Buen Ayre

Buen Ayre is just a lot of hot air. Steak quality is questionable and the cooking is too. Steakhouses like Hawksmoor (Shoreditch), while more expensive, completely beat the daylights out of a place like this when it comes to good steak. Don't waste your time or money.
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Kevin Bossi
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Great steak, wonderful wine, great atmosphere. Go again, yes.
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Michael
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Saturday, August 27, 2011

I am a huge fan of good steak. I spend a lot of my time looking for more places that know how to buy good meat and cook it with some respect. I went to Buen Ayre with really high hopes, I shouldn't have.

I have one, major, complaint. And for a restaurant specialising in steak, it is a killer.

They can't cook steak.

If you want medium, rare, medium rare, whatever your preference may be, they need to be able to cook it. They can't. They fail.

Their handling of my complaint puts their service down in the toilet.

I will never go back, it's not worth it.

Maybe I missed the time when they were a good restaurant, who knows.
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Nigel Rantor
3 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 0
Thursday, August 18, 2011

I went with my wife to Buen Ayre last Saturday for the first time after being recommended by a friend and I must say that we had a great experience.

The food was superb. We started with the empanadas, chicken and beef. They were really tasty.

For mains we decided to go for the Parrillada Deluxe. We were really amazed by the enourmous amount of food. 2 Sausages, 1 Black pudding, provolone cheese and 2 steaks, rib-eye and sirloin. It all came in a mini-grill with charcoal inside to keep it warm. The steaks were cooked to perfection, both medium rare. What can I say? It was probably the best steak I've had in ages. The chimichuri sauce (argentinean sauce made of herbs and oil) was a great complement to the meat. We couldn't finish it so we asked for a doggy-bag.

The staff was very friendly. Our waiter recommended a very nice bottle of Malbec, Septimo dia, which went really well with the meat. He tried to convince us to go for desserts but to be honest, we didn't have anymore room for food.

The bill came up to £103 (service included) which I believe it is really good value for money.

We thoroughly enjoyed our experience at buen ayre and will be back for sure. Highly recommended!
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Thomas Becker
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, June 22, 2011

So disappointing! This place is litterally A SHAM!

As a group of friends from South America we have been testing several parillas in London and I can tell you that this one is the worst ever! Very expensive for "a parilla de barrio" with very low quality meats.

The reason wy we HATED it are: 1) We were seating next to the toilets - a very dirty door that is quite touching the table.

2) The empanadas are very expensive (5 pounds) and they are fried!! Oily empanadas are not the typical very good Argentine empanada.

3) The meat is not of very good quality. Trust me if you compare the meat to "El Gaucho" meat or "Buenos Aires" meat you'll see the difference. The meat is oily while normally a good parilla meat is not oily, it's grilled.

4) We won't even speak about the French fries...OILY!!

5) The 22 pounds wine we were served was corked. We had to make it changed.

This place would have been great if you pay 15 pounds each for example. But paying 45 pounds each for "a parilla de barrio" that has bad meat, bad french fries and bad empanadas...NO!
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Carole
2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Thursday, March 10, 2011

Went last week with my friend from France who came to visit me. She has been to Argentina and really wanted to take me to an Argentine place.

I have to say that I was not very keen on Argentine food and stuff, but I ate REAAAAALLY well.

I had a 10oz premium fillet and she had the 8oz sirloin. I went to Angus Steak House a couple of times with my family and I used to think Angus was awesome, lol.

My friend and I shared some chips that weren't amazing, that's the truth. But the meat is such amazing, and it comes with a garnish of salad and beans that could be a little side.

We also drunk a bottle of one of the Argentine wines (maybe Malbec, don't remember) which was very nice too.

Highly reccomendable, definitely one of the best options in the East side.
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Wendy McMillan
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, October 04, 2010

I have been wanting to go to this restaurants for a while now as I only live 5 mins away and I love my steaks but was really put off by the bad reviews.

I thought it was a fantastic little restaurant, really cosy and intimate has a local cafe feel. I am very suprised with all the bad comments about the Staff as I thought they were really friendly and very helpful, they spent 10 mins with us explaining the differents cuts of meat and which had more flavour and which was more tender ect . They were dressed in casual tee shirts and trainers which I really liked.

The steaks were absolutely huge, My boyfriend and I shared the Parrillada Al Paso which is like a mixed grill to share, it was so big it would have been enough to feed 4 people. My other 2 friends ordered the fillet and the sirloin also really big and tender.

The bill only came to about £30 per person including service charge. We had 1 bottle of wine to share, main course, a side dish each and coffees. We also had to take a doggy bag home which was more than enough for dinner the next day as well. Real bargain!

Only thing that was not great were the side dishes thought thay were overpriced £4.50 for a side salad which was only lettuce and tomatoes and £4.50 for chips that tasted like frozen ones is a little steep.
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karen
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Sunday, September 05, 2010

We went here a couple of years ago and had one of the most memorable meals out ever. As we had another cause for celebration, we booked Buen Ayre again. But then I made the mistake of reading some reviews on this page; it looked like we might not get the same quality meal or be treated badly.

This was certainly not the case.

The massive "mixed grill" has to be the most decadently meaty feast I have ever seen. We had the Parillada Buen Ayre as we had done previously. The meat comes on a massive grill and is literally piled high. The steaks were absolutely perfect (and enormous) and the sweetbreads and black pudding were of the highest quality. It has to be said that the flank steak wasn't so good - but you couldn't honestly eat everything on the grill anyway. We reckoned it would have easily fed a family of four or five, and was a comparative bargain (they also offered us a doggy bag - so we got another dinner out of it!)

Our waitress was very helpful and sweet. There was still a buzz in the small room - lots of satisfied carnivores chomping, wine being poured freely, and everyone leaving happy.
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James
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Saturday, September 04, 2010

ATMOSPHERE: As an Argentinian, I have to say that Buen Ayre recreates the typical "parrilla de barrio" that you will find in Buenos Aires city - and anyone who knows Buenos Aires city knows it's not the same in the rest of the Argentinian restaurants of London.

FOOD: The starters: OMG, I don't remember the last time I ate empanadas!

Then, main course for me and my girlfriend: bife ancho (rib-eye) and bife de lomo (10oz fillet); both very tender and tasty. The steaks came with a garnish of beans and salad that could have been enough as sides. We also ordered the rocket salad and a portion of "Papas Fritas a la Provenzal" (chips with garlic and pastry, one of the ways we eat the chips in Argentina). We drunk the ES Vino, which is a Cabernet Sauvignon - excellent with the medium steaks.

As a dessert I had a Panqueque con Dulce de Leche and she had the Cheesecake (don't remember the last time I ate Dulce de Leche either).

After the meal, we were invited with Malamado, an Argentinian port wine. Couldn't believe they had it over here.

SERVICE: The service is good.

Before going I had read some reviews (where people wrote that the service was awful and stuff) so I paid special attention to the waiter and waitress in our table and in the rest, and I have to say that I was happily surprised.

We spent 88quid and I believe that's fine for eating at a restaurant where the food and the wine are from the other side of the world.

As a conclusion: it made me feel a bit closer to home.
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Nicolás Fuster
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Saturday, August 21, 2010

I returned after eighteen months with high hopes and boy, what a horrible come-down.What was once a vibrant eatery with the best steaks in town has become a lacklustre, touristy joint with second rate beef. The service was equally bad and the whole thing felt like a rip-off. So sad that place like this that were once so good can go so quickly down hill.
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Toby Tucker
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Saturday, July 24, 2010