The place is quite unassuming but convenient due to its location. Draught beer and a certain level of atmosphere makes the place quite inviting specially in a city where it is not that common going for a "quick one after work".
The one thing me and my mates were not counting on was the "tourist trap with a twist" approach! We learnt the hard way how the people at The Temple Bar (in M. T. Alvear) make their money. In a very friendly manner, the people behind the till will slip the odd drink here and there to inflate the bill. With the certainty that the clientele is there to enjoy a few drinks they liberally add drinks to the tab in the hope that the "rich gringos" are too drunk to notice.
At the end of a very sensible session we were presented with a bill that included 6 drinks we did not have. We were completely outraged. When we challenged the waitress she very conveniently disappeared and a manager with loads of attitude explained that "if it was added to your bill it is because we have to charge you for it". One of my mates challenged this in Spanish, something that the manager was probably not expecting, and in a very passive/aggressive and patronising way tried to explain the situation. Of course the waitress kept her head down and left all the nonsense to the robbing manager.
After some debate we decided to pay the bill as presented to avoid a nastier confrontation as some people in our party were already too embarrassed and preferred to pay the cash.
Needless to say, in such a friendly town like Buenos Aires, this place is to be avoided like the plague unless you want to be ripped off by two-faced staff that are obviously trying to make some extra money from patrons. read more