Buenos Aires Bakery & Cafe — Restaurant in Miami Beach

With approximately 11,000 Argentineans, among many other Hispanic habitats, people joke of Miami as the "Capital of South America." Latin food is abundant there, and Argentinean cuisine can be easily found. Yet, value for the money is questionable in the Miami food circle, and I am there to smell it.

Buenos Aires Bakery would be what in Argentina is called a "confiteria." Something like an Argentinean bakery, where you find the classic "facturas" (flakey, buttery, sometimes gooey, brazen pastries) and a Tea Salon combined; where you can either buy pastries, sandwiches, and more to go or sit down and enjoy them.

The service in BA Bakery is very casual. You order at the counter. If you do not know what you want or are familiar with the products and pastries, it can be overwhelming. So I suggest reading and get familiarized with the menu first. The ladies behind the counter are super nice, but there are always many people in line, so knowing what to order does help. The lead-in BA bakery is the Facturas. Although they are not excellent, they are the best to find in Miami. Want better? take a plane to Ministro Pistarini. I would stick to the manteca ones, chewy and sugar balanced; the grease ones are not for me. Instead, I turn for the Vigilantes. I pass on the Churros. Manolo's are better. The Alfajores caseros are worth it. I like the white chocolate ones, although most of my friends boo at me for wanting white chocolate. (sigh) The sandwiches are delicious. I would only stick to the Jamon y Queso, unless you can convince them to prepare the other ones (tomate y huevo duro, jamon y morron, etc) right away and eat them on site. Otherwise, they get too soggy. You cannot go wrong with the empanadas, especially the carne ones. Pollo ones are a little dry. I love the onion and cheese, although some people might find them too sweet. The spinach ones are an excellent healthy option, not "tofu" style at all. The rest of the menu is good—nothing to die about. Like milanesa (breaded meat) con papas fritas, matambre (carrot and boiled egg stuffed veal thinly sliced) con ensalada rusa. Those two plates can be a nice novelty for newcomers and plain good for veterans in Argentinean food.

Buenos Aires bakery's strength is the experience more than the food. It is a unique flash to my culture. One that is quite difficult to explain. Visiting this place gives a little accurate...

My mom came here looking for a nice spot to relax and drink a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, the relaxation part didn't happen.

My mom is an avid walker, in part because exercise helps lower her high blood pressure. As she sat down at her table, her legs were painful and swollen, and she briefly stretched them out on a chair so that the swelling would go down.

As soon as she did this, a man who worked there (not sure if the manager or owner), began yelling at her to take her feet off of the chair.

Not able to even get a word in to explain, he made sure to berate and humiliate my mom in front of the other customers at the store, making an absolute scene.

My mom of course, was incredibly upset and decided to leave, to which his parting words were: "What do you want next time? A bed?".

Frankly, there won't be a next time. I have tried the food from this store, and it really is delicious, but this kind of customer treatment is unacceptable, not to mention incredibly rude and ineffective.

I work as an account manager for restaurants and my job (and that of the store's) is to ALWAYS be polite, even when faced with a customer who is being unreasonable or rude, neither of which my mom was.

Incredibly disappointed, because the pastries are some of the best I've had. Next time, don't speak so roughly to someone on the assumption that they're simply doing something to be difficult. A little kindness...

If it wasn’t for the staff being so endearing & efficient with their service I’d leave a worse review. It’s ironic the theme is aeroplanes, because the coffee tastes like the coffee from spirit airlines. The food items were nothing spectacular, I’ve seen more impressive & tasty options from numerous bakeries in South Miami, Coral Gables & Kendall. The location is especially unfortunate, they’re squeezed into some spare lot, no view or anything worthwhile to see. The exact spot was actually kind of ghetto, looks like it was just extra space under a bridge that the city had no idea what to do with. I felt like I was transported into Liberty City honestly. They share the lot with a taco truck. The cherry on top was they had no bathrooms. Apparently the taco truck owns the only port-a-potty in the lot. So you can walk your self over to Publix across the street if you need to use the bathroom, or just go home I guess. How classy. I heard this spot went viral, and I thought it would be at least decent but this place is a gimmick that gives you nothing. All these reviews saying it was “awesome” must be from teenagers that don’t know what decent food , coffee or atmosphere looks like. I didn’t trust the food instantly, just reading the menu I already knew it was going to a disappointment- and I was totally right....