Café San Juan

Best Italian food in a long time. We found Café San Juan based on the reviews on Google Maps and wanted to give it a try. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful, making good recommendations from the menu. The house vermouth is a must. Very refreshing and tasty. We ordered the Pappardelle and the Linguini and both were brilliant. The pappardelle was the clear winner with ample and very fresh and tasty shrimps.

Amazing all around— the vermouth was cold and delicious. We had 2 appetizers — burrata and pastrami— and one main — the ox tail pasta. Everything was superb! Very high quality for price! Seems like a place where whatever you order will be great. Would definitely go back.

We had high expectations for the restaurant based on our Airbnb host's recommendation. The fried shrimp appetizer was decent, but the main courses were overly salty. My husband ordered homemade pasta, but he couldn't even finish half of it due to the excessive saltiness. The waiter was not very friendly and did not smile at all.

A relatively short menu, but with options that should satisfy most people, from a range of fresh pastas to mains such as milanesa, fish, ossobuco. We had the ‘aperitivo de la casa’, a delicious and refreshing vermouth mix. We both had pasta which was very good. Portions are on the generous side (for us). Service was friendly and efficient. Casual atmosphere, it was nicely busy. A very good lunch!

Amazing place for lunch. We stopped during our visit to the Sunday market in San Telmo as it is located on a two minute walk from the main market street. The staff was really friendly. We sat outside on the terrace area, but I would recommend to secure a table inside as there was a lively atmosphere. Our pasta and lasagna was tasty and fresh.

This cozy restaurant screams quality from the get go. Make sure to go with reservations made, otherwise you could be waiting for a while, and the wait is more than worth it. Staff is really friendly and fast. Music selection is good and the volume is perfect for conversations. I had a couple of gin and tonics (the night asked for them), but the house vermouth is the cocktail you'll want to have. Ordered the kimchi croquetas, cooked to perfection, well seasoned, although I'd preferred them a bit spicier. Definitely recommend this appetizer. For entrée I had the beef and wine stew fusilli. Nothing to object, pasta was cooked perfectly, the dish is generous and flavorful. I'd rank this as one of the best pasta dishes you'll ever have in this country, for sure. Ricotta tart with sweet pumpkin bites and quartirolo cheese ice-cream; other than the pumpkin bites and the hard meringue at the bottom of the ice-cream quenelle, which the dish don't need at all, that dessert was amazing, especially the ice-cream. All of that for under 40 dollars, an absolute bargain. If actions speak volumes, then Café San Juan will definitely deafen you.

We had an amazing dinner here tonight. Diego took great care of us and gave us excellent recommendations for food and wine. Already looking forward to trying more of the menu when we come back again!

We arrived at 1:45 without reservations for 4 people on a Sunday and we were seated right away. We ordered eggplant cannelloni, their version of a pork taco and potato tortillas. The pork taco appeared to be on nan bread, bed of frijoles (refried beans) flavored with chipotle. The cannellonis were amazing as well as the potato tortilla. An Argentine tortilla is layers of potato similar to scalloped potatoes with egg, zucchini or ham. Very good experience and reasonable prices. The location is near the San Telmo street market, art museum and El Zanjon underground tunnels.

Fabulous vermutaria in the San Telmo neighborhood. They offer all sorts of wines, and various mixed drinks. But you would be out of your mind to leave Cafe San Juan without having their homemade house vermouth. I have had house vermouth all over Spain, where many bars do their own vermouth just on general principles. Nothing comes close to the house vermouth at Cafe San Juan. Vermouth in Argentina (and in Spain) is often served with soda and ice as a form of a spritzer. A good vermouth is designed to let the ice cubes open up the taste. Done right, there should be BOTH the taste of the wine and the taste of the herbs and spices. It is hard to pull the spice elements out of a commercial vermouth such as a Martini and Rossi. Many homemade vermouths do worse rather than better than Martini and Rossi on this key aspect of what makes vermouth vermouth. Cafe San Juan's vermouth has the most powerful spice taste of any vermouth that I have ever had. And it is a suave mellow harmonious full taste. Imagine Mom's apple pie or a savory sauerbraten. Having those flavors show up in a wine is a rarity. Having those flavors work in a wine is an even greater rarity. Cafe San Juan's vermouth does all that. * * * This is a full service restaurant as well as a bar. The food is absolutely outstanding. My wife adored her merluzon (hake in English), with lentils and capers. I had an osso buco to die for. American veal is nearly worthless and our beef is only ho hum. Argentina has extraordinary beef - so getting good veal is not too hard. In an osso buco, the basic meat itself has to carry a lot of the flavor. This veal with veal bone did just fine. As for the tomatoes, anchovies and crispy polenta, all soaked up in veal gravy ... Just say no more. This was happiness on a plate. An appetizer of burrata cheese on a grilled mortadella proves a basic point. Mortadella is Italian bologna. There is no way to get around it. Bologna goes from stupid school lunch sandwich meat to pure divinity when you put the bologna in a saute pan, put it on the stove and give it a char. The same applies even more so for mortadella. Even more happiness on a plate. * * * Still as good as the food may be ... You are here for the house vermouth ... The house vermouth ... The house vermouth ... You will have many fine meat and fish dishes in your time. A legendary vermouth is forever.

