Sport Café

I didn’t think implementation of classic American-bistro or bar food could meet the level of mediocracy we’ve seen at both Chili’s and TGI Friday’s in Santiago, but the Sport Café on Apoquindo, may have surpassed them both on being both boring and average. Diners and imbibers take notice that this restaurant, which used to be located at the corner of Apoquindo and Vecinal in close proximity to the El Golf metro station, has moved to a location that’s about two blocks east of the Escuela Militar subway station.

This is a large restaurant that emphasizes the sale of beer and cocktails as much as it does food. It runs promotions to attract drinkers and it’s as if the food they serve is an afterthought - something they only do because drunks love to eat. The good news for Sport Café is that drunks will eat about anything, and no matter how bad, they’ll think it’s the best thing they’ve ever tasted.

Everything on the menu from the burgers to the nachos are sub-par. I’ve eaten more nachos in my life than I care to admit, but this is the first restaurant I’ve ever seen that burned nachos until they were black and had the audacity to serve them to customers.

The décor is boring. The service is adequate at best. And the food, as a whole, is sub-par, or worse. When the food that the food-designers and food-porn photographers take for the restaurant for ads doesn’t even look appetizing, you can be the food they serve isn’t going to win any awards.

With an overall score of 70% we’re doing Sport Café a favor. Consumers on at least one consumer-review site rated it below 3 stars.

If you’re meeting friends to watch the next match or game of your favorite sporting event, I suppose Sport Café is as good a place to get intoxicated as any. And, if you have to order food while you’re drinking, so be it. But don’t be prepared for a gourmet meal.

It’s not there, at Sport Café.