El Gaucho — Restaurant in Munich

Unfortunately, a very disappointing service experience

I usually don’t write negative reviews, but in this case I feel compelled to share what happened. Let me start by saying that the quality of the food was excellent – well-prepared dishes with high-quality ingredients, although the prices were slightly above average. This review is not about the food, but entirely about the terrible service we received from one of the waiters.

I was dining with my parents, and the evening started off well. Although there was a mistake with the order (we received two portions of meat instead of one), we didn’t complain and happily ate both.

The real issue began when it was time to pay. The oldest waiter in the room, who should have been the most experienced, tried to add a tip to the bill himself, claiming that we were “obliged” to tip him, comparing the situation to the United States. After we politely but clearly refused (having already spent nearly €200 on dinner), he completely lost control: he began shouting at us in front of the entire dining room, claiming he had worked for free because of us, slamming trays and acting in an extremely unprofessional manner.

This was our first time in Germany for work, and only afterwards did we learn that tipping is a common courtesy here. However, a tip should always be a voluntary gesture from the customer – not demanded with aggressive behavior.

We would have gladly spoken with the owner, but the chef informed us he was not present. I sincerely hope this review serves as a wake-up call for management to better supervise their staff. An attitude like this not only ruins the dining experience but seriously damages the image of a restaurant that otherwise shows clear...

First of all we walked in, to be asked if we had made a booking because they were expecting a "wave of people" to arrive. The place was about 8% full. We walked outside, looked them up online and made a booking for 15 mins later. We went back in and were seated. We walked back through the restaurant to leave, and I'd say for the whole night it was probably about 20% full at the height of it. Don't turn away custom, based on expectation. The menu was completely in German. I had to get Google translate out. My critique of the food is just down to personal preference, and I know others