Solid Italian spot but pricey for what it is. I went with the gnocchi which was tasty but very salty. Our other two dishes were also heavy handed with the salt though tasty. Service was quite slow when the restaurant wasn't full. Our food took around 25 minutes to come after we ordered.

Fantastic dinner: lively ambience and neighborhood, friendly and efficient service, and terrific and hearty food. We started off with an Aperol Spritz and a glass of house sangria, which was well prepared and full of tiny diced apple and orange pieces. I ordered another sangria later. To begin, the server brought bread with a small bowl of fava beans with chimichurri sauce for spreading. Super tasty. Our appetizer was fried polenta sticks with an excellent tomato sauce with capers, basil, and black olives. Entrees were large, well plated, and very flavor forward. We ordered the special: paella with fried fish. Also, the cannelloni with roasted eggplant, cheese, and walnuts with more of that excellent tomato sauce with basil. Both entrees were really good, I loved the roasted eggplant cannelloni but the portions were so large that we could only eat half of them. With no room for dessert or even coffee, we walked back to our hotel full and happy.

Albóndigas muy ricas como entrada Muy buen servicio, hice reserva solo 30min antes Muy rica la comida

Unassuming small restaurant in San Telmo that gas a full bar and food menu. We stopped here for lunch before heading off to our tango class. Both of us had the same pasta entree that was an interesting retake in lasagna, flat sheets of pasta rolled up with tomato sauce and cheese then smothered with more cheese and baked till gooey. The pasta was delicious and we washed it down with an Argentinian Sauvignon blanc. The service at lunchtime was slow and it took a long while to get the check.

The food was fresh and good and the place is very clean. Staff seems to know English too. For lunch we had: a really nice steak (~$350 pesos). Grilled vegetables (~250), Linguine with tomato sauce (~250), and two bottles of water. It came to 900 pesos or so, and we left a tip. (Note: In Argentina you can leave a 5-10% tip. And if you pay in credit card, you need the cash on the side for a tip). We found food in Argentina really is not inexpensive at all, but it is really awesome! One note is that everywhere we went where we tried both, the beef dishes were actually much better cooked and spiced than the chicken dishes for some reason. Even though people at home cook a lot of chicken, restaurants seem to focus their efforts on beef.

This was my favorite restaurant in Buenos Aires! I mean the best. We did not have reservations so we had to sit at the bar and service was slow BUT the place was packed. We went on a Sunday during the San Telmo flea market. We had a steak and Russian salad appetizer, pork pasta, and a lamb dish. Let me tell you....the pork pasta was everything. I was so sad that I couldn't finish it because I was full . If I had a microwave in my hotel room, I would have taken it to go. They also make their pastas fresh in house and their desserts looked amazing, but I couldn't eat another bite and I wanted to so bad. So basically what I said was....I'm going to find a copycat recipe and make it at home since I don't live in BA.

So on my third visit to Cafe San Juan la Cantina (CSJ) I became hooked. Stay in San Telmo often enough that I can't help returning -- if I can get seated at CSJ; yeah, it's that popular. Don't let the facade fool you. Don't let the odd entry way deter you. Just get your hungry self through that second set of doors and let yourself be dazzled. Prices are reasonable. My entire meal of grilled vegetables (hot assortment of grilled peppers, zucchini, eggplant, a few potatoes, carrots, corn on the cob, etc., drizzled with pesto and topped with a cold salad mix of arugula, basil, and spinach), entree (small pasta noodles with smoky pork sausage, wild mushrooms, etc.), two generous glasses of house Malbec, a fernet branca, two bottles of sparkling water, bread, and dipping sauce for bread) was $27.00 USD. The portions were so generous that I had leftovers, and I never bring food home. As a solo diner, I sat at the bar and watched the cooks (they told me not to call them chefs) work their magic. Fabricio (sp?) was my guide of sorts. Born in Argentina, he spent 12 years in Italy learning the skills which he now hones at CSJ. Service was consistent, attentive, instructive, kind. Greta in particular helped me decide what to order, steered me away from my dislikes and toward dishes she was certain I'd enjoy. Go to Buenos Aires. Stay in San Telmo. Eat at CSJ. Do not pass go until you do. Regresamo. Saludos. -- working man's gourmand

Really cute, hip place. We were seated right away on a busy Sunday mid-afternoon. We tried to order a penguïno (carafe shaped like penguin), but they would only let us have it if it was for two people. So for three people, we got a bottle (which is what everypne else had). Menus are available in English; some waiters speak English (and all are nice either way). Tight space which may be difficult for fellow tall people. Fusilli (very long!) with sausage was excellent. Rigatoni with olives and cheese was good, but those accessories could have been been cut into smaller pieces, as they got pretty salty. The appetizer pizza tasted very good, lots of cheese. The free mixed bread basket with marinated fava beans was actually probably my favorite part of the meal!

This is by far my favorite restaurant in town! It's very hip and edging. Hands down best chefs and best prices for the high quality meat they have! the food and bread is freshly made. We had a horrible experience at LA BOCA in EL CAMINITO where we ate some tasteless pieces of steak and we were charged over $100! Shortly to say we were done trying out steaks any where else! By far the best meat in BA, we kept coming back to eat here every day during our stay in Argentina. Their in house drinks are delicious, even their water taste better than other restaurants. Ask for their CHIMICHURRI! Its delicious! Make sure to add it on your steak. Everythi about this place was amazing. From the service to their food I highly recommend you check them out.

Wondering through San Telmo we picked this place to eat lunch. We were seated promptly and ordered: - veal carpaccio, which was amazing! Highly recommend. - salmon spread, should have skipped that one. It's Norway and salmon is all brought in. It did not taste like salmon. Consistency was far away from spreading. It was more like a sauce. - Ojo de Bife, with potatoes and pickled veggies. Some parts of the steak were grilled to Medium Rare and some parts were still rare. Wondering if the grill has even heat distribution. Potatoes were super salty. - 2 waters - 2 coffees 10% tip and the total came up to 850 ARS. A bit steep for lunch and for what we had but it was a nice try. We waited for a while to get our steak after we finished with the starters. Nearly 25 minutes. Which is surprising. Overall, it's a safe place to dine in, unless you feel adventurous and want to try something else.

This is a find , I've tried just about everything in the menu and it's all good ! And reasonable ! Vermouth cocktails very fun as well . Had lunch almost every day in this place .

Absolutely excellent food, and for a full review see: https://bakingandeating.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/eating-at-a-well-reviewed-ba-restaurant-purely-by-accident/ The food is delicious, and includes pleasant hungarian overtones. The restaurant itself has an industrial aesthetic that also allows feels light and airy. I'd easily return here if I lived in the country.

Best meal we have had in BA! We have had four meals here and all were mediocre yet rated 3+ stars. It was Christmas so the choices were limited! This area is cool!

What an incredible surprise. Wandering San Telmo without reservations and we found Cafe San Juan. Steak and cataloni was the choice tonight and a wonderful wine recommendation from the Sommelier. We'll definitely be back.

No words to describe how great this place is absolutely beautiful the staff is great they have a little spot outside where you can have your appetizers which omg taste great they have great wine if ever you go there try the Biffe Chorizo or the Pork belly belly absolutely tender just the taste of perfection

Awesome cafe in San Telmo. Great atmosphere, great dishes and very good customer service. I loved the industrial chic design throughout the place... Even in the restroom. A few steps from famous Sunday art walk. Definitely, one of the best eatery in San Telmo.

Had amazing bife de chorizo , everything was so delicious apart from the potatoes(it was burnt and hard) I recommend ordering fries or a salad. The service was great with a chilled atmosphere.

This restaurant has absolutely phenomenal food and wine. We have spent 5 nights in San Telmo and this restaurant is by far the best that we have been to. The customer service is impeccable and the staff all seem to speak very good English which was a lovely surprise. The restaurant is a modern chic industrial design and impeccably clean. My one and only criticism would bE that the lights are too bright. I feel if they were dimmed this would create more of an ambience, especially in the evenings. The sommelier recommended a reserve Malbec which was just incredible and also gave us some recommendations for other Argentinian wines which is highly appreciated. As for the food what can I say - faultless! Piping hot melt in your mouth Pork belly with preserved lemon was to die for and the homemade fettuccine with mushrooms and cauliflower was just delightful. Along with the super tasty gratis bean appetiser and delicious warm homemade bread we were too full to eat dessert. We are food loving Aussies and I highly recommend you try this restaurant if you are in the neighbourhood.