Deltoro

Deltoro joins a host of other restaurants in Buenos Aires capitalizing on the worldwide popularity of the humble hamburger.

The décor is clean, slightly industrial, but with a splash of rough-hewn wood panels and a wall of green plants lending a bit of warmth.

There’s a nice bar allowing patrons to sit and imbibe a host of cocktails and artisanal beers. There’s also seating out front, shaded by umbrellas.

There’s a classic burger with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. Then a supporting cast with a few exotic ingredients. The burgers have a sufficient amount of fat to keep them juicy and an acceptable coarse grind on the patty. All piled on a fresh poppy-seed bun. Good ingredients.

I regret to say that my classic burger, although ordered medium-rare, was delivered medium-well. On pointing it out to the server, the burger was immediately returned to the kitchen and new one, this time a slight bit on the rare side, was delivered without a hitch. The inability of the cooks to get the burgers cooked properly to order, despite the descent quality of the ingredients, does not bode well for a restaurant seeking to impress patrons in a highly competitive genre.

The bread was a big, impressive poppy seed bun. Condiments were fresh. The French fries weren’t French fries. They were oven-baked rustic potatoes. Nicely seasoned, but somehow a burger just doesn’t seem right without hot, crisp fries.

They have sandwiches. Boring. Hopefully this place isn’t looking to score high on our creativity ranking. A salmon sandwich, ham and cheese and grilled chicken will hardly score points for being creative. It’s the same boring fodder that seems to be on every menu in this city.

They offer salads. Sort of. Take the three boring sandwiches mentioned above, remove the bread, and there you have it. A salad, with ham, one with salmon and another with chicken (and a Caesar dressing that doesn’t even remotely taste like the real deal).

The service was adequate but hardly impressive.

Summing it up. Good ingredients create the potential for a good set of burgers. But miscues on the part of the kitchen make a return visit questionable. Any one that doesn’t want a burger, is left with mundane and uninspired alternatives. And all this at a price that’s almost twice you’d pay for a similar meal at nearby 180 Burger Bar.