We just returned from dinner at La Cabrera. Like most who have come to Buenos Aires, we'd heard nothing but great things about this place, and were very much looking forward to our meal. We heard the food is legendary, and that if you had to wait, they serve you champagne out on the sidewalk, which they do.

We went on a Tuesday, early-ish (8:30), and were immediately seated outside. The waiter zip-tied my wife's bag to the chair, which was much appreciated as BA is quite literally teeming with thieves (don't let that deter you from coming; it's an excellent city). We were practically salivating as we read the menu. But after 35 minutes sitting there waiting for the waiter to come back and take our drink order, salivation ceased to be an option. We just sat there utterly parched.

The waiter finally took our order, with a perfunctory apology. We ordered steak, a bacon-wrapped pork shoulder, a salad and a bottle of wine. The bottle of wine showed up ten minutes later, and then sat on our table for ten minutes before the waiter uncorked it. At that point, we were in a forgiving mood. The place was busy, and seemed understaffed. Plus things move slowly here in BA.

The salad came, and was quite good. Palm hearts, tomatoes and avocado, with a Russian dressing. (I should mention as well that the bread was very, very good.)

Then came the main course. At La Cabrera, you not only get your meat, but myriad sides as well, maybe nine or ten. Bean salads, dips, spreads, etc. It amounts to a tremendous amount of food, so, if you do go, one entree is more than enough for two people.

My wife's steak was good enough. Not superlative (there are steaks in BA the likes of which you've never tasted in your life), but solid. I on the other hand received three rather forlorn-looking overcooked distressingly fatty pork chops. That I paid top dollar (for BA, but still, the principle) for a totally mediocre and tragically mishandled cut of meat would be galling enough if that was what I actually ordered. Which it wasn't.

After jabbing unenthusiastically at my sad heap of pork for a while and sampling the sides, I lamented that my Spanish wasn't strong enough to sufficiently express my disappointment. Not that that mattered. The waiter, when he came back, whisked the food away, disappeared again, and then unceremoniously dropped a dessert menu on the table without showing the slightest interest in whether the meal was to our liking.

We passed on dessert and got the check. Which had factored into it a 10% service charge, and was helpfully stamped, in English, with the words "TIP NOT INCLUDED." It was at this point that it began to register that this place didn't value me in the slightest as a customer. Instead, it was implied that I should be thankful they deigned to serve me at all, and I should take this series of passive-aggressive insults without complaint. If I didn't like it, well, there was a line literally to the corner full of other suckers eager to take my place; people who are fully willing to shell out 200 pesos for a dinner a notch above what one might find at an Outback in New Hampshire.

After we paid the tip, my wife asked the waiter to cut the zip-tie on her bag to we could leave. He enthusiastically nodded. We then waited for another ten minutes, as he blithely walked back and forth, passing us again and again, chatting with the other customers, serving food, drinks, etc. Finally, he cut loose the woman sitting behind us, and, after being beckoned back to our table, freed my wife.

Buenos Aires has the best steak I've ever eaten in my life. No exaggeration. But not this place. Try Don Julio, also in Palermo. One of the finest meals I've ever eaten. Short of gimmickry like free champagne, long on grilling fundamentals, and all for a little less money.

Plus, and this may be the most important part, Don Julio's has the added virtue of not sending you away wondering why the wait staff seemed to sort of hate you.

We went to la Cabrera for our first restaurant in Buenos Aires because it was number one, and we were very hungry. I had seen photos of these dinners and salivated just thinking about it.

The presentation of the food was wonderful. It looked just as good as the pictures. But the real let down was the meat itself. I got the ojo de bife, and the humongus 2 lb? steak turned out to be more gristle and fat than meat. It was cooked as ordered, but I spent a lot of time fishing for good bites of actual meat. The sides provided lots of variety.

The service was not bad. Had to wait a little on our first round of drinks, but he took good care of us.

The price was ok. It is more than most restraunts in BA, but not any more than what you would spend at a U.S. Steakhouse. The only problem is, the flavor was a big let down. I haven't had too many steaks this fatty in the U.S. and I am still looking for that Argentine dream steak that Cabrera is supposed to offer.

I was more thrilled by my empanadas at the train station than this steak.

By far La Cabrera is the best! Don't start there but start at the other best: La Brigada (San Telmo); Las Doritas (Palermo); Don Juilio (Palermo). Also try Campo Bravo in Las Canitas. If you eat at all these places you've hit the best. Also try a restaurant in Puerto Madero, we ate at Parrocchia, very good!

La Cabrera there are two . The south one has better grilled goat cheese since it comes with sundried tomatoes. The grilled goat cheese is amazing. And get the dulce de leche pancakes. You can' t find them anywhere better.

J.A. Cabrera 5099 (corner of Thames), Palermo Viejo
[also has a second restaurant, La Cabrera Norte, down a block at J.A. Cabrera 5127]


Check this out
http://www.buenostours.com/la-cabrera

If size is all that matters to you then by all means eat here. We ordered chorizo as an appetizer, pork shoulder, and rib eye. We also ordered the potatoes with grilled onion as a side. The chorizo had some flavor but was greasy and filled with gristle. Maybe some people like gristle in their sausage but we do not. Every bite I was spitting out inedible bits of sausage and wiping my mouth of grease. Disgusting. The pork shoulder was sere, chewy, and tasteless. The ribeye, well...this place has a subprime crisis of it's very own. The steak did not rise to the level of even select grade. It was cooked correctly but nothing could save this slab of grainy, dry, tasteless cow, not even the thousand and one side dishes they serve as a gimmick. The potatoes and onions, amazingly, were also tasteless. Plus the presentation was so ugly that had I seen it before we were seated we would have left. No restaurant worth it's salt should serve such an unappetizing looking dish. We have been in Buenos Aires for five days and this is the absolutely worst meal we have eaten. In fact it has claimed 1st place in my global list of worst meals of all time at overrated restaurants. For US $17 with a bottle of wine the pizza at a little hole-in-the-wall dive called Angelin was much better--outstanding in fact.

Service was mediocre with one exception related at the end. Our waiter, while pleasant, disappeared for 15-20 minutes at a time. At one point he left the restaurant entirely--we watched him crossing the street away from us. Maybe his wait station included tables at their sister restaurant up the road? The one unconditionally good--and I have to emphasize very good-- thing I have to report is that our waiter sensed our unhappiness with the meal and without even a request from us removed the two main courses from the tab. That gesture more than made up for the otherwise so-so service. He got a very big tip.