Buen Ayre

I was also surprised at the good ratings for this restaurant. A friend and i went here on a spur of the moment thing as Square Meal had voted it ‘Best in East’. The actual place is a small Argentinian cafe in a trendyish part of the area – old wooden tables/laminated short menu etc. We had a slightly pushy waitress who gave us the hard sell on wine and food and when we finally got a chance to view the menu, it was quite limited and looked like huge cuts of meat (10oz fillet and no other smaller pieces of the same meat). In some ways, its good because £22 a steak isnt cheap, but quality vs quantity was my main concern when pieces of meat were this big.

When the meal arrived – it was huge but not seasoned. Chips were delicious but very oily. My meat was meant to be medium but was actually bleeding and so i had to send it back to get cooked further. The waiter again did the hard sell on puddings – everything seemed to be covered in Duche Leche toffee which made my cheesecake and the ‘traditional pancakes’ overly sweet and not really worth the money. I just didn't feel anything was worth returning for.

All in all, bill came to £72 for two courses and 1 drink – as the other reviewers have said, Gaucho is pricey but at least its somewhere where there is a far better selection of meats and veggie options and you'd feel less hard done by when you leave! Buen Ayre is ok but i dont think it's anything special and certainly not worth revisiting.

I am very surprised that this restaurant gets such good reviews.

After visiting last night I found the service was sloppy and not welcoming. We were crammed into a corner with only one menu per 2 people, the waiter didn't bring us any bread until we had nearly finished our starters. He was very keen to push drinks which is always irritating. He didn't write down orders and seemed very eager to rush us off the table; even though we'd only just sat down and hadn't ordered. We had the table from 7pm – 9pm which is plenty of time to eat dinner, so didn't appreciate being told when we asked for a few more minutes that we should hurry up and order.

The choice of starters was very limited, I had the aubergine which was coated in garlic, cold and unappetizing. My husband had Empanadas which he said were bland and uninteresting.

The main course came and my BIFE DE LOMO was not impressive, I had to leave a large portion as it was very gristly. My husband ordered his medium but it came well done and there was also a surprising difference in the sizes of the steak. The garnish that came with the steak was nice but the side salads and chips we ordered were not particularly well presented and expensive.

The most unpleasant aspect was the single toilet for use by both sexes which was not a wonderful experience for reasons best left unsaid but probably easily imaginable and also not ideal in a very busy restaurant.

Mainly I am surprised that they charge the same prices as Gaucho Grill for everything on their menu but at Gaucho you are also paying for the location, setting, ambiance and decor as well as a much larger choice of food. I really don't see how they can justify the same prices when the food is not better and… More