UGH. Our last dinner in Buenos Aires, and what a disappointment! Was it the slow service, the indifferent server, or the BROKEN GLASS in our sausage? Hmm, maybe all of the above.
Things started out well. It was busy when we arrived at around 9:30 pm, and the hostess told us it would be 20-25 minutes. It was more than that, but they offered us a glass of sparkling wine in the meantime, so we were fine with waiting. They had English menus but our server didn't speak English, so you should be prepared to order in Spanish here.
We ordered what I thought was a lot of food: two empanadas, a chorizo, a salad, one portion of asado, fries, and a bottle of wine. But our server insisted that the asado was too small to share and we needed one each, so on his advice, we ordered two portions. In fact, one order of asado is not only more than enough for two, but it comes in two pieces! So we felt taken advantage of and misled into over-ordering. It wasn't the money, it's that we didn't like feeling cheated.
The courses were poorly timed: the wine and empanadas came out quickly, but then we sat for over 30 minutes for a single sausage. Then everything else arrived all at once. Meanwhile, we saw other tables receiving their food both faster and in the correct order. We caught our server's eye several times, but he didn't seem to care that we were stranded without food.
The worst part, though, as I may have mentioned, was when my boyfriend bit down on a SHARD OF BROKEN GLASS in the chorizo (see photo). Obviously that killed our appetite for the sausage! We showed it to the server and he shrugged it off, literally gave us a thumbs-up, and took the shard of glass away, never to be seen again. His indifference to food safety bothered us enough that I mentioned it to the hostess and manager afterward, but they didn't seem to care or understand why we were upset. They shrugged it off by saying they didn't make the sausage, and eventually offered to take it off the check when they saw we still weren't happy. But again, it wasn't about the few dollars that it cost, it was about us wanting them to care that there was BROKEN GLASS IN THE FOOD THEY WERE SERVING. I don't think they really understood that, even after our very awkward conversation. Imagine how horrified any restaurant in the U.S. would be if you showed them broken glass that came out of their food!
The food itself (at least, the part that didn't have broken glass) was fine, not the greatest, but we had a hard time enjoying our meal after all that. It's true that this doesn't seem to be a place that caters to tourists, but we felt ignored and poorly served. Most of our parrilla meals have been so good that it's a shame we had to leave on such a sour note. I can't recommend this place to visitors who are here for a short time when there are so many other better dining experiences out there. read more