The best places to eat in Palermo, Buenos Aires, street by street

Palermo is the largest barrio in the city, and the tourism board calls part of it the most active food hub in Buenos Aires.^6,7 When people talk about the best places to eat in Palermo, Buenos Aires, they usually mean Soho and Hollywood, low houses on tree-lined streets. Palermo Soho sits between Scalabrini Ortiz, Córdoba, Juan B. Justo and Santa Fe avenues.¹ It took its name from the Soho districts of New York and London because of its design and fashion shops.¹

Across Juan B. Justo is Palermo Hollywood, bounded by that avenue, Dorrego, Santa Fe and Córdoba.² For decades it was homes and car repair workshops; television channels and producers arrived early this century and gave it the name, and the restaurants followed.² Today Soho and Hollywood feel like a single long neighbourhood of cafés, bistros and bars, linked by streets such as Honduras, Gorriti, Thames and Nicaragua.

Further north, Las Cañitas has had its own restaurant strip on Báez street since the early 1990s.⁸ It is a separate outing from Soho and Hollywood, better for an evening than a walk. For a first visit, stay in Soho and Hollywood: the city's transport page recommends Palermo Viejo and Soho for exploring at walking pace.⁹ Wear flat shoes: the pavements are uneven, and the best finds are often halfway down a side street.

What to eat in Palermo, Buenos Aires? Begin with pizza, because Palermo does the styles the old Corrientes houses do not. Cosí mi piace, on El Salvador, opened in 2016 and bakes Roman-style pizza in a wood oven, somewhere between thick Neapolitan and very thin crusts.¹¹ Siamo nel forno, on Costa Rica, makes Neapolitan pizza with San Marzano tomatoes instead of crushed tomato.¹⁹ Order one of each and share: the difference in crust is the whole point of the comparison.

For something older, Los Muchachos de Punto y Banca is known for fried empanadas that the city tourism board calls unmissable.¹² Then go to El Preferido de Palermo, on Jorge Luis Borges street, on the block where the writer spent his childhood.²² It began in 1952 selling drinks, came back to life in 2019, and now plates updated classics like a bife de chorizo milanesa.²⁰ The small room, the wooden bar and the jars on display make it feel older than its menu.²³

El Preferido sits at 24 on Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants 2025, so book.⁴ Nearby on Thames, Niño Gordo ranks 21 on the same list.²⁴ For a cheaper lunch, chef Germán Martitegui recommends Sarkis, an Arab restaurant on Thames, as good, nice and cheap.²¹ On Scalabrini Ortiz, Gran Dabbang is the restaurant he called spectacular.²⁵ Its plates lean Asian, a reminder that Palermo now cooks far beyond the porteño canon.

The food walk sold on this site keeps to these streets. It runs for 3.5 hours with 4 restaurants and at least 8 dishes, the drinks included, with standard bookings meeting at Thames 1565 and premium ones at Nicaragua 4896. Each ends at its last restaurant. Groups take up to 12 travellers, and guides speak English and Spanish. Along the way you pass street art and the low houses that give Palermo its character.

Dietary menus, vegetarian or gluten-free, are ordered at booking, and the operator cannot do vegan. The tour may be cancelled in bad weather, which is worth knowing in the wetter months, and the money comes back in full on cancellations made at least 24 hours ahead. Another Palermo walk, with 5 tastings over 3.5 hours, meets at Plaza Serrano. Compare both in the price calculator on this page before you choose.

Doing it yourself is possible too. Walk from Plaza Cortázar to Nicaragua street, stop for empanadas, then a slice of Roman pizza, a coffee on Gorriti and ice cream on the way home. You will miss the stories a guide tells about each dish, and you will need to choose the places yourself, but Palermo by day is easy to navigate on foot, and the map on this page puts every stop in one place.

Palermo is easy to reach from the centre. Buses and the subte both run on a SUBE card, which you top up with credit.⁷⁰ The BA Cómo llego planner from the city government maps the trip on foot, by bus or by subte.⁸¹ Taxis are plentiful; the city's BA Taxi app books a licensed one.⁸² Walking from Recoleta is pleasant in the cooler months, through parks and past the botanical garden.

Take ordinary city care. The UK lists Palermo among the areas where you should be particularly cautious about theft.⁸³ Canada warns of a restaurant trick in which a cloth or socks are laid on your phone and lifted with it.⁸⁴ Keep your bag between your feet at a café table and your phone in your pocket.⁷¹ If someone squirts something on your clothes and offers to help clean it, refuse and walk away.⁸⁵

None of this should keep you from the barrio. Palermo by day is a working, living neighbourhood, and its streets are made for slow eating. Plan the walk for daylight, carry a little cash for kiosks and bakeries, and leave the evening for a booked table or a bar on the roof. In an emergency, dial 911 from any phone and ask for help.⁸⁶