Rancho - Argentinian Grill & Steakhouse — Restaurant in Melbourne

First visit, with a booking on a Tuesday night, in a nearly empty restaurant and they tried to seat us right next to the exit door with a draft stopper stuffed against it and 27 down lights blaring bright and sterile above us. I said, no thanks and was pointed to the table opposite.. It was absolutely freezing in there from the first few tables back, soo cold that we asked if the heater was on and then eventually asked to move to the front of the restaurant where the lighting is soft and it was warm.. it was like a different restaurant at the front! The 1 waiter on last night was in struggle town to keep up with the 4 tables of people - all tables of 2, 3 and 4, so it wasn't 'busy'. The chef was serving food to the tables to help him but we still had to ask for drink and food orders to be taken. The food was ok, empanadas were crispy but oily. The chorizo had no spice and was a bit bland. Our mains came quickly, though our steak was undercooked. The flavour was ok, but just tasted like chargrilled meat.. the chimmichurri was basically green oil - no garlic or herb flavour as we'd had expected. The chicken and prawns were cooked nicely but again, just a bit bland. Churros we're seen being taken out of the freezer which was dissapointing given they charge $17 for them and the icream they served with it was cheap and super sweet - the chocolate sauce was nice. Husband tried to order an espresso 3 times - the first time it came with milk, the 2nd time it was like a long black, and the 3rd time he actually went up to the bar to teach them what he wanted. They were apologetic but he was told that "it's how they were trained to make it" and "to order a short black next time".. huh?? How is an espresso longer than a short black? It's Melbourne, so perhaps don't offer coffee if you don't know how to make what's written on your menu - they still charged for it despite 3 repeat visits which was a shame. $160 for 2 of us including 2 beers seemed a little pricey and I don't know if we'll return if I'm honest. Just not the vibe, flavours and service I'd expect from an Argentinian restaurant. Some constructive feedback to the owner - A dimmer switch to turn down the excessive lighting in the rear of the restaurant and another split cycle heater in the rear might help improve the ambiance for your customers as it's like 2 seperate environments from the front to the...

This is not Argentinian in any shape or form. The meats are not marinated like in Argentina, the grill for your parrilla that your meat comes out on is actually cold, not even on, and the meat is cold, it is imperative in Argentina culture that your meat is steaming hot when served. My wife didn’t even eat it, and not one staff member came to ask if it was alright, why she hadn’t eaten it, or simply ‘what can I do?’ Argentinian meats are marinated, our meals had zero. Argentinian meats are served with French fries, meats where served with fat bland Aldi chips. Meats are slow cooked on a grill. Mine was cremated on the outside and raw on the inside. Empanadas are about squashing as much beef in as you can, these were all pastry minimal meat and just corn. May as well of eaten a bread roll.

The service was horrible, you had to initiate and ask for everything. One menu at our table, had to ask for another. 5 minutes in, had to ask for water on our table. Not once did anyone come to see our table and how we were doing. Ordered a beer, she dumped a stubble on my table, it’s a restaurant, always provide a glass to drink It from. When our mains came out with sides, our salad (which was as basic as a school canteen and none of Argentinian culture served, then one thing, then ages for main. My wife’s main was stone cold. My Cremated and raw (asked for medium) had to be sent back.. While we were eating, up to 10 people standing over our table waiting for their booking, all while there were empty tables, no management at all.

Look, the staff were lovely, Absolutely no hospitality culture or experience, but most importantly, and having just come back from there a week ago.. NOTHING in this place is Argentinian, except an old Maradona photo on the wall. It’s just cheap bad pub food with a false representation..

Could not possibly recommend anybody to attend. Not one area of food acceptable with thee name Argentina beside it, and we are proudly the beef and meat capital of the world for 200 years..

You pay good money to go out and at least receive adequate...

Not a great experience. Ordered beef empanadas for the entree, they were fried and absolutely drenched in oil and pretty tasteless inside, quite disappointed as I'm Argentinian and i know its not that challenging to make a yummy empanada. The kitchen seemed to be having issues with the extraction fans. Smoke was going everywhere. I completely understand if there are unavoidable problems, however, the chefs continued to cook and it seemed like that kept making it worse. There was no fresh air inside the restaurant. I believe that the safest option for the customers was for the kitchen to stop taking orders, or evacuate the area considering how bad it was. We were waiting for the fire alarms to go off because the place was completely covered in smoke. Made our eyes sore and honestly difficult to breathe due to athsma. I'm also currently pregnant and was quite disappointed with the fact that all the employees seemed to care more about the money they were making from the food than the customers wellbeing and safety. We ordered the Parillada which was a mix of meats for 2 people, unfortunately skewers were very rare (I can imagine the air vent issue was distrupting the cooking but they should at least make sure the foods up to standard before serving). The meat also wasn't very flavourful. We tried to leave as soon as we could as the smoke was getting unbearable. We were in and out in 40mins... quite disappointing as it was also a special...