Che!!! Restaurant

Description

Che is the latest mistake to open in Delray, for a lot of different reasons.

Che!!! Delray Beach

The first impression is the name of the restaurant, and when you have to explain the name of your restaurant, you've made a mistake. When Americans hear "Che", we think of Che Guevara, the murderous Argentine mercenary who murdered 100s of people helping to secure a communist Cuba. Maybe good with the kind of ignorant students who wear shirts with his image, but generally negative. You may think that Adolf is a nice name, but nobody has named a child Adolf since the 1930s for a reason. On their website they explain that Che!! is the American equivalent of "Dude" or "Hey You" or "Bro". Would you name your restaurant "Dude!!!"?

Next is the concept. "Argentinian Steakhouses" are like the 100s of "peruvian" restaurants that open and close regularly; Argentinian cuisine is interesting to Argentinians but not so much to South Floridians (or any other American). Except this isn't an Argentinian Steakhouse. Their website implies some connection to a restaurant chain that has location in Spain and Argentina; except they seem to own Italian restaurants in those countries. Argentinian restaurants don't do well in South Florida. Argentango, Buenos Aires Cafe, Las Pampas are all failed or failing restaurants. There are a couple of places in Hollywood, where there are a lot more South Americans in Hollywood than Delray.

The problem with this concept is that there is no concept. The menu is a mish-mosh of Argentinian, Spanish and Italian food without any emphasis on anything. They have dishes at happy hour not on the regular menu; there's no focus. No Skirt Steak. Instead they have tacos and flatbreads, "NY" Strip. Wedge Salad. Spin Dip. Calamari with tartar sauce. Crab Ravioli with Salmon Sauce. It's like bad recipes Americanized; who want's that? I can get inauthentic recipes at TGI Fridays.

Next, The Location. While this location may seem like a Prime Location, it's never done well. Calypso was an interesting idea; poorly implemented, but they failed as the Boulevard became populated with Milenials. Hudson poured a ton of money into here and failed in a year.

I was up in Delray and planned to eat lunch here, despite the very unappetizing (and inauthentic) looking food pictures available from other reviews. But at 12:30pm on a Saturday the parking lot was dead empty. While the cafes on Atlantic were bustling with industry types drinking their bottomless mimosas, there was nobody here. A restaurant with no customers can't possibly properly prep a full lunch menu, and I didn't feel like trying their ridiculously sad looking octopus on a home fry offering. I went back at 1:30 and still totally dead. So I took a pass and headed home.