A friend and I were looking for a new steakhouse to try in the Las Canitas area the other night, as we wanted to stray away form our normal hangouts.  I remembered that my boss had recommended Campo Bravo to me not so long ago and we decided to give it a shot.  What I found was almost exactly what I expected.  Some really great food, and some pretty poor service.  We started off with a bottle of red wine, because what could possibly go better with a steak than a Malbec, am I right?  Their wine list was quite extensive. Mostly bigger vineyards, but they had a solid lineup from them all and their prices were high but not ridiculous.  We ended up trying a Malbec from Finca Perdriel by Norton to be cost efficient and I was pleasantly surprised with the wine.

The Great Food:  To start, the bread and the spread at this place are better than any place else on the block. And that means it’s trumping out a lot of other places when were talking about Baez, the nightlife and restaurant hub of Las Canitas.  Like many places in Buenos Aires though, you pay for that bread and your place setting (ludicrous… I know!).  I knew from the first bite of my appetizer that I had made a good choice in eating here.  We ordered the provoleta (a fried Cheese appetizer) with arugula and crispy bacon (panceta en espanol). Now I’m in love with provoleta, and this is by far the one of the best provoleta I have had.  It came out more melting than I would have expected any provoleta to come, but that only made it better with the toppings. After the provoleta we moved onto the main course: The Ojo de Bife steak cooked to perfection. It was an excellent cut with barely anything to trim off, and it was juicy, tender, and flavorful.  The chimichurri and salsa criolla were both delicious as well.  As good as all of the food was, I still feel it was slightly over priced considering the steak did not come with any accompaniments and the sides were to pricey for me to even consider.

The Poor Service:  Now right off the bat I could be partially to blame here for electing to sit outside (restaurant suicide in B.A.), but the service at times was extraordinarily bad.  When we actually interacted with our waitress she was both friendly and accommodating.  She even split the provoleta in half and served us both.  The problem was actually getting to the point of interaction. All of the waitresses would group together in front of the door outside in plain view of all of the outdoor customers just chatting.  I don’t know if he was the manager giving direction or what, but they would literally ignore their tables and their responsibilities for 20-30 minutes at a time.  Even when we tried to wave her over to help us (Which I hate doing, but am obligated to at every restaurant here) she still didn’t get the message that we needed something.  Also at no point did she ever mention the steaks came alone, although I expected it.  But in my opinion that’s something that the waiter should do.  Their job is to make sure the customer knows what they are ordering and offer advice if it is too much or too little.  I didn’t receive anywhere near that experience at Campo Bravo.

Campo Bravo is located on the corner of Baez and Arevalo in Las Canitas and they have a second location in Palermo on the corner of Honduras and Fitz Roy.  The food is excellent and if you don’t mind paying more than usual and dealing with the probable lack of service then this is still a great place to go with friends.