American
Ecuadorian
Non-veg
Serves meat, vegan options available. Evening restaurant located inside a hostel and is open to the public. Many vegetarian dishes, a few non-veg ones. Includes a wrap, a lentil or quinoa burger (can be vegan upon request). Understands veganism. Reported open February 2024. NOTE: Enter via the Hotel. Closed Sunday.
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Last update on 13 Feb 2024 by Isamara
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8 Reviews
First Review by gstuessy
VegiLioness
Points +987
Went for drinks - Edit
Stayed in the hostal and saw their advertised 3 for $5 caipiriña deal and couldn’t resist. We got the 3 different types, maracuya, lime, and strawberry. They were good, but not too strong. But very tasty and a great value. They also have craft beers for $3.50 and up. We did not eat here but saw they had a beyond burger on the menu for $7.50. The girl working there was very nice and helpful. They serve food and drinks until 9:30pm, and there is free WiFi.
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2022-03-02
Pros: Good drink special , Craft beers in stock, Veggie burger option
Guest
garethdavies514
Points +202
Tasty burgers, friendly staff - Edit
We were staying at the hostel and were pleasantly surprised to see it pop up on Happy Cow.
Read moreThe burgers and fries were great. Staff are friendly. A tad pricey.
Guest
EagleFeather
Points +93
convenience at a price - Edit
We stayed at the hostal here and were excited because they advertised as being "ecoagricultural" and had vegan food options. We tried the patacones, quinoa burger and the tumbe bean burger. The meal and particularly the service were both disappointing. The patacones with guac and chia were the best part of the meal (and the only part that I believe was truly vegan). However, the patacones were extremely oily and overfried (and I bet they were cooked in the same oil as their animal products), the guac was loaded with lime and no other seasoning. The burgers were ok, although a little bland and tasteless... but both of them were served with processed cheese slices (luckily they weren't even melted so I was able to remove them). How is that vegan or ecoagricultural?! I now question whether the bun was really vegan.
Read moreThe waitstaff was unattentive... we were not offered or given napkins, salt and pepper or even water, until we asked to buy some. The food was was way overpriced for the amount and quality.
Pros: The restaurant was in the hostal we were staying.
Cons: EVERYTHING ELSE
Guest
voyegan
Points +2103
only in emergency - Edit
The service staff doesn't know anything about vegan food. I ordered a burger which was supposed to be vegan when I leave away the yogurt. But it came with cheese in between. So I wonder if the burger had eggs or not...
Read moreAs I stayed in the hostel itself, I decided to give it a second chance, even though the breakfast was horrible and not vegan.
The second time I wanted to order spaghetti with pesto, but they run out of pesto. So I wanted to order something else but the staff didn't return. After I found out that nothing else was open on Monday night, I returned and ordered a appetizer, which was tasty. As I was not full after that, I wanted to order some vegan cupcakes, they have on the card, but they were not available. So I wanted a chocolate drink, which is advertised in the card as: "must try" but that one wasn't available neither, so I ended up with a fruit juice.
Besides that I saw several times cockroaches crawling around.
Pros: the plantain appetizer is tasty.
Cons: expensive, lot of things are not available., staff doesn't know much about vegan food.
Guest
happypigs
Points +405
Food was bad - Edit
For $5.5 per person we got the day's menu: a vegetable soup (only almost decent part of the menu), 2 *really burnt* falafel nuggets with some white rice and a little salad, a glass of horrible-tasting "orange" juice and some banana slices with raw chia (as the normal desert pastry wasn't vegan). Portions were small and we were a bit sick after forcing ourselves to eat the burnt falafel. I wouldn't go again and I advise you agaist going there. Maybe just for a coffee it is ok, as the ambiance is allright.
Read moreGuest
Lisa-Michelle
Points +49
Delicious, very friendly, not cheap. - Edit
I was happy to find this place in Guayaquil. We had dinner on a Saturday night: fried plantain with guacamole and quinoa burger with papas fritas. Both delicious and filling. Good quality food (although a little oily). I would eat here again :-)
Read morePros: vegan options, nice atmosphere , nice staff
Cons: not cheap
Guest
jaymo2000
Points +31
A restaurant, an hostal, and a way of life - Edit
If you are looking for a very good vegetarian friendly restaurant in Guayaquil, near the central district, El Manso Boutique Hostel Restaurant is where you need to go. It isn't hard to find, unless you are walking the Malecon and ask people for directions. They will send you to places that they are SURE is the El Manso, such as the Guayaquil Yacht Club. That is so NOT the El Manso. What didn't occur to us was that it isn't IN/ON the Malecon, it is across the street from the Malecon. Our taxi driver got us there when our feet wouldn't.
Read moreThe first time we went there was just after lunch seating, so they were closed, but one of the staff was exiting as we were at the door. He very kindly pointed us in the direction of several other places that were veg/veg friendly in the central district. (see my review of Shri Ganesha).
The menu is viewable online (www dot manso dot ec), so our mouths were in anticipation of what lay in store for us at dinner. We each had a house salad for starters, though the stuffed patacones looked very tempting. My wife had the Tumbes Bean Burger and I had the veggie wrap. Both of us selected house fries as the side. They were served with an aioli that was fresh, citrusy, and delicious. The bean burger stood up well against most bean burgers, domestic or foreign, and as with most the tendency toward mush was present. In our experience, only the North Star Cafe in Columbus, OH has solved the taste/texture conundrum of veggie burgers. Still, the El Manso version was tasty and a good value. The veggie wrap's star was the guacamole/pesto mix. Ecuadorian guacamole is not the same thing as Mexican or Cal-Mex guacamole. That's not a bad thing, it's just different: creamier and milder. The marinated oyster mushrooms gave the wrap some firmness of tooth, something lacking in a lot of vegetarian food.
El Manso calls its menu agriecological: mostly organic, mostly local, no fillers or artificial taste enhancers, limited offerings of poultry and sea food. The staff were attentive without being pushy or overbearing. The fact that the restaurant is available to the public is great for vegetarian travelers. Our hosts had booked us into a different hotel and we would have missed El Manso completely except for 1) the HappyCow listing, 2) the hostal manager we bumped into on the street. Highly recommended. There's also a small gift shop with boutique items that have mostly been repurposed from something else.
Pros: Excellent food, Beer and Wine available, Clean and Welcoming
Cons: a little hard to find
Guest
gstuessy
Points +58
Nice quiet place, English menu - Edit
We had the vegan wrap and quinoa burger on January 30, 2014. Both were pretty good and very inexpensive.
Read moreGuest
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