Fish Restaurant

[jb5]

We went for lunch today.

It's a warm, inviting space and the service was exceptional for Baires.

That ends the good things I can say. We had oysters which were not briny and fresh as Dan described. Some were just plain bad, others were OK at best.

The sardines were not bad, certainly the winner among our 3 dishes, but the swordfish was downright terrible, clearly not fresh, and we didn't eat it.

Prices were $45-$70 for most mains. We had one appetizer and 2 mains, 1 side, a decent bottle of wine and cookies for just over 400 pesos.

Sounds like they get out what's fresh for friends, we would not return. Too bad, we were so hoping to find a decent seafood restaurant here.

 

[El Duderino]

Damn, I was really looking forward to going there soon. I might still give it a go.

Thanks for the write-up!

 

[starlucia]

Sounds like they get out what's fresh for friends, we would not return

For that reason, I rarely take heed of Dan Saltshaker's restaurant reviews. Thorough as his write-ups may be, if the place actually invites a food blogger or knows he's in the house, chances are, his experience might not accurately reflect that of the average plebeian diner.

So I'd been thinking about trying this place as my birthday dinner this weekend, but now I must say nay. Any other suggestions for reliably great seafood? No merluza fillets smothered in cheese and salt and sauce, just simple, fresh fish and professional service?

 

[perry]

My favourite three places for seafood are To restaurant, Nemo restaurant, and Kita restaurant . They all serve excellent fresh fish dishes.

 

[citygirl]

I'm heading there tonight for an anniversary dinner and am hopeful that it will be better than jb5's experience if not quite as good as saltshakers. Will update tomorrow.

 

[French jurist]

I'm heading there tonight for an anniversary dinner and am hopeful that it will be better than jb5's experience if not quite as good as saltshakers. Will update tomorrow.

If the owner reads this thread before tonight, you're going to have fish still jumping in your plate, ojos!

 

[jb5]

I've read that Tripache has good salmon, but I've been so turned off bt BA seafood, I went with the safe pork the other night.

I very much look forward to hearing what others find here.....

Happy anniversary Citygirl!

 

[NomadInBA]

The best fish restaurant that I have visited in BA is located in the Club de Pescadores (the wharf that sticks out into the river by Jorge Newbery airport). The fish is amazingly fresh, well cooked and on a summers day (without the ash cloud) the views are fantastic. A little pricey but excellent food and location.

 

[nikad]

Check out Solo Pescado in front of Abasto Mall, it is a fish store that serves fish, you pick your piece and hey cook it any way you want. they also have seafood. Not fancy, but super fresh, fair prices.

 

[citygirl]

Sadly, my experience was closer to jb5 than that of saltshaker.

The place is nicely renovated, big and spacious. Lots of options on the menu. We had a good bottle of wine and they seemed to have a good, reasonable list of wine options.

We had a bottle of water, bottle of wine, for apps the stuffed clams and for entrees, 1/2 dozen oysters and a bondiola/brie salad for me and sardines portuguese style and reuvelto gramajo for him and 2 coffees. The bill was 375 pesos + tip. Reasonably priced.

The stuffed clams were good and 10 is a large amount. Of course breading and sauce always helps His sardines were average - not anything he would order again. The oysters were okay, definitely not great. Freakishly large (maybe the type) but a little gritty and didn't taste super fresh. Okay would be my description as well. My salad was very good - fresh ingredients and large portions. Two thumbs up for that.

The service really left a bad taste in my mouth though. The service was slooooooow but that's normal/okay. The waiter never checked back in after each course to see how things were and if there were any questions/concerns. We poured all our own wine b/c he was never around. At the end, he handed us a check. When I reviewed it, I noticed he had charged me for a salmon ahumado, not my salad. We called him over and asked him. His response was "Yes, it's the same price, system just chooses that option, don't worry, they're all the same, blah, blah" It didn't look right to me though so we asked for the menu to look at the prices. My salad was 43, the price on the check for the salmon was 55. So he attempted to charge us 12 pesos extra and then argued about it.

When we called him back, he did change the check but really, he should have done so when we first asked about it, instead of trying to convince us he was right and overcharging. 12 pesos isn't a lot but it's the principle of the matter.

** And before anyone thinks it is a foreigner thing, my dinner companion is Argentine so not a case of a waiter trying to take advantage of a foreigner and charge them the wrong prices.

Didn't offer us champagne or limoncello until after we had already paid the check at which point we were more than ready to leave.

Anyway, sadly, wouldn't make special trip again to go there nor would I recommend to anyone if they weren't in the area.