Honduras 5733 (between Bonpland & A.J. Carranza), Palermo Hollywood

I’ve been making noises for a while about writing shorter reviews, because I’m sure I bore the hell out of half of my readers. Well, here is my first real attempt at brevity, and a bar review is a good time to start, because generally I can’t remember much about the bars I frequent in Buenos Aires, for fairly obvious reasons…

It’s a Resto-Bar

Acabar is, I guess, one of those resto-bar things. I’ll always remember my friend telling me a story about a porteno trying to explain the great mystery of Argentine resto-bars. It went something like this:

“It’s quite confusing, see… it is not just your typical bar. No, it’s far more cunning than that. It is also sort of a restaurant too. That’s why it’s called a resto-bar“.

That person obviously went to the school of stating the blindingly obvious. I think they were in the class above me…

Anyway, enough silliness before I derail this review into another ramble-fest. Acabar is a very nice bar with a twist, but I would ignore the restaurant part if I were you. The one time my friends and I had food, it was less than good, and in addition to that, the next day my fiancee was extremely sick, which we believe was down to a dodgy piece of fish eaten there. So, let’s concentrate on the bar (I like to concentrate on bars).

Although I should first say, hats off to the Acabar menu… obviously a colorful distraction to take your attention away from the not so great food it describes:

I think that filet de merluza was the offending foodstuff. Anyway, back to the bar…

A bar with a twist

What’s the twist? Games. You like to play games? Me too. You like to play pictionary in Spanish to help improve your vocabulary? You bet. You like to play sexy pictionary in Spanish as a good way to flirt with you ever-so-good-looking Argentine companions? Your wish is my command…

You like to get a little tipsy now and again? Of course. You like to get tipsy and play drunken over-sized jenga? I think I can read your minds…

Would you like me to stop the annoying questions and answers thing? OK..OK… you don’t all have to shout that loud.

Acabar: Nice name!

Great name, in fact. Multi-faceted. Firstly, it has all kinds of comedy potential. In English, acabar basically means “to finish”, and can be used in the sexual sense of the word. Oh, the japes I have walking past Acabar of a night in Palermo Hollywood, and drunkenly asking my lady in my worst castellano:

“Vamos a acabar ahora?” – “Are we going to finish now?”

I think you get the meaning. I really am a very unentertaining drunk.

Secondly, the name works in a kind of primeval grunting me-tarzan-you-jane fashion. ACA-BAR… HERE-BAR. The owners are obviously naming geniuses.

But the bar is great too. Besides the many wonderful board games, the wait staff are extremely nice and friendly, and there are enough of them around to be able to grab one quickly for drink orders even when it’s busy. And it does get busy, producing a happy, buzzing atmosphere full of mildly inebriated board gamers.

Acabar is also HUUUGE. The first few times I walked past, I didn’t go in after looking in the window and seeing a fairly small area with no tables free. Little did I know that the bar opens up round the corner to the left and backwards, and just keeps on going, and going. Like a tardis. I’m sure at one point you are traipsing through their neighbors back-patios to reach the end of the bar. But don’t let that put you off your drinks.

And all of that space is filled with character… interesting old chandeliers, pop-art on the walls, lots of funny ornaments and bits & bobs, a hundred different types of wooden tables that have definitely seen better days but still add to the rag-tag look. All very pleasant in a hip kind of way, as you would expect from most places in Palermo Hollywood. You can just about see some of it in the photo above… apologies if it is not that representative, I was having an alcoholic moment.

And on that note, the scores are in from the Icelandic jury…

Acabar Verdict

• Overall Bar Rating: (4/5) Nice surroundings, huge bar that always seems busy, and the board games are a great touch.
• BA Authenticity: (4/5) Is favored by portenos, and the ‘hip’ factor supplied by the art and old tables makes it an authentic modern Buenos Aires bar.
• Value: (3/5) The usual suspects (Quilmes, wine and cocktails) at the usual prices, perhaps a little on the expensive side.

Buenos Aires Argentina Guide Special Tip

Go for the drinks, the games and the nice bar, but avoid the under-par food (there are many, many far better restaurants in Buenos Aires that you can go to first, then onto the bar later).