Tataku Vave wasn’t the only Easter Island restaurant recommended by my Santiago food guide Karla Lodis. She also said we should head to Tia Berta, where we’d find awesome tuna empanadas. And since Karla had taken us to Rancho Doña Maria, we knew she knew a thing or two about empanadas. So we went for lunch Tuesday … and then returned Wednesday.

Which ought to tell you what we thought of those empanadas.

We went the first day in the company of our Easter Island guide Cristin Arvalo Pakarati, who once again, unprompted, validated Karla’s choice in restaurants.

In addition to the empanadas—tuna for me and beef for Irene—we ordered the traditional Chilean salad of tomatoes and onions, which was refreshing after our morning in the sun. Plus I had a very good and very fresh glass of guava juice.

We could have ordered either empanada with cheese as part of the filling, but chose to go without (as in, “atun solo”) because we wanted to better taste the beef or tuna.

Irene preferred Tia Berta’s empanadas to the ones at Rancho Doña Maria. I’m going to stick my neck out here and say that her opinion represents her preference for a fried rather than a baked crust, as opposed to one being qualitatively better than the other. (Check the comments below to see whether she disagrees.)

Both restaurants make great empanadas, and it seems to me that your choice of one over the other will have more to do with whether you’re a partisan of a certain cooking style. As for me, I can’t compare the two; they’re both winners.

During our return visit the following day, we also ordered french fries, and were happy to discover Tia Berta makes a mean french fry as well, which pleased Irene.

Tia Berta is on Easter Island’s main street, Atamu Tekena, so it’s fairly easy to find. Plus it’s relatively inexpensive. One word of warning, though—you’ll wait to get those empanadas, so you’d better not be in a rush. I note that a few online reviewers have mentioned they felt slighted, that locals were served before tourists, but I saw none of that. All customers had to wait awhile for their empanadas to come out of the kitchen.

But it’s your choice. What do you want? A fast, pre-made, not very good empanada? Or one that’s made to order, takes awhile, but is great?

I know which I’d choose.