Piegari - Buenos Aires

When we first reviewed Piegari in 2015, it received high marks. About two years later after a remodel and having revisited Piegari, we’ve downgraded the restaurant in several categories.

The décor, before the remodel, was classy and elegant, featuring contemporary art from famed local artist, Milo Lockett. How is it possible, that after a remodel, the décor is now dated and boring? Don’t get me wrong. It’s still respectable. Nothing in bad taste. Just nothing especially in good taste. Before, the black painted wood accents, offset by the white tablecloths, created an elegant “tuxedo” look and feel. The stunning modern art was a focal point. Now everything blends into nothing.

The service is unchanged. Staunch. Good. But not stellar. Waiters immaculately dressed in black slacks, starched white shirts and pin striped vests, are courteous and efficient. Perhaps too much so. Everyone seems to have a bit of an attitude at Piegari, including the patrons. It’s just not warm and inviting.

On a prior visit I had the black squid ink fettuccine with shrimp in a cream sauce. In most restaurants, that’s what you get. Some pasta with a creamy cheese sauce and a somewhat bland and tasteless number of shrimp thrown on top. At Piegari you get a cream sauce that is richly infused with both the flavor and aroma of the shellfish, covering the ideal number of perfectly cooked, moist and tasty shrimp. Elegant, silky, homemade pasta was perfectly soaking up that luscious sauce.

Two years later, on my revisit, I’m served a risotto, that although flavorful, was a total miss on texture. You’d think that at prices ranging between US$22 and US$27 (ARS$375 and ARS$450 at the time of that visit) for a plate of rice, a restaurateur could spend the extra few cents per serving on imported Carnaroli rice and a real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. But instead, the dish is degraded with inferior ingredients. The texture was horrible. In the restaurant’s defense, using substandard ingredients in Italian dishes seems to be the norm in Buenos Aires. We’ve only seen two restaurants that serve an outstanding risotto with an acceptable texture. That would be Cucino Paradiso and L’adesso.

I did like the Tiramisu. One of the best renditions I’ve tasted in Buenos Aires. Instead of the somewhat bitter cocoa that so frequently tops the dessert, this one was covered in freshly shaved bittersweet chocolate. The saturation of the sponge cake with the coffee was spot on. Not overdone, but enough to clearly make the coffee taste evident in the dish. A perfectly contrived and executed version of tiramisu.

Piegari was expensive when we visited in 2016. Could it be that the prices have now increased more rapidly than the rate of inflation in Buenos Aires? Check out these prices: Antipasto platter US$52 (ARS$863), Caesar Salad US$17 (ARS$288), Creamy Fettuccini with Prawns US$35 (ARS$590), and how about a Risotto with Shrimp for a whopping US$42 (ARS$706).

These prices are roughly twice what you would pay at L’adesso in Palermo, which offers a better-executed and more creative, although considerably shorter, menu. And the menu prices are 25% higher than similar dishes at Sottovoce, considered by most locals to be a superior Italian food restaurant.

Piegari, despite being the most expensive Italian food restaurant in the city, has a one-page website that’s one of the least informative we’ve seen, with no menu posted. A barely visible link will enable you to make reservations on a third-party reservation site, Restorando.com. Because Piegari is a short walk from all major hotels, there is likely a wait for table during peak hours, without a reservation, and possibly with a reservation.

Is Piegari a good restaurant? Yes. Does it have a mundane décor and does it scrimp on ingredients? Yes. Does it have the highest prices of any restaurant in the city in relation to the creativity of the menu and the quality of the experience? Yes.