Jonghan L.
Yelp
Oh my god my meal at Balvanera was speechless. Came here on a Friday night at 6pm, with a reservation for our company's holiday party. We had ~20 people in our party, so we got a giant table in the middle of the restaurant. We ordered a whole bunch of tapas and meats to share family style, including fried chicken, skirt steak, rib eye, pesto pasta, mushroom tapas, pulpo octopus, beef empanadas, burrata, sea bass, papas fritas (fries), steak tartare, salmon crudo etc. Boy were we in for an unforgettable feast! Also lets not forget the amount of wine we ordered.
AMBIANCE:
Great vibes, love the latin inspired decor, while it felt like home yet not too pretentious. Atmosphere was dimly lit. Great place to bring friends or date.
PROS:
Highlights were the meat. Those were prepared exquisitely. I loved the riby eye as it was really fatty, so full of flavor, and tender. The char on top of the steak added a great crunchy texture to the meat. A close second was the skirt steak, and that was really tender as well. The chimichurri that it came paired really well with the steak, but also paired really well with the complimentary bread that we got - what a pleasant surprise! Steaks were seasoned well and presented well. Pairs really well with either the Argentinian Pinot Noir or Cabernet, it really cuts down on the fattiness of the beef really well. The beef was also paired with the potato puree, and those were some of the smoothest potatoes I've had!
As for tapas: beef empanadas were some of the best I've had. The octopus was grilled to a perfect tenderness, and paired well with the sauce and puree that it came. It had a great smokey flavor from the grill which gave some parts of it a good crunchy char taste to it. Steak tartare was also some of the best tartare Ive had in a while. I loved the balance of acidity in the dish, and the runny egg on top added more fun to the dish. Salmon crudo was fantastic as you can taste the fish was really fresh and the jalapeno and citrus really cuts down on the fattiness of the fish. The papas fritas were good and crispy too.
I didn't get the chance to try the burrata or the seabass, but from my table I heard there were rave reviews as we had a cheese and seafood connoisseur on our table!
Service was top notch as the servers were really attentive to our table and made sure we were well fed and our needs taken care of. Thank you!
OVERALL:
Fantastic experience at Balvanera, great steak and excellent service would make this meal one to remember!