Puerto Cristale - Puerto Madero

[Desperado999]

This is an upscale restaurant that provides mediocre service for hyped up prices. Stay away!

[Jaimito Cartero]

Can we get some more details on the food, and the prices of the food?

It's kind of like saying, "gee marisol really sucks". Well for one guy that might be bad, and for another, *very* good.

Vee mhust haf de tales!

[Desperado999]

The overall customer service is terrible so I did want to waste any time discussing their cuisine. But if you really have to know, they are into seafood but also have a variety of the meats as well. Pricing wise I think they are in the upper-end of the restaurants in Puerto Madero along the line of El Marisol. Other than the bad service, I was at least impressed by their wine selection!

[El Queso]

I noticed this post and had to put my two-cent's worth in.

I went here with my girl, two other guys and their dates recently, and have visited this restaurant about 4 times in the last year. Overall, we have been very happy with the result. Maybe the place has improved significantly in the past two years since the previous post.

The ambience is refreshingly modern and elegant, for those times when you are tired of the (usually) shabby decor and repair of many BA restaurants. It is quite large and on a busy Friday night, it was packed, but there was enough room for our party of six to be seated immediately, without a reservation. It feels like relatively upscale restaurants that I am used to in the States.

I always find the service to be excellent. The waiters are attentive without being obtrusive and we did not wait long for our meals.

They also comp you a free glass of champagne on sitting.

It is a little on the expensive side. The lamb is superb, as well as the lomo pimiento (pepper steak). I have had the raviolis also, and these are quite good, unlike much of the pasta, in my opinion, in BA. The stuffed chicken (suprema de pollo Puerto Cristale) is also very good.

I did not have a pleasant experience with the trout, however. I ordered trout stuffed with shrimp and spinach, covered with a lemon avocado cream sauce. It sounded and looked delicious, but was really extremely mediocre. Not bad, just did not have much taste. But then, I have not had good experience with fish anywhere here in BA.

Overall, a thumb's up if you are looking for a nice place to bring a date.

[Argento]

I noticed this post and had to put my two-cent's worth in.

I went here with my girl, two other guys and their dates recently, and have visited this restaurant about 4 times in the last year. Overall, we have been very happy with the result. Maybe the place has improved significantly in the past two years since the previous post.

The ambience is refreshingly modern and elegant, for those times when you are tired of the (usually) shabby decor and repair of many BA restaurants. It is quite large and on a busy Friday night, it was packed, but there was enough room for our party of six to be seated immediately, without a reservation. It feels like relatively upscale restaurants that I am used to in the States.

I always find the service to be excellent. The waiters are attentive without being obtrusive and we did not wait long for our meals.

They also comp you a free glass of champagne on sitting.

It is a little on the expensive side. The lamb is superb, as well as the lomo pimiento (pepper steak) I have had the raviolis also, and these are quite good, unlike much of the pasta, in my opinion, in BA. The stuffed chicken (suprema de pollo Puerto Cristale) is also very good.

I did not have a pleasant experience with the trout, however. I ordered trout stuffed with shrimp and spinach, covered with a lemon avocado cream sauce. It sounded and looked delicious, but was really extremely mediocre. Not bad, just did not have much taste. But then, I have not had good experience with fish anywhere here in BA.

Overall, a thumb's up if you are looking for a nice place to bring a date.1. Never, ever order the fish other than 'a la milanesa'. It will always be a mess. But what a horrible 'concocion' it sounded anyway. Very 'trick'.

2. The best food in Argentina is always the simple meals at your local eating place. Argentina and sophisticated foreign food never seems to work. They have the unhappy knack of always fucking it up. Be warned.

3. The pasta in Argentina, especially the sorentinos and such like are as good as the best fresh pasta in Italy. Not that fresh pasta is all that common in Italy. But the sauces are generally shit and invariably are plays on tomato and rubber purporting to be cheese. If a bolognese sauce is offered, grab it.

4. Tartas. Fantastic.

5. Pizza. Great.

6. Parrilla. Your local restaurant with few exceptions is as good as all the top priced big named ones touted on this Forum. And you will still have enough dough left to get laid afterwards. Some of the prices I see quoted for meals are unbelievable given the cost structures. A restaurant in Juan B Justo, circa Pacifico, had a board out front last week, offering a Menu for lunch, lamb (cordero) at Arg$54. A long way from my reality.

7. Wine. No rhyme or reason for the cost structures. Price is certainly the last criterion to use to buy wine. I had a very good Syrah bought from my local Chinos during the week for Arg$6.50 and I have bought Arg$40 that tasted like cat's piss. All I can assure you is that price is not a reliable guide.

8. Waiters. Generally excellent as far as presenting and serving food. But never ask for, or take their opinion as to what you should eat. If you do, you will regret it.

So eat locally, generally avoid the fish and buy your wine as cheap as you can because there is a hell of a risk factor as to it's drinkability. And one of my experiences in life, if I can pass it on, is that a new paint job doesn't improve the quality of the food. IMHO.

[El Queso]

No offense, but I thought there was already a post somewhere in this section for general restaurant rules.

I was posting a specific review about a specific restaurant, particularly one that seemed to have improved from past years, according to previous reviews.

In fact, I have posted a review on Pepito, my favorite neighborhood restaurant, which is about two blocks from where I live. Puerto Cristale is the kind of place that many people who are visiting might want to take a date to impress her, or as I said, just enjoy a slightly more elegant dining experience than any neighborhood restaurant will give.

And FYI, for the last year that I've lived here, I've eaten mainly in the neighborhood restaurants and given that they only serve standard Argentine fare, and I like a little more variety at times, I seek such variety out on occasion and wanted to share this with others who might be like-minded.

Paint improves nothing related to food, true, but a little bit of elegance never hurt anyone either, as long as the quality of the food does not suffer.

If you had a specific comment on Puerto Cristale, or had posted this in a new thread to refresh the rules of dining related to daily eating, yours would have been a much more constructive post, imho. I agree with much of what you said.