Garufa

tried 3 times now to get in here, on each occasion the place has been less than half full, (tonight completely empty) but each time have been told they are fully booked?? not sure how this place manages to stay afloat givne its usually half empty and staff cant be bothered to find you a table
at 7pm I simply cannot believe every table is booked, the staff are just lazy and rude, better service from the local kebab house, even if it is roast horse!!

I`m really fan of Garufa. It is not typical pub, full with drunken guys and noisy people. Garufa is Argentinian restaurant focusing on the food. The steaks here are magnificent! Last time we tried one of their specialty Parrillada Mixta. It is a dish for two and I lick my fingers. Garufa is one of those gems that is worth to write. Go there and you will LOVE it.

Have been back several times since I wrote my original review way back when, and I have to say, it has improved with age.

It is not particularly cheap but I think that’s down to the quality of the meat they use and I probably chose a higher than average bottle of Malbec.

One thing I have to say – these guys now do THE best chips in London. Just divine. Not sure what they have re-vamped since I was first in there but they are now doing something very very right.

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(THIS IS MY ORIGINAL REVIEW FROM A FEW YEARS AGO). A bit disappointed having visited Buen Ayre in Hackney, (which I loved) and is related to this place.

The food (I had steak, obviously) wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great, and I was hoping for more. The chips weren’t amazing either, again compared to Buen Ayre.

Still, I will give them another try.

A definite positive was the staff, who were very friendly and efficient.

On Saturday, September 10th, i and a colleague of mine decided to go to Garufa restaurant after visiting Emirates stadium. Not many restaurants around this area so we used google maps and picked Garufa as our destination.
At first, the place was almost empty at 5.30 pm which was alerting bearing in mind the lack of proper restaurants in the area. We were told by a small bold guy with a very prominent forehead that “we are totally booked, we only have a table that is going to be occupied at 7.00”. 1.5 hours is plenty to eat a horse, we said, and the guy unable to find another argument let us in. Though the table was half in the kitchen half in the toilet area, we agreed due to being hungry. Going a little forward, when we left the place at 6.30 it was as vacant as it was at 5.30.
As for the food, the steaks are overcooked and the side dishes are ridiculously small. “Esparragos” – a tiny piece of bread with 2 small overboiled asparagus sprouts and a fried egg on top of it – all served on a tiny saucer plate. Together with Esparragos the “Bife Ancho” 225gr was ordered – the real Argentinian beef rib-eye steak which appeared to be an overcooked sinewy burnt piece of meat. Though it’s not the case, the prices seemed to be above what is usually paid for a way higher quality steaks at Smollensky’s at Canary Wharf, etc.
The jewel of this place is the level of service you receive if you don’t book a table in advance. Moreover when I asked for a receipt second time after 20 min of waiting I was told to relax and was given a receipt with wrong dishes 2 times. After that a proposition of “calling the police” followed from the small cheeky bold guy which I gladly accepted though didn’t get any.
In summary, I warned all my friends and colleagues of this place and want to warn everybody who is lucky to get to London for business or leisure purposes. The place has a nice concept of Argentinian cuisine in a “pub and sandwich” city, but an extremely inferior client service and low quality of food.
Highly dissuade from visiting Garufa restaurant.

I was let down a bit with Garufa. I came with the 2 for 1 tastecard deal and although i enjoyed the steak, the veg was off and the chips were a tiny handful of oven chips. Hubby had asked for a bottled beer and didnt get the bottle just a filled up glass, which always fills me with suspicion. I probably wont be coming back.

Im keeping it at three stars as i have had a nice few lunchtime stop offs here for a quick coffee and sandwich.

If you like steak, get the platter!
We really enjoyed it!

Great service, great tastes and good service. Nice atmosphere and charming decor inside. Would def come back.

Thwarted dreams of a late summer sojourn Buenos Aires and a manly need for an obscenely large steak led two friends and I to Garufa, a fifteen minute walk from Finsbury Park Station.

