Best Cheap Eats in Buenos Aires

Best Cheap Eats in Buenos Aires

Guide: Pizza Counters, Empanadas & Neighborhood Portions

Affordable Buenos Aires lives at standing pizza counters, lunch bars, family grills, and bodegones where portions still assume company. Inflation makes fixed price promises foolish, so this selection favors durable value, specific dishes, and rooms where ceremony never outruns appetite.

• Pizzería GüerrínGüerrín has served thick, cheese-heavy porteño pizza on Corrientes since 1932. Order slices standing at the front counter for speed, or sit deeper inside for whole pies; fugazzeta and a glass of moscato explain more than chasing a delicate Neapolitan crust here.
• El CuartitoFootball pennants, signed photographs, quick waiters, and bubbling mozzarella frame one of the classic Buenos Aires pizza rooms. The compact menu favors fugazzeta, napolitana, and fainá; peak dinner means a queue, but turnover is brisk and reservations are beside the point.
• SarkisSarkis sends out Armenian and Middle Eastern standards at a furious pace: hummus, tabbouleh, kebabs, stuffed vegetables, crisp lahmajoun, and yogurt-rich plates. Portions are generous and the queue is real; arrive before conventional dinner time or accept a noisy wait.
• La MezzettaLa Mezzetta is a standing-room pizza counter whose fugazzeta rellena arrives as a molten slab of cheese and onion. The ritual is fast and democratic: order a slice, add fainá if appetite permits, eat at the rail, and do not expect table service.
• La CocinaThis tiny counter specializes in Catamarcan empanadas with crisp edges and juicy fillings, especially picachu—cheese, onion, and chile—and hand-cut beef. Seats are scarce, so treat it as a focused lunch or takeaway rather than a long café stop.
• El Banco RojoEl Banco Rojo turns out fried empanadas, sandwiches, burgers, falafel, and spicy sauces from a casual San Telmo counter. The appeal is speed and flavor rather than ceremony; the shady patio is useful when the small front room and market streets feel crowded.
• Parrilla PeñaParrilla Peña is an old-school grill where provoleta, chorizo, entraña, fries, and complimentary empanadas arrive without celebrity-steakhouse choreography. Portions are large and the dining room plain; it is strongest for a direct, fairly priced parrilla meal.
• Café PaulínOffice workers crowd Paulín for tortillas, milanesas, sandwiches, and daily plates fired across a narrow horseshoe counter. Watch the waiters slide dishes down the bar, order decisively, and come at lunch for the full downtown rhythm rather than a quiet coffee.
• El SanjuaninoEl Sanjuanino serves baked empanadas, locro, tamales, humita, and regional stews in a cellar-like room that feels older than the polished blocks around it. Beef empanadas are the efficient order; locro and cazuela make more sense in cool weather and require a slower appetite.
• Las CabrasLas Cabras delivers the broad, generous vocabulary of a modern neighborhood parrilla: grilled meats, milanesa, provoleta, salads, fries, and shareable platters. The menu is too large for perfection everywhere, but groups get solid value and enough range to settle competing appetites.

Reviewed by RGuide Editorial · Venue details checked August 2026