Food, drinks and a great night in Mendoza, Argentina

On my Antarctic odyssey, we Mendoza is one of the best places to visit in the West of Argentina. It’s a vibrant city, renowned for its marvelous art, history and it’s almost impossible to not to have a great night in Mendoza. This land is the most important viticulturist center in south America and houses hundreds of wineries.

The city is centered around the Plaza Independencia , with a pedestrian street (Calle Sarmiento) running through the center. The Plaza Independencia is a huge plaza in downtown Mendoza. It easily covers 3 – 4 large city blocks in a square. There are vendors selling their wares along one side, a beautiful massive water feature in the middle of the Plaza where you can rest on a warm Mendoza night enjoying the light spray from the water or listening to an impromptu speech or Fringe performance from actors. A safe great place to visit any time of day or night.

I love Argentina for the ease and relative safety of nightlife. … you can walk in the main areas at almost any time of night

Around the fountains is hub of activity (after midnight) for the city. Kids practicing parquet, gymnastics, families wondering around, stalls, afternoon snoozes etc. This place has it all.

I love the feeling at night … everything is so safe. I wish I could walk around Trinidad like this at night.

Light sculpture in the Square

After walking through Plaza Independencia, you could head over for dinner at the Hyatt Plaza Mendoza.With an impressive façade that resembles a European palace, the Park Hyatt is nestled the center of the city, adjacent to the Plaza Independencia. With white columns and marble floors, the grand lobby, though sporting a modern furniture, harkens back to days of old. Distant sounds of bells and whistles from the connected casino blend with soft piano music playing in the background.
My plan was to have a death causing amount of amazing steak, sausage and parilla. The concierge at the Sheraton told me that if I was hungry for cow, then the Hyatt would be the place. The quality of the meat was excellent and while pricey by Argentine standards … paying $40 for about 3 lbs of steak, sausage and other “amazingness” is a phenomenal value.

I didn’t hit the Casino … but this is definitely a swank hotel! It made the Sheraton presidential suit look like shits and giggles.

Dinner on the patio … probably is a good option unless you’re looking to eat 25lbs of meat in one sitting.

Who cares about salad? It’s the food that food eats.

I also tried the empanada, which was execution in excellence!

Now this is the type of grill that I need in my house.

Other friends ordered some excellent steak … and to be fair, it looked great.

I took this down like a champ … well I took down half of it

Roar!

The previous night I was sent for meat to an old school restaurant called Don Mario. I was told that it was one of the better ones in the city, but on my night there, I was completely unimpressed.

Even having heard from two people in Mendoza this is a traditional, GOOD place for meat, the reality is pretty far from the (questionable) fame it has. The restaurant’s ambiance is absolutely neutral, impersonal and unattractive. The service provided to the three of us was very, very poor and the food was well below an acceptable average.

This was just terribly done. I definitely wouldn’t recommend Don Mario

Nightlife in Argentina is well known worldwide and Mendoza is no exception. There were a lot of people drinking … in fact, there were a disproportionately high number of women outside drinking. It was almost like a fashion show in the center square.Mendoza produces 70% of Argentine wine and Argentina is the fifth biggest producer in the world. Thursday through Sunday are the biggest nights, when people get started around midnight.