servicio

What it means

1. 1.

   A bottle of rum ordered with everything that goes with it — ice bucket, cups, and a bottle of cola or soda water. The standard unit of a night out at a colmadón or a car wash.

2. 2.

   Ordering one commits you to sharing it: a servicio is bought for a table, never for a person.

Examples with translations

• Pídete un servicio de Brugal pa' la mesa.

  Order a bottle of Brugal with the setup for the table.

• Ese servicio no' salió en do' mil peso'.

  That bottle and setup cost us two thousand pesos.

Where it comes from

Standard servicio, 'service', narrowed to this specific bar transaction. The institution it belongs to — the colmado that puts speakers and plastic chairs on the pavement after dark, or the car wash that becomes a nightclub at the weekend — is particular enough to the country that the word does not travel well.