La Pizza Nostra – We went here on Sunday night on the suggestion of the hotel (many restaurants are closed on Sunday in Santiago). Though we arrived around 10p, there were a surprising number of people still coming in for dinner. We split a pizza which was pretty good, and as with many parts of Chile the price was comparable to the US. We also sampled two Chilean beers.

Since this was out first night in Santiago it was also our introduction to the many street dogs of the city. As we walked in past the sidewalk tables we noticed a dog sleeping at the feet of one table and assumed they were the owners… wrong! He was just waiting for leftovers. From our window seat we had a great view of the different groups of dogs, some passing through, some that seemed to be regulars in the area. Our daytrip guide later explained that while some dogs are homeless, many have a home and are allowed to wander the streets. So, there are thousands of dogs wandering about Santiago. Of course, we had our own experience of being adopted while hiking later in the trip.

Astrid y Gaston
We visited Astrid y Gaston on our second night since it was highly recommended on Tripadvisor as a good ‘splurge’ type restaurant. It did not disappoint. The dishes are Peruvian-inspired, so Leandra was quite excited to try their ceviche…

It’s a good thing she took a photo because that plate didn’t last long! (Leandra’s note: The passion fruit spiked sauce and avocado were mouth-watering.) Service was attentive throughout- our wine glasses were refilled often to keep the wine at the right temperature and plates were presented together, without being intrusive. We would definitely recommend Astrid y Gaston.

Ciudad Vieja
We stopped in here for lunch on our last day in Chile. As mentioned previously, we were disappointed that they were out of many beers on their list (Eric ordered four different ones before he found one available) even though it was a Tuesday. They were also out of several menu items, so we eventually gave up and ordered the empanadas (cheese, shrimp and mushroom), which were tasty. Maybe we were really unlucky, but I think we would try other places in the neighborhood next time.

Restaurant Galindo
This is the restaurant across the street from Ciudad Viejo where we found Rothhammer on draft; while we only tried the beer here the food looked excellent, and the sidewalk tables were still quite busy at 2:30p.