Sinking Economy: A Restaurant Closes Every Day

[Davidglen77]

David an insightful post as always but I am in mourning for the Moncloa. It was an early family favourite. The entire wait staff always greeting us by name even after 1 year abroad. I'm sorry it didn't make it. Thx for sharing the news. Plaza Asturias and El Globo other old favourites in the area. Hope they live to tell the tale.

I would say Plaza Asturias and El Globo probably have a few years left but I doubt they will make it to the next decade. These old style Spanish / Argentine, restaurants with zero "onda" just aren't what younger people who can afford to eat out are interested in, unless they make major changes to the menu and waitstaff. The bow-tie, tray carrying grumpy old dude is not what people want to deal with when they pay to eat out. More modern waitstaff who you can ask questions to, that smile at you and seem to have some culinary knowledge is what people want now. That is why at most of the successful restaurants around Palermo the waitstaff is young Colombians who are warm and friendly and have zero attitude and make you feel welcome. The other places that are dying out fast are these old typical porteño bar-resto / confitería places, like 36 Billares, Confitería Ideal, etc, are like walking into a mausoleum!!

 

[ajoknoblauch]

I would say Plaza Asturias and El Globo probably have a few years left but I doubt they will make it to the next decade. These old style Spanish / Argentine, restaurants with zero "onda" just aren't what younger people who can afford to eat out are interested in, unless they make major changes to the menu and waitstaff. The bow-tie, tray carrying grumpy old dude is not what people want to deal with when they pay to eat out. More modern waitstaff who you can ask questions to, that smile at you and seem to have some culinary knowledge is what people want now. That is why at most of the successful restaurants around Palermo the waitstaff is young Colombians who are warm and friendly and have zero attitude and make you feel welcome. The other places that are dying out fast are these old typical porteño bar-resto / confitería places, like 36 Billares, Confitería Ideal, etc, are like walking into a mausoleum!!

Don't dismiss the "Tortoni effect," though: http://tinyurl.com/lmxg6y8

 

[Davidglen77]

Don't dismiss the "Tortoni effect," though: http://tinyurl.com/lmxg6y8

Funny you mentioned Café Tortoni, I had a friend visit from New York who insisted on going there (he read about it in a tourist guide of Bs As) and since I live 2 blocks away I couldn't say no. Needless to say the interior is beautiful, however the "Tango Show" is about 10 minutes of dancing and the rest all singing (most people don't know that Tango is also music and not just dancing) however when people come to Bs As they want to see a Tango show with lots of passionate dancing and get annoyed when there is a fat old guy in a pinstripe suit singing Tango for an hour! The menu awful, we ordered dessert and coffee, the fruit salad was so rotten it was fermented, when I told them it was spoiled they said "no we make the fruit salad with Champagne" and I said I know the difference between rotten fermented fruit and Champagne, they wouldn't take it off the bill $45 pesos for a tiny dish so I just deducted it from the bill myself and said I wasn't paying for it and they could please call the police while I took pictures of it with my phone camera along with the dirty floor and said I was reporting them to the department of health. They then apologized and offered to bring me another serving of fruit salad, I told them they should flush it down the toilet. The show was pre-paid but I owed 60 pesos for the café which I left on the table and walked out.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Funny you mentioned Café Tortoni, I had a friend visit from New York who insisted on going there (he read about it in a tourist guide of Bs As) and since I live 2 blocks away I couldn't say no. Needless to say the interior is beautiful, however the "Tango Show" is about 10 minutes of dancing and the rest all singing (most people don't know that Tango is also music and not just dancing) however when people come to Bs As they want to see a Tango show with lots of passionate dancing and get annoyed when there is a fat old guy in a pinstripe suit singing Tango for an hour! The menu awful, we ordered dessert and coffee, the fruit salad was so rotten it was fermented, when I told them it was spoiled they said "no we make the fruit salad with Champagne" and I said I know the difference between rotten fermented fruit and Champagne, they wouldn't take it off the bill $45 pesos for a tiny dish so I just deducted it from the bill myself and said I wasn't paying for it and they could please call the police while I took pictures of it with my phone camera along with the dirty floor and said I was reporting them to the department of health. They then apologized and offered to bring me another serving of fruit salad, I told them they should flush it down the toilet. The show was pre-paid but I owed 60 pesos for the café which I left on the table and walked out.

I haven't been to the Tortoni for a while, but if I eat anything there it would usually be a tabla of cheese and cold cuts to accompany a drink (I particularly can't stand Argentine fruit salads). I personally don't care much for tango floor shows and I don't dance, but I do enjoy the music.

The article, though, was about the waiters' skill, which is not unique to the Tortoni.

 

[scotttswan]

Here's one of the ones near me that has closed up shop, maybe we should start a thread with pictures of closed up campora stores.

 

[Davidglen77]

Here's one of the ones near me that has closed up shop, maybe we should start a thread with pictures of closed up campora stores.

Where is this exactly?

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Here's one of the ones near me that has closed up shop, maybe we should start a thread with pictures of closed up campora stores.

Did they have Cámpora bobbleheads?

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Here's one of the ones near me that has closed up shop, maybe we should start a thread with pictures of closed up campora stores.

It is not a store, it is an unidad básica. It is where they meet.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

This article is from 2008, same story...
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/m1/1077348-por-que-cierran-tantos-restaurantes-en-buenos-aires

 

[gpop]

I think many places should close. I mean most places offer the same menu from one end of the city to the other. There's very little variety. Even the sushi places that spring up have the same bland cream-cheese tortured rolls.
Montreal has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else I think; the successful places stay in business because they have a specific niche. Here it seems the owners strive to stay as close to the programmed national diet as possible.
Interesting thing is that in 2004, I had the idea to open a starbucks-esque cafe; the Argie family said it would never work here... but look inside of any starbucks in BA now....... it's full of porteños, not foreigners. I think maybe some of the people here are getting bored with the usual milanesa suisa and hoping for an actual real fondu.