¿Tú ________ la cafetería del pueblo que abrió hace un mes?

Question

This is getting old with
asking a question specifying two different possible answers and then allowing
only one in the grading of the question. Either sabes or conoces a should be
accepted. The question does not differentiate between asking if the addressee knows of the restaurant
because he/she has had experience going there or if he/she has just heard about it, a big difference.

Answer

Hola Diane,I think I understand your confusion because I used to get confused like this. The question asks "Do you know / are you familiar with the village cafetería that opened a month ago?"  Conocer is always used when you are talking / asking about knowing a person or a place. It's that straight forward. You couldn't really use saber in this instance because it is used relating to facts, information or how to do something. I think of it as "knowing" at an intellectual or cerebral level (saber) rather than the more personal sense of being familiar with (conocer).  It's a bit subjective but if you apply the place / person rule it works very easily.I hope that helpsJohn