Club Tapiz

Posted by Edmund in Argentina, Fine Dining, Restaurants | 0 comments

Club Tapiz
French/Eclectic, Fine Dining
About 40 pesos ($11.50) per person for 2 courses

Ruta Provincial 60
Mendoza, Argentina

During my trip through Mendoza, I decided to take a day off from the guided wine tastings and to rough it through Maipu, the nearest wine-producing region. Maipu has much more infrastructure than the other regions and so can be navigated on bike, and almost all the major wineries line up in an 11 mile wine route, making for a nice ride, if you can manage it (Try riding a bike after having a couple too many cups of wine—it’s a little risky, to say the least. Trust me!). Anyway, I needed to refuel at around 1:00 pm with some lunch, so I headed over to Club Tapiz for what was supposedly the best dining experience in Maipu. What I got, though, was not only far inferior to the general quality of meals in Mendoza, it was a downright horrible meal.

The restaurant itself doesn’t seem too bad at first. It has a nice setting—small and intimate, with a more modern vibe/decorations to it. It’s very much lower-key compared to other winery-based restaurants, which is a shame on the one hand, but at the same time it can be refreshing after seeing too much extravagance. This is much more of a place to relax. The service is good, but not really much to note.

As for the food, it really is unexpectedly bad, especially for a restaurant that commands top dollar. Not one dish caught my eye, and I really wouldn’t pay for any of those dishes ever again—I just didn’t care for any of them whatsoever. The wine menu was even lacking—while it was quite good compared to a normal restaurant, it wasn’t quite comparable to the norm for fine restaurants in Mendoza.

Overall, then, this is a subpar restaurant that should be avoided at all costs. There are so many better experiences in Mendoza.

What I had:

1. Bread—many varieties, great taste, fluffy, and crispy
2. Complementary bruschetta—nice touch, but not great in terms of flavors.
3. Appetizer: Shrimp skewers with Turkish lentils—Simple and direct. Nice smoky bbq flavor, but boring. Sauces are not terribly good at all. Lentils are salty but flavorful. 1.7/5.0
4. Entrée: Lamb Ravioli—Nothing special. Very unique combo—cherry tomatoes, nuts, pasta. Still, it’s a poor mix, with clashing flavors. Has no sauce so it’s kind of dry. Very dull—just meat and pasta, without even great flavors to compensate. 1.7/5.0
5. Warm apple pie and lavender ice cream: Sounds like an interesting combo, but it’s really not all that impressive. Ice cream is sub-par, especially by Argentine standards. It’s too frosty and lacks the creaminess I’d expect. Pie is okay, but isn’t flavorful enough on its own. The classic apple pie a la mode combo really breaks down.  1.0

Ambience: 2.5/5.0
Service: 2.5/5.0
Taste: 1.4/5.0
Value: 1.5/5.0. It’s very cheaply priced, especially for a winery restaurant, but you can find much better food at this price throughout the country.
Overall Score: 1.7/5.0