Buenos Aires Grill

09/29/09

Lost our reservation

by Huedawg at Citysearch

I was excited to visit the Buenos Aires Grill based on our love of Argentian food and what appeared to be a good place to celebrate my husbands birthday on a Saturday night. I made a dinner reservation 2 weeks beforehand and assumed we were all set. What was strange was that when I called the restaurant the phone call appeared to be forwarded to someone's cell phone and he was answering it while driving. The person who answered the phone sounded like he was in management, possibly the owner. Well - he never wrote down our reservation.

We showed up at our assigned time and there wasn't a table in the main dining room to be had. The hostess was nice, but we weren't able to be seated in the dining room even though 2 tables were empty. Spending this much money to sit in the bar seemed crazy to me. So - sadly - we had no where to eat to celebrate my husband's birthday. We ended up getting steaks at QFC and cooking them ourselves at 10pm.

It was really disappointing and had never had this happen before with so little help from the restaurant to make the situation better, especially on a special occassion like a birthday.

• Pros: unsure, never got a table
• Cons: need better reservation tracking

07/05/09

An argentinean's point of view...

by LuisAndAngie at Citysearch

I'm argentinean, moved to the US in 2002 and since then I have been trying to find good argentine restaurants that would be truthful to the argentine way of cooking. Buenos Aires Grill was my latest find and I feel I should share my experience with you.

Pros:

* Tango dancers were really good and entertaining, even danced on the bar!

* Service was attentive and our glasses were refilled constantly

Cons:

* Food is "way" overpriced, a milanesa (breaded chicken) was $27!!!; two rather small "fried" empanadas were $9 and the list keeps growing...

* There was something that really cranked our gears and it was the "small print" at the bottom of the menu that read: "On tango nights (Friday and saturday) a minimun purchase of $30 per person is required... so if you were planing on getting a salad, now you were FORCED to order something else to reach your QUOTA; so we had two options: to get up after we received our drinks and walk away or to stay and hope the food was worth it... sadly we stayed...

* It took 25mins to get our appetizers, a "cold" morcilla (blo od sausage) and 4 small overlyfried empanadas (which with the time they took they could have baked them like most argentineans do!)

* My milanesa was covered with super thick ham and "tons" of olives.. argentine style??? , the chiken was overpowered by the tick breading layer and on top of that once again FRIED. I make milanesas quite often at home and believe me everybody was hoping I was serving food that night... he he

Once again, we stayed in hopes the food was worth it since we don't mind paying for quality food, but at the end of the night we felt ripped off. I normally don't write reviews but I wanted to make sure other patrons don't think this place serves AUTHENTIC ARGENTINE CUISINE, I am still trying to find such place and I will make sure to post a review as soon as I find it.

Good luck everybody!

Luis And Angie

• Pros: Tango dancers, servers...
• Cons: not authentic argentine food and way overpriced and...

03/22/09

Horrible service

by Yesnom at Citysearch

My friend made reservations for 6 to celebrate a friends birthday party. The owner (Alberto) was very nice and friendly when we arrived. After awhile we started to feel tension between him and our table. When we asked for napkins or utinsils for our other friends he did it like he was being forced. Since we had patiently waited for our food for over and hour we decided to nicely ask how much longer it was going to take, his answer was, "thats your problem not mine." He was incredibly rude. We decided to take off. We were waiting by the exit to pay for our drinks and the owner had the nerve to say "whats going on why are you guys leaving?" , he didn't apologize or anything.The birthday boy answered, "we don't deserve to be treated this way." The owner rudly yelled at us saying we better pay for our drinks. We paid and left. We didn't even see our food and will never go back. I really wish we would have had a better experience. If Alberto is the owner he is incredibly rude and impolite and doesn't give any personality to the restaurant.

• Pros: good bread, tango dancers great
• Cons: rude owner, wait too long for food and service

02/15/09

How Sad

by Helcat5 at Citysearch

This used to be my favorite steakhouse in Seattle. We haven't been there in a while-but we have referred others. We finally went and WOW what a disappointment. The service was awful, how can you have servers, busboys, managers, hostesses and who knows who else on the floor and you have to beg for the simple things like napkins, bread and water. The meat was bland, the meal was poorly timed, and the salad, which used to be my favorite side was the worst. It is so sad when restaurants cheap-out lower their quality, and poorly train their staff. The table next to us never even got their dinner! And on the other side they sat staring at empty glasses and their empty appetizer plate for over 1/2 hour! I doubt I will ever go back there-yes the atmosphere hasn't changed and it still has a great vibe but with too many other steakhouses downtown to choose from with much better service and food why bother wasting your night.

• Pros: Great decor and tango dancing
• Cons: THE FOOD and THE SERVICE

03/12/08

The worst Asado (grill) of my life

by ramo26 at Citysearch

I didn't like the food, it really was out of Argentina's style, I think the owner and cook are from Mexico, It is like a Italian cooks a Chinese food. so this not match. So the steak was so stiff and too garlic for my taste and my table was so close to the bar that it was so uncomfortable for me looking at the bottom back of the people.

11/23/07

Poor Business Practices.

by woodie309 at Citysearch

Reservations were made at the Buenos Aires grill on Virginia Ave in Seattle for 5PM on Thanksgiving, 2007. We asked for sure that they would be open, and were told YES, by all means. We originally made the reservation for 2 at 5 PM on Thanksgiving day, for my oldest son and I. I talked with my youngest son shortly after and was told his plans may change, and he may want to join us for dinner. We Called the restaurant a SECOND time, to change the reservation for 3 people, double checking that they were in fact open on Thanksgiving, as so many restaurants are closed, and were told again, by another person "by all means, we are open" so we had our Thanksgiving Dinner out all planned... until we drove all the way to downtown Seattle, went to the Restaurant and found it dark and locked up. We waited until well after our reservation time and nothing. They said they would open as usual at 5PM and at 5:!5 they were still dark and locked up, with no one inside. We had to try to find a place to eat at 5PM on Thanksgiving day becuase of their poor business practice and customer Service. Or did they just LIE to us? OH. the address in their advertizing is wrong also, they are at 220 Virginia Ave. not 2000, or 2200 or 2028 depending on what website you look at.

• Cons: The make reservations when they are closed for business..

11/18/07

Great Date Restaurant - Past Tense!!

by poohbear206 at Citysearch

Buenos Aires Grill was one of my favorite date restaurants. I recently went back to check it out and found it to be quite lacking. I knew something was up when I asked for the Argentinean beer they served and was told they didn't have any. I ordered an appetizer at the bar (calamari) which was one of the worst I have ever had. I then sat down at a table for dinner and started questioning our waitress. She told me that the ownership had changed a year ago and that my favorite Tango dancers (present dancers were lack luster at best.) had left for a job in Cirque de Soleil in Japan. I was ready to just get up and leave at this point but decided to order a meal and see what else had changed. Everything we ordered was sub par except the Filet Mignon which was outstanding as it had been in the past. For the present I would avoid Buenos Aires Grill until they get their act together.

06/08/07

take it from an argentinean this is nowhere the food quality or service you can expect from most argentinean restaurants

by hemakesuslaugh at Citysearch

my mom was in town so I took her here to enjoy some food like home - being from argentina I have eaten argentinean restaurants all over the world and another one (now closed) in seattle and this was by far the worst! They put us three adults and a toddler by the tightest loudest place right by the bar and then complained if our toddler went near the bar. The whole back is area is right by the kitchen and not well ventilated at all so it was about 90 back there. The service was awful. It was slow and unfriendly - when my mom told them in a thick accent she was from argentina (She is proud) they sneered and said nothing else - they knew nothing about how the food was made and were slow in their return and were all too quick to clean up before we were done. The food itself would have been ok for a much cheaper price but nothing compared to most restaurants inside and outside of argentina. their humita empanada was half decent but their meat empanada was bland and completely non-authentic and clearly poor quality meat. We ordered beef ribs and new york strip. the beef ribs were ok but pretty good workout for the teeth some better marinating and tenderizing would have helped. The new york was awful - i don't think it was a new york and it tasted livery. their sweet potatoe fries were real good and so was their creamed spinach (better be for $8 a pop) their argentinean chorizo was groce by any standard and entirely unauthentic. In short there are countless better ways to spend minimum $100 for 2-3 people in many other places in seattle. maybe this place was better when it was actually owned by argentineans but now it is a big waste of money!!!

01/04/07

Not a True Argentine Restuarant

by emill234 at Citysearch

The service and the food was so bad that it compelled me to write my first Citysearch review. In my travels, Argentine cuisine is one of the best (and least celebrated) cuisines in the world. Food & wine in that county is tasty, fresh and very inexpensive. Ate here last night and found everything sub-par. The meat was of poor quality (to the point where I had to "s p i t" pieces that I could not chew through into my napkin) -- and this included the $27 tenderloin. The service was also very poor. We had to wait for our table even when it was cleared and ready for us -- and after we'd already waited about 30 minutes with a reservation. We were asked 3 times about water when seated -- but no one brought it to us until the end of the meal! And the complaint I have the rude bartender who overcharged me for my drinks (the other bartender charged me LESS for the same drink) and was plain, flat out rude. The one thing that we can never figure out is why are the bartenders so nasty. I mean flat out rude. It is as if they are angry that there are customers in the bar.

• Cons: Poor service, Bad food

12/22/06

Don't waste your money!

by monalaca at Citysearch

If overpriced, mediocre food and absent-minded service is what you're looking for, then Buenos Aires Grill fits the bill. If not, don't waste your time or money here. A much-too-spicy garlic, basil and olive oil condiment is served with a truly boring french bread that is likely bought in garbage bag-sized quantities at a warehouse store somewhere. The service was shoddy. Not only were we repeatedly bumped into by the waiters as they passed by, but the person who refilled our drinks continually asked, "Is that water?" Buenos Aires Grill has definitely earned a position on my list of restaurants to avoid.