MARE by Fran — Restaurant in Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

We ate here back in June for the first time when some friends came to visit Buenos Aires, based on the restaurants reputation. We had a lovely evening, too busy with my friends to worry about the food much. This time on our own I took the time to consider the food, which by the city’s standards is expensive, though not so much by Puerto Madero standards. We had the garlic prawn starter which was great, after that it was more disappointing. The hake was dry and over cooked, the roasted vegetables that came with it were bland and you really can’t roast French beans they were shrivelled and inedible. My Spaghetti alle Vongole was distinctly lacking in vongole - I think I counted 10 in a large plate of spaghetti. It’s not exactly service with a smile either, though it was quick (too quick). My main moan is left for the end when it came to pay the bill, they don’t take payment from your phone and as this happened to be a spur of the moment decision to eat out I didn’t have my cards with me. I am so used, even in the smallest of cafes in the city, to being able to use my phone wallet these days it seems incomprehensible that a fancy restaurant like this doesn’t take payment by phone. The situation made worse by the managers response to it, unapologetic and sullen, even after I made a 40 minute round trip home to get my card....

Completely overpriced ($120 per person) and overrated. The location is nice and the ambiance is quite pleasing, clean location as far as the eye can see. The food is poorly cooked beyond any shadow of doubt. Out of the 6 entree’s in the table, 3 came up raw, they swapped one of them without hassle but the waiter essentially ignored me when i was about to point out that i wanted my entree changed as well or at least removed from the table as i was already growing tired of the smell of the undercooked shrimps encased in a fatty and undercooked bacon strip. The fish was overcooked and completely bland, the vegetables are poorly handled (removing the rough skin at the base of asparagus is not a big challenge which they completely failed to succeed at). The steaks were poorly seasoned and had a sauce on top that resembled canned mushrooms with the kind of sauce you can get dehydrated in a 50 cents package at the grocery store. The desserts were not the exception, we received giant balls of chocolate ganache that were still frozen with the side of a sad mint leaf and half of a strawberry, the white chocolate soup was ok. A very disappointing christmas eve gastronomically speaking, will never go again and completely went out of my way to write this review to avoid other people having similar experiences, specially near...

DECEPCIÓN, entras y el lugar está decorado precioso. Muy playa, marinerito. Muy muy lindo.

Me siento en el sillón, super cómodo, pero primer alerta, vasos berretas. Ok esta caro en Argentina usar cristal.

Me traen una panera, la misma de la Parolaccia, no es mala, pero lejos de ser la mejor.

Recibo la carta.... y ahí ya empece a darme cuenta que algo estaba mal... en Teoría era Mare by Fran, y se tendría que llamar Fran by La Parolaccia.

O haces comida de Mar o no pones peceras para que la gente pida sorrentinos. Se nota que hay 2 capitanes y no se ponen de acuerdo.

Pido el Ceviche, precio al nivel de Osaka, pero lo que me trajeron no estaba en la misma liga. Le faltó la batata dulce, y la leche de tigre no se destacaba, picor perfecto.

Ahora la desgracia absoluta fueron los risottos. Pedí los 2. Un asco. O estaban hechos anteriormente y los montaron con queso y manteca o no se. El de azafrán gusto a comida de clase baja, no tenía un caldo casero. Y el gusto a azafrán artificial. Pasado de lima, le faltaba sal. 8 piezas de mariscos. Sumado QUE NO VA QUESO CON FRUTOS DEL MAR! Si usarán un carnaroli con solo trabajarlo correctamente, no necesita tampoco manteca. Un buen caldo y mezclar. He comido en Barcelona en un restaurante italiano, que tampoco tenía azafrán y le daba 10 vueltas a este. Y terminas de comer y no sentis que comiste 10 kg de grasa.

El risotto negro, lo mismo, había líquido que se separaba del arroz, evidentemente usan alguna técnica para calentar y no lo hacen en el momento.

La cuenta, 30k pesos. Unos 40 dol al cambio.

No entiendo realmente con la ubicación inmejorable, el diseño interior que es un 10. Los mozos que están bien entrenados, se pueda fallar tanto en la cocina. Y este muchacho Fran, que le ponga el nombre a semejante paparruchada. Fotos con Francis Mallman, mejor que se saque con el payaso de Mc Donalds. Pensé que los premios Michelin en el País, iban a mejorar las cocinas, pero ahora entiendo pq tiene el año...