La Carnicería — Restaurant in Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Well, I would have loved to rate this place solid 5 stars. But last night changed that heavily.

The first two times I went here, I went by myself, and I was very impressed. Everything was so good, I raved about it to my friends and said it's about $70, but worth every dollar.

So we make a reservation for 3 and WOW these guys managed to make multiple mistakes, make me look bad, and do absolutely nothing to fix it other than say disculpa.

The food took over 80 minutes to come, other tables that sat 15 to 30 minutes after us were consistently getting their food first. Ridiculous amount of time to wait.

When it finally came, only 2 of 3 steaks came. My 3rd friend had to wait another 15 minutes for his.

The mushrooms our table had were bad, something was wrong with them. We sent them back, they tasted them and admitted they tasted off and gave us some excuse about cooking them too long.

I asked for black pepper, and since they insist on cracking it for you (good service, sure) so the waiter brings an electric pepper grinder, holds it over my steak and it FALLS APART with all the pieces falling onmy steak. Disgusting. Says disculpa and dissappears, no offer to do anything about it. At this point I'm starving after waiting 90 minutes to eat, so I just leave it and eat the steak instead of raise an issue. My friends are now laughing at how bad the service is looking at this place.

Then, we see a COCKROACH on the water bottle on our table. We point it out, and the waiter tries to kill it but it falls on the floor and runs off so he just makes an oh my god face, and leaves.

There was a few other small forgiveable things, but the stuff above made for a downright embarrassing experience.

The billl comes, and all they did was remove the mushrooms. They offered no discount, no free dessert, nothing.

I usually never go out of my way to leave a review like this, but it was hilarious to pay $200 for this dinner after so many things were wrong, and just have them more or less give us the full bill and say yeah we messed up but here you go.

Michelin star food quality? Yes. Michelin star hospitality? No.

Sorry guys, it pains me to leave this review after loving my first 2 times here so much. But this was an obviously bad experience for us, and you guys could have easily corrected it by acknowledging and offering a dessert or something.

Very...

La Carniceria is an upscale yet casual parilla or steakhouse in the trendy Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. On a Friday night, my friend and I were seated immediately upon arriving with no wait, a welcome surprise. The staff were extremely friendly and attentive, especially appreciated given my limited Spanish language skills. However, the menu is also in English, and our server spoke enough English to describe the various cuts of meat and make recommendations.

To start, we shared an order of provoleta, grilled provolone cheese, and chorizo, grilled Argentine sausage. The provoleta was melted perfection, with a slight char from the grill and served with toast. The chorizo was nicely spiced and smoky, whetting our appetites for the main courses.

For our mains, I selected the ojo de bife, a ribeye, while my friend chose the entrana, a skirt steak. The cuts of meat are all top quality Argentine beef, and the results on the grill are sublime. My ribeye was a massive 22 ounce cut, perfectly medium rare as requested, and so tender I could cut it with a fork. The entrana was also expertly grilled, with an intensity of beefy flavor that would make any Texan jealous.

With our meats, we were served a variety of small sides to share including papas fritas or french fries, grilled vegetables, and an arugula salad. The fries were hand-cut and fried to an ideal crispness. The vegetables were simply but deliciously grilled. And the arugula salad provided a peppery, fresh balance to the rich meats.

For those that don't have cash on hand, that's ok, they accept cards. I had to use my card because I landed at night after all the Western Union locations have already closed for the day.

Overall, La Carniceria lived up to its reputation for an amazing steakhouse experience. The quality of the beef and skill of the grillmasters result in cuts of meat that melt in your mouth. Paired with the attentive yet relaxed service and variety of complimentary sides, La Carniceria should not be missed on any meat lover’s visit to Buenos Aires. At around $50 USD per person, La Carniceria is upscale but still affordable, especially given the world-class quality of the cuisine. I will absolutely return on my next trip...

While we waited for the doors to open, we saw some people from the Food Network. That's usually a sign of good food! We arrived on a Sunday, a few minutes before 8pm. Without a reservation, we weren't sure how long we would have to wait, or if we would even get a table. When the doors opened, we were seated right away in a relatively small dining space that looks into an open kitchen with a large grill.

Gin Tonics - Apostoles + pulpo + cucumber + huacatay, Apostoles + pulpo + cedron + lime (100 pesos each, $6): The drinks were light and not very strong at all. I didn't taste too much rosemary, so it was very refreshing.

Parrilla Cut - squash + chimi (310 pesos, $19): Despite the rapid inflation, the current price is still pretty reasonable, compared to U.S. prices, for such a large slab of meat. Under the crunchy, crisp surface with large grains of salt, the meat was very tender. The meat closer to the bone was excellent. The squash and chimichurri had good flavor, and the squash paste was creamy. I didn't think the steak needed any sauces to accompany it.

Cabbage - zucchini broccoli + green peas + garlic + yogurt + parmesan (120 pesos, $7): I love roasted vegetables and these were excellent. The cabbage and broccoli had a nice char to them, with a tangy, salty, garlicky flavor, especially with the shaved parmesan. The only thing that could be improved was the chunk of cabbage was big and somewhat awkward to cut.

Nalga - amarillo aji + leche de tigre + sweet potato (200 pesos, $12): The slivers of rare beef in creamy aji sauce was delicious. It was tart, but not overwhelmingly so. The corn kernels and sweet potatoes added to the flavor profile and texture.

Everything was delicious. I honestly was not too hungry when I walked in through those doors, but I sure was happy to eat everything once they arrived...