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Having seduced Hackney’s meat-eating middle classes over the past couple of years, Buen Ayre is a firm favourite in that barrio. Original co-owners John Rattagan and Alberto Abbate went their separate ways in early 2007; Abbate now runs Santa Maria in Battersea. Buen Ayre’s Ikea-style light wood furnishings and modern art on the walls may not suggest a gaucho ranch, but the place is in harmony with the new-look restaurants of Buenos Aires: bright, clean, young and cliché-free. Most diners dive into the parrilladas (mixed grills): a carefully sourced array of steak, chorizo sausages, black pudding, offal and/or melted provolone cheese. The lomos (fillet steaks) are also top class; fresh salads (from a good selection) provide the ideal accompaniment. It doesn’t try to offer more than a neighbourhood steakhouse, but there’s attention to detail. Chorizo is made specially, using Argentinian red pepper; the meat is basted with salmuera (salty water), which penetrates it better than salt crystals. The delicious flans (crème caramel) are made according to an old family recipe. Liquor and beer from Argentina are now offered, as well as an excellent selection of fair-priced malbecs. A night here is about as close as you get to a Latino family fiesta.
Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008
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I'm sure the food is nice but their customer service was terrible so we never got the chance to taste it. I should have told them I worked for the Council. We had booked a table by email which confirmed by their manager in their reply. When we go there it was their dispondant attitude that stood out. To our ignorance this was handled by a temp who they said forgot to put it on the bookings register. However there was no apology from them for this mistake. They didn't even offer us a table even in a totally empty restuarant as the booking was not on the register and they were expected it to be fully booked. I work for the council and we would never apply this burearucracy to our customers! It was disgrace to have pictures of Che Guevara inside as their staff lacked any solidarity at all...There are better places to eat in Hackney that we when you book... you have booked..
Very good steak and chips but not worth the arrogance and rudeness of the staff - obviously their good reviews have gone to their heads. The initial waiter got our drinks order completely wrong and then we were told they didn't do orange juice and lemonade mixed together in Argentina so we were given a pint glass to mix it ourselves! We were told we could have the table for a certain time but 15 minutes remaining the bill was shoved on our table without a word. When we requested a coffee we were initially told yes then the waitress said the manager had refused - out of time... even for a quick coffee. They were more concerned about their table of 9 that had not arrived yet ,standing around than our table of 4, even when we offered to have our coffees had the bar, we were told there was no room for us! To add to the poor treatment, they added the coffees (we couldn't have!) onto our bill and were still expected to pay 12% service charge. I've rarely come across such poor customer service - it's embarrassing and despite the limited number of good restaurants in East London, I wouldn't return. Let's hope the Armadillo re-opens, otherwise try a Gaucho Grill!
Well, what can i say.
HUGE HUGE dissapointment.
After seeing the reviews on here.
I have been meaning to go here for over 1 year. It was recommended to me and then after looking on here at the reviews it was high on the agenda.
Managed to reserve a table at 7pm for 2.
Firstly on arrival the wife and I almost turned away!
Apart from the nicely laid table with glasses etc It was like a workmans cafe on a market street, definetly not a restaurant! The staff were friendly and a decent service we received.... so we got very excited as we were starving...The food came! Steak looked good albeit medium well was still raw and had to re-cook it..... Great....Well, that was until we put the slab of charcoaled steak in our mouth. No Flavour! Full of Fat! What??!? Isnt this the restaurant that prided itself on a good steak? I asked the waitress for some sort of sauce to enhance the flavour, WOW what a response!! No sir, no sauces here, we sell argentian steak which is so flavoursome you dont need sauce!.. Hang on, im paying £20 for a slab fillet of fat and you are telling me what i cannot have?! Ketchup ensued, 2 portions of the stuff! As the person said below, the chips were very floury! Maybe frozen?! Far better chips from the frozen dept at tescos!
We ordered 2x fillet steaks, a green salad, one portion of chips and 3 non-alchoholic drinks. and the bill was £56.
When asked at the end if everything was ok, i wanted to bite her head off!
NEVER AGAIN.