin & tonic. Again, it was pretty pricey and not impressive at all.
My favorite part of the whole experience was the service. Top notch. They all waer tuxedos and are very attentive. They even make sure that you have water with ice at all times.
