Asado Argentinian Grill and Cafe — Restaurant in Orem

An aesthetically pleasing, on-theme interior accentuates Asado’s decidedly Argentinian menu offerings, at a price.

I should start by noting that we chose the most expensive item on the menu, a massive assortment of grilled meats to split between four people. The price range I’ve indicated on the review is the higher end, and depending on what you select your range may be more around $30-40.

The well-lit, clean, and modern aesthetics immediately stick out upon entering the restaurant, as do Argentine decorations spotting the walls. Waitstaff were prompt and attentive, seating us immediately and providing plentiful advice as we agonized over the menu options. (Mes chers compatriotes be warned, the back of the menu pays homage to France’s 2022 World Cup loss to Argentina)

Food service time was average, with bread provided to fill in the time. The meat plate that we collectively decided on was enormous, handily feeding all four of us with the included sides. My friends, all of who had lived in Argentina, enjoyed the fish, but gave mixed reviews. While all agreeing that it was for the most part genuinely Argentine, the quality of the meat and preparation was declared average, though none of them ranked it among the worst that they had while living in Argentina.

To me, that’s a win, and I’ll tell you why. Recreating authentic foreign dishes is hard. Differing availability and quality of supplies, legality of preparation methods, and more all combine to make it impossible to truly recreate the best version of a dish that you may have experienced abroad. The fact that Asado falls in the middle of the pack (perhaps a three star restaurant if we were to compare against restaurants in Argentina solely on plate quality) without falling for the classic Americanization trap that too many foreign-food restaurants fall for (admittedly there are some Americanizations on the menu and in what are otherwise authentic dishes, but they’re kept to a minimum) is, in my book, an indication of quality. One doesn’t go to a foreign food restaurant in America to experience the very best of that country or culture’s food compared to restaurants in the country of origin- one goes to have a window into a different country and culture through the culinary experience, which is exactly what Asado provides, through authentic plate offerings, knowledgeable and friendly waitstaff, and on-point...

I just had lunch with my wife at my new favorite restaurant in Utah. We're in the process of moving here from Connecticut, so we haven't eaten out much, yet, but our meal was so good that I think it'll hold up as my favorite for a while; a LOOOONG while.

Since we were at an Argentinian grill, of course we ordered the Parrillada Asado, which is a platter of various meats, mostly grilled. For the three included sides, we chose two house salads and veggies.

Before the platter arrived, our delightful server Amara brought out some sliced bread with two sauces; a garlicky green chimichurri and an oniony red chimichurri, I think. I usually try to keep my carb intake in check, but not today, and I'm totally fine with that. I also enjoyed a horchata, which was big; exactly how an agua fresca should be.

The salads were nicely presented, but a little plain. They had iceberg lettuce, slices of tomato and very thin slices of red onion, and were dressed with an oil and vinegar dressing flavored with a lot of dried herbs, mostly oregano. Eating it helped assuage my guilt over eating so very much meat.

The Parrillada Asado was spectacular. It was piled high with short ribs (costela), flap steak, 1/2 chicken (rotisserie, I think), two sausages, blood sausage, sweetbreads, tripe, pork rib and three sides. The "tripe" was actually intestines (aka tripas aka chitterlings).

Everything was terrific, although a little bit more salt would have gone a long way. Fortunately, Amara left us with the chimichurri sauces from the bread and they paired extremely well with the meats.

My wife let me eat all of the blood sausage, sweetbreads and tripe. Go figure. However, she did NOT allow me to eat the Chaja that I ordered for dessert. It's a layered yellow cake with a moist, coarse crumb and whipped cream frosting, cooked peach slices and a light meringue crumble. I'm normally not a fruit dessert kind of guy, but when Amara described the Chaja as the "House Special Cake", I HAD to try it and I'm really glad that I did.

When Amara brought the check for me to sign at the end of the meal, she gave us a couple of Asado's Alfajores to go. Alfajores are cookies that look like big French macarons. I'll probably devour them after my nap.

I'll keep trying new restaurants, but Asado has set the bar really high. I'm already looking forward to my...

Was recommended by a friend to check this place out and I absolutely loved it. The vibe of the restaurant almost makes you feel like you're at a restaurant in a beach in argentina. The decor is great. I loved the fact that they use circular wood plates rather than the stereotypical plate. It really added to the esthetic of the restaurant. For our apitizer we ordered all 3 kinds of empanadas: the ham and cheese, meat, and chicken and the ham and cheese was by far the best. The ham wasn't overly salty and they didn't skimp out on the cheese either. It was heavenly. Our entree was followed by the Parrillada Asado which came with meat, sausages, a blood sausage, tripe, pork, ribs, potatoes and other veggies. Overall it mostly tasted great and was definitely unique since I have never seen another latin restaurant serve blood sausage and/or tripe. The meat was fantastic. I had never had a blood sausage before and after trying it for the first time I definitely don't plan on trying it again. Wasn't my of tea, but I'm sure people who typically do like it would think it was good. The tripe was very flavorful and we'll cooked as well. We ended our meal with the tres leches which was really good but not much different than the one you can get at cafe rio. The service was also great. The woman who helped us was from Argentina and was super incredibly nice, upbeat and helpful. As far as improvements go when I had ordered the empanadas at first wasn't given the chicken one which was quickly fixed by our waitress and the sides that we ordered were pretty lame. We got the mashed potatoes and side salad. The mashed potatoes consisted of 2 small ice cream scoops and the side salad wasn't far different from a side salad at McDonald's unfortunately. Other than that though it was a great...