Hello family and friends! We are back again to tell you about some of our favorite steak restaurants in Palermo Soho, which is where we are living now, and have been for about a year and a half.
As you might know, Argentina is famous for it’s beef. To outsiders, Argentine cuisine seems to be based on three things, Pizza, Pasta, and king of them all, Parilla! So Parilla basicalla means grill in English. So you can go to the parilla to eat, or you can put a steak on the parilla to cook.
Since beef is so important to the Argentine diet, I’m sure you can imagine that there are dozens of steak houses in Palermo. I did quick Google Map search and within an 8 block radius, there are at least 15 listed. Now, that’s 15 listed on Google Maps, not the total! Because I know of at least 10 that I did not see on the map.
Even if we ate at a different steak restaurant every week, it would take us about a year to try every single one of them, and we don’t eat at Parillas that often. Soooo…. needless to say, we have not been to all of them but here is our top 5 that we really like.
La Escondida is just half a block from Plaza Armenia which is a cool place to hang out and people watch. We have eaten here several times and it is consistently excellent. The prices are in the middle of the range, a little higher than most, but we would say the higher price is worth it for the consistent quality. There is a nice little outside patio where you can eat when the weather is warm, but service can be hit or miss.
Another excellent choice. Great steaks, decent burgers, and there are other options as well. Every time we have gone, the service has been excellent, but some friends have reported otherwise. Another plus is a nice drink menu.
This little restaurant is a place we usually order lunch from when we are craving a Philly Cheesesteak, but they also serve really good steaks at a decent price. Cold beer on tap and a laid back atmosphere make this a solid choice. Is it a true Philly? No, but it is close enough!
La Cabrera is a well known tourist spot and is mentioned in a lot of review sites. Is it good? Yes. Is it overpriced? Yes, a little. However, they do have happy hour for early diners with a significant reduction in price (used to be 30%) which makes it well worth the visit. The portions are very abundant and can easily be split between two people. Every time we visited the quality was excellent and our food was cooked perfectly. The service is also excellent.
I hesitate to include Don Julio on this list, but it is a good restaurant. It is recognized as one of the Top 50 Restaurants in the World. Is that rating justified? Personally I have my doubts. The staff is good, portions abundant, the food is excellent, but dang, it is really expensive compared to other places. I have had just as good steaks in many places in the city for half the price. Same with the appetizers and sides… Well executed, but overpriced. Don Julio is a “place to be seen” if that matters to you, but it doesn’t to me, so although we ate here twice and it was excellent both times, I would rather eat just as well for half the price at a dozen other steak houses in Buenos Aires.