A smattering of reserved signs served as no barrier to securing a table in the seductively lit exterior and gingerly we began to peruse the menu. This was fairly expensive for my taste with most steaks in the £16-£25 pound mark but such was the reputation of the place I assumed it would be worth it.

I ordered a 400g sirloin steak (the second most expensive!), medium rare. It took me about three minutes to chew my way through the first mouth-full and by the third I had begun to wonder if I would succumb to lockjaw before the end of the meal. Luckily the tendons and and muscles in my jaw were even tougher than the meat on my steak.

In its defence one of my companions spoke glowingly of his rump steak but whilst Garufa is a lovely place to sit, talk and drink wine the overwhelming taste in my mouth was one of resentment for paying twenty quid for a rubbery steak.

Steak for breakfast you say? Well I bloody well don't mind if I do.

I'd been tipped off about Garufa by someone who'd travelled across town to get here - someone who'd rated everything highly but mostly couldn't wait to come back for breakfast. Most excellent I thought, while also quietly congratulating myself for choosing a house within staggering distance of steak that people would spend many many tube minutes trying to reach.

Breakfast still may be my favourite meal to have out. It's the start of the day, and usually the weekend, plenty of time ahead to do everything and nothing. Often it's the atmosphere in restaurants in the morning that I like the most - relaxing and quiet with the clatter of teacups and saucers. At Garufa it was spot on.

I ordered the Argentine Breakfast unthinkingly. Well - it's obvious, isn't it? The signature breakfast - 150g steak, Argentine sausage, scrambled eggs, tomato, mushroom and toast for a tenner. After ordering I noticed there were a number of order-worthy dishes on there, including the steak sandwich (I'll be back for you you beastie) and the Argentine omelette. But before long it arrived - a lovely fat bit of meat, chunky spicy sausage, buttery gooey (perfect) eggs, a whole mushroom topped with cheese and garlic, the tomato and loads of white toast. I suppose you could call it an indulgent breakfast.

Having said that, it's not that expensive for what you're getting (a big cough cough at all those purveyors of the £8 eggs benedict in this city). Garufa is a great spot for breakfast and, judging by what I've seen and heard walking by of an evening, it holds up for the rest of the day too.

Having been told by friends that this place served some great food and entertainment (South American music and dancing), I decided to visit recently with some work colleagues.

I got to say the food was absolutely awesome, the steaks where incredibly tasty and succulent. The waiters were very friendly and attentive, making us all feel part of some small party.

Apart from the price which we all thought was a bit on the high side, I would say it was a great night out and would recommend it.

Garufa is a recently opened Argentinian restaurant in Highbury, owned by the same people as Buen Ayre in East London and Santa María del Sur in South London.

Argentinia is reknown for the quality of its red meat and I think the steaks at Garufa live up reasonably well to this fame.
I find London, can be a difficult place to be served a decent piece of cooked meat, so it’s some relief to know of a decent steak restaurant, in my own neighbourhood, no less.

I went with a couple of friends to Garufa with the distinct intention of having a steak dinner. We all ordered the 300gr portion size (available in three sizes from 250 to 400gr as well as larger if requested) of the various main steaks available (fillet, rump, sirloin, rib eye) and chose a rather nice Pinot noir to go along with our meal, with sides of chips and humita (type of corn casserole).

The rump I had was succulent but a bit devoid of flavour, the sirlon steaks my friends had though, were, by all accounts very good. I’m not sure this was the best steak I’ve ever had (growing up in a meat-centric society will make you a bit particular I guess), but it is miles above a lot of of steakhouses in London I’ve eaten at.

The deserts available are rather nice and most are mixed with dulce de leche (aka arequipe, milk caramel) which is a personal favourite of mine and so went down quite well.

While not the cheapest restaurant around (£35-£40 pp) I think you’re getting pretty decent food for your money. I found it quite novel having a very large Argentinian wine selection as well.

Pros
- decent steak
- good wine selection
- good service
- nice environment

Cons
- bit pricey
- bit far out if you don’t live in North London