Piegari Ristorante — Restaurant in Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Piegari has been around since 1994, and the fact that it's still popular among locals is a testament to the quality of food and service they provide. I've been coming here since I was a little girl - about 25 years ago. Not much has changed, Piegari is still serving old school Italian food (with a hint of Argentina on its menu). The restaurant has been kept well and clean; it doesn't feel old despite its history.

Many of the servers have been working in this establishment for decades. They are veteran servers who can give great recommendations and run Piegari smoothly.

For me, it's the little things about this place such as the attentive service, the really comfy dining chairs with armrests, the perfectly white and clean tablecloths, the hot plates (because pasta tastes better on a hot plate as opposed to a normally cold one) and the massive dining room with ample seating.

I've tried almost everything on the menu and I do think that there can be hits and misses. I try to avoid their fried foods, such as the calamari, since I find their technique to be a bit too oily. I recommend one of their fresh homemade pasta and the Milanese (even though it is fried). Their red marinara sauce is one of the best I've ever had (and I just did a tour of Italy a few months ago!)

Piegari cooks their pasta very al dente, which is the "correct" way to eat Italian pasta. If that is a bit too hard for your tastes, I do not recommend asking for the pasta more "well done" because we did that one time and it came out way overcooked. Just enjoy...

Firstly, people should know that there are two Piegari restaurants. The location currently indicated on Google Maps is for the Steakhouse. The Italian restaurant is across the street under the bridge. Having said that, we had a delicious lunch at Piegari Italian restaurant. Although its location under a busy roadway doesn't seem promising, the interior is actually quite attractive and serene. Even the outdoor patio seems to be a fine spot to sit. The food didn't disappoint either. My wife and I shared a salad of arugula, goat cheese, tomatoes and avocado. Tasty, although I do wish they properly dried the greens before serving... a common occurrence in Argentina, I've found. We then moved on to a Milenesa for two that was, I think, the best we've had in Argentina. This version was covered in arugula and parmesan, which I thought worked very well. Our friends had the penne rigate amatriciana (tomato and pancetta sauce)... perfectly al dente and perfectly delicious. I finished off with the best zabiglione since dining in Sicily. It's a big wine list... you can go big or order a perfectly fine, inexpensive choice. Service was top-notch and professional. Under a bridge or...

Very old fashioned, stuffy atmosphere. My girlfriend had the ravioli and I had the milanesa napolitana.

The ravioli: the dough was too thick, overcooked, and the ravioli were over stuffed with a filling that I can only describe as brown, mushy, blandness, but the mushroom sauce was ok.

The Milanesa: this was just a half inch steak that was breaded and deep fried. (From what my local friends told me, the steak should have been way more thin.) But the real issue was with the utter lack of seasoning on the steak, in the marinara sauce, or in the past. Speaking of which, the pasta was so over cooked that it turned into a flavorless paste as I tried to eat it. Not to mention that they used a pasta more like an Asian egg noodle than an Italian pasta.

We also had the prosciutto with Mozzarella for an appetizer, and even that was disappointing. The prosciutto was flavorless and extremely lean for the prices they were charging.

The pros: The staff were actually very understanding and helpful when we decided to return the food and be on our way, but don't be surprised when they charge you for cleaning the cutlery regardless if you...