Santiago: La Pausa (April 2017)

The Best of Three Full-Service Landside Dining Options


My spouse and I dined at La Pausa Cafeteria for an early dinner on a Saturday afternoon in late March 2017 during our few hours layover at the airport between our domestic and international flights. Because we were landside and unable to check in early for our overnight flight, we chose a table at La Pausa that had a view of our airline check-in counters. La Pausa is open daily from 7:30 am until 11:00 pm. Note that the staff speaks no English, nor is an English menu available. Although we are not Spanish-speakers, we were able to communicate adequately. (In general, we found a lack of English speakers in the landside restaurants, whereas at the airside establishments, the staff spoke a little English.)

La Pausa is located on the third level of the airport (which holds the airline check-in counters and security checkpoint) between the international and the domestic security gates (although closer to the international gates). It offers an airy atmosphere because it adjoins the spacious check-in lobby area of the airport terminal with its soaring ceilings and glass walls. La Pausa has an open kitchen and primarily table seating, plus two booths. “La Pausa” means “The Pause”. (It does NOT refer to Coco Chanel's villa on the French Riviera!) Other locations (besides the airport) include Guayaquil Ecuador and Lisbon Portugal.

La Pausa serves continental cuisine. Although the food was not inexpensive, the prices were on par with other dining choices at the airport. Our meal cost about $45 USD for two burgers (each with a side of fries) and two rounds of drinks (two beers and two sodas). When it was time to pay our bill, the server motioned that she would add a 10% gratuity if acceptable, and when we indicated that it was, she ran our credit card through a portable machine that she brought to the table.

We enjoyed our “gringo” meal of burgers and fries at La Pausa as we waited to check in for our flight.





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