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What is 'following'?Grill: Argentinian (traditional)
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Time Out says 10 Users say Rate it
While some of London's Argentinian restaurants might put on airs and graces, Buen Ayre has that scruffy, laid-back charm that its near-namesake capital does so well.
Tattooed staff wear denim shorts and T-shirts, while shabby Boca Juniors flags and random bovine-themed art adorn the walls.
The main event, unsurprisingly, is beef, which crackles on the huge charcoal grill (there are vegetarian dishes too, but be warned: this much cow may well horrify some).
Go easy on the starters; a dish of serrano ham, palm hearts and thousand island dressing was a mere distraction from the giant steaks that followed: a sirloin that was soft and juicy on the inside and smoky and charred on the outside, and a ribeye that, although lacking in flavour, was rescued by its accompanying chimichurri sauce, butter bean and roast pepper garnish, and a side order of rocket and garlic salad.
Groups might want to investigate the parrilladas (mixed grills).
We savoured a thick Bodegas Norton malbec from the all-Argentinian wine list. These are not the best steaks in London, but for casual Buenos Aires bonhomie and good value, Buen Ayre is top of the pile.
Buen Ayre details
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What is 'following'?020 7275 9900
Lunch served noon-3pm Fri; noon-3.30pm Sat, Sun. Dinner served 6-10.30pm daily
Main courses £13-£25.50
Credit cards MC, V
Facilities
Tables outdoors ( 5, garden ), Babies and children welcome ( high chairs ), Booking advisable, Available for hire, Disabled ( toilet )Buen Ayre map
Restaurants & cafés near Buen Ayre
See all restaurants near Buen AyreComments & ratings 4/5 (Average of 10 ratings)
We took a couple of friends, who were visiting London for the weekend, to Buen Ayre. I had read good reviews about the food and I had to book 2 weeks in advance to get a table. So I was expecting a good evening and delicious Argentinian steak. What a disappointment!
The first thing at struck me was the sheer foul mouthedness of the staff. It was "eff-ing" this and "c-ing" that between themselves - and making comments about customers and their orders - eg references to the kebab looking like a big d**do. I'm not hispanic, but having lived in Barcelona for a good number of years, I understand both Catalan and Castillian very well. Perhaps there were some cultural references I didn't understand, but I doubt that this language would have been used had we been obviously Spanish.
The food was nothing to write home about, and the huge steak dishes could only be described as average. I seriously doubted that it was Argentinian beef, at all. I certainly have had a much better steak at the Cat and Mutton.
If I am paying over £70 a head for a two course meal with wine, I expect to have a clean knife and fork with each course; and not to be made to feel as though the staff are doing me a favour by allowing me to visit their venue. Overall, it is an average restaurant serving average food by poor staff.
Needless to say that we have not gone back, as there are many more and much better places to eat in Broadway Market.
Best to be avoided.
Staff very friendly but we choose a mist grill and no so good...
Very friendly staff and the food is just amazing.. Would definitely recommend it
We went last night for a friend's birthday. The food was great, the staff were friendly and dimmed the lights, brought the cake out and got the whole restaurant singing happy birthday. Best service and steak ever!
Hi, just curious if you received my review I wrote Sunday on Buen Ayre? It was never posted.
Highly recommended. I heard about the restaurant here and have now made the long trip from south west london quite a few times in the past year to have dinner at Buen Ayre. The first two times I went, we ordered the parrilladas. Those are fun, especially if you're with someone who hasn't been to an Argentine place before. Last time we went, I wanted to try the fillet so just ordered a single steak with chips on the side. It was the best, biggest and juiciest steak I've had in London. All the meat tastes even better with the chimichurri sauce (they give you in a little cup on the side). The chips are great too, especially if you get them with the garlic and parsley topping, which is heavy on the garlic if you're into that. Service was good every time. Very unpretentious atmosphere. We will be going back again soon.
I´ve obviously had a very different experience than some of the reviews below, I have been to Buen Ayre quite a few times now, and always thought that the food, the atmosphere and the staff were SUPERB. That´s why I keep going back! Every time I get visitors, family or friends and want to show them what a real Argentina "parrilla" is like, I keep choosing that restaurant over all others to take them to. Considering that good quality meat is not cheap in the UK, I´ve always felt the food there was very fairly priced. And the atmosphere is great, and the staff certainly extremely friendly!! In sum, I love it!
WOW! BEST STEAK I'VE HAD IN MY LIFE!
HEAVEN!!!!
I would defo recommend it and will come back very soon
Super cool, thank you for being at Broadway Market...!!! :D
went with my friends from marseille and we had dinner in the backyard, with the candles and a very nice wine !
the waitress was lovely ( she had been to marseille actually ! ). they give you bread with butter and english cheese as free starter.then we had 4 churrasco, and one bowl of french fries. you dont need salad coz the churrasco come with free salad and Chimichurry sauce. also I had Flan with the Dulce de Leche !
People could go to BuenAyre with their scalators to weight the meat, I'm pretty sure any steak weights what the menu says. They're MASSIVE!
I had dinner with my boyfriend - who eats a lot, last saturday (September 2011) and of course we couldn't finish it all, so we were given almost a half of our PArradilla Deluxe in a doggy bag - we had it for lunch on sunday at the hotel, before going back to Cardiff.
We also had a bottle of the Gestos wine (that we didn't finish, and the waiter gave us back our cork), a lovely Argentine Malbec. We paid 92 quid, service included. And now my boyfriend wants to travel to Buenos Aires, as we were told the meat comes from Argentina and we loved it! We also ordered coffees (couldn't make it with desserts) and we were told the coffees were on the house. Coffees are cheap, but we appreciated the gesture.
Before I write my review I started to read the reviews before, Jesus! Thank God I didn't read them before going!
Everyone complains about the chips, that btw are the biggest chips you will find anywhere! And the steaks, huge - as I said before.
I also paid attention to the rest of the tables, there was a lovely ambient. And there was a birthday in a ten-people table, they turned off the lights and we all sang the Happy Bday, which made the evening even nicer.
To resume, I do reccomend Buen Ayre.
Kathy Reese.
Robbed. Go to the supermarket and buy cheap steak that nobody wants, cook it badly and get your neighbour around to be rude to you; that's the experience you are looking at. Poor food, poor service - overpriced (chips for a fiver - although they were the highlight) Worst of all, they didn't even care.
Please provide an up-to-date review, this place was terrible.
I refused to pay and will not consider going back. I actually care about steak and how it is cooked.
I have to say that i had been looking forward to eating at this place for ages because of its amazing-for-meat -lovers die hard reputatution. To add fuel to desire, I had a friend who used to work there and still raved about the joint. Unfortunately though, this is a sorry story. The ribeye eater of our group was in heaven, however the two of us who chose sirloin could barely chew through ours. Our waiter was lovely and apologetic (i had passed on big hellos to the chef on arrival from our mutual friend) and offered to replace our two sirlions with a filet. We were delighted and grateful and ordered it rare side of medium-rare.It arrived, we eagerly cut it in two and it was fridge-cold to the touch. Needless to say we left it and gave up. The waiter did not ask us, on removing the full plate and taking our money, if all was ok and so we accepted failure and left, having coughed up the full price for our origional orders and leaving with only chips and the odd bite of ribeye in our pots.
I want to love this place and it is so close to home but it sucked plain and simple.
what a rip off and rude people with avarage steaks my m/s have better fillet steak stay away
Half the price of Gaucho Grill and double the size. Great atmosphere, always packed, brilliant. The gem of the East!
Looked forward to going for ages. But a massive let down - expensive and poor quality, dirty and cold. Empenadas were very good, carpaccio ice cold so no taste, steaks large but poor quality. £117 for 2 with wine - huge let down - stay away.
Very disappointing. Heard some good things about Buen Ayre but I now disagree with all of them! Shoddy service - whenever we wanted anything we had to wait, look around and wait some more before a waiter came anywhere near. No excuse for such a small restaurant.
The starters were good but I have to say the steaks were pretty average, supermarket standard tastes, yet quite expensive. REALLY disappointing. Goucho Grill beats it hands down
Had been looking forward for over two months to go to this restaurant and experienced the worst service of my LIFE (pretty bad seeming I worked in catering for 10 years). The waitress was so unbelievably rude to my friend that I was unable to even finish my food. No words can sum up what an outrageous rip off this was considering her behaviour. A South American friend told me it was cultural. I don't call holding your face 5 mm from a customer and patronisingly questioning how their food is (twice) acceptable in any culture - and I've travelled a lot. This was just one example of many and to top it all off the food wasn't even good - so much for being arrogant. You can keep it all. NEVER AGAIN!
I had a wonderful, warm, delicious experience. I would definitely recommend it...
We really love it - top class meat & very friendly service. The prices are high but the portions are tremendous. very good wine list, Mark n Jules.
we took last night 2 very good friends to show them how great is our meat!been there before at BuenAyre,we found out that some of the prices where absolutly insane!!!chips £4.50???carajillo with no brandy £4.50????them the worst £ 5 gratuity per person?????them you have 2 hrs for your table and take 1 hr to be served,i know they cook everything on the spot but still too long!!!!!!anyway we have a very expensive meal for what is was,is cheaper to buy return ticket to Bs As and you will have the right thing!what a shame.......we will not go back there again.......
Agreed -- this place should be avoided. Time Out -- please provide a more up to date review!
This place has a great atmosphere, but the staff are very ignorant and rude. It is overpriced (5 quid for chips anyone?) and overrated. A disappointment.
arrogant and nonchalant staff, overpriced food, an overly complacent business trading off its trendy location. just don't believe the hype.
hate it hate it hate it .. supposedly the best place in hackney for red meat .. what a joke ... I seriously wouldn't bother ... tough over priced meat with four pound fifty worth of chips? go to the chippy in victoria park i say ....
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