When the Alvarez restaurant first opened, about three years ago, it was my favourite Blava joint, both for service and food quality [Re: "Ristorante Alvarez: Fantastic but flawed", by Matthew J. Reynolds, Vol. 7 No. 41, October 29 - November 4].
In those days I lived nearby and went for lunch or dinner two or three times a week. I was back in Bratislava for a few months this past spring and hurried back to Alvarez. I was horribly disappointed to find that although the service was still wonderful the food was not.
I was willing to pay those high prices when the food was worth it, but this time my steak was radically undercooked, chewy and stringy. The salad was nothing I couldn't get for a quarter the price at almost any restaurant in the city. The old extensive selection of Italian wines had shrunk to hardly a sampling.
I hate to say this, but the steaks at the Irish Pub are better than the last one I had at Alvarez. It's still a pretty good restaurant, but I wouldn't say fantastic.
Don Merritt,
Pretoria, SA
