Antares

Antares is Argentina’s biggest local producer of artisanal beer and was likely the first to bring the microbrewery / restaurant concept to Argentina. They brew about ten varieties of beer, ranging from lagers to stouts.

There are about 20 or so of these microbrewery style brewpubs spread across the country. I’ve been to the Antares in Mendoza and the locales in the Buenos Aires are similar. They all are big and nicely decorated as you’d expect from a rather sizeable restaurant chain in this class.

The menu is typical bar food although there’s quite a bit more to choose from than the typical menu. There are appetizer bruschetta’s, charcuterie platters, sandwiches, pizzas, salads and a host of entrees, many prepared with beer as part of the cooking process and about everything on the menu is reasonably priced.

On the big-screen TVs? Old alien invasion movies instead of sports programming. That’s odd.

In the evening, the bar and restaurant get very busy in every location I’ve visited. Service was a little lacking although not anything that caused alarm. The waitress was covering a lot a ground. They could likely use a slightly larger crew of waitresses on a busy night like the one on which I was there.

The sandwich I ordered had potential. The pulled-pork was tender and moist, served on a ciabatta bun. But there was no rich sauce nor reduction from the braising liquid on the sandwich. Serving it with a bit of the sauce would have put the sandwich over the top. The French fries fell a bit short too. Not very crisp and they were a tad starchy on the inside. They weren’t served very hot, so they quickly were less than desirable in that regard. This could have been a great sandwich. As it turned out, it was just another good sandwich.

For a bar serving food Antares is still a top choice with such a wide choice of both high-quality beer and an equally impressive menu. I saw several items on the menu that deserve a look. I need to sample that sausage plate in anticipation of an upcoming feature on Oktoberfest.

Maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to guzzle down another pint of Antares Porter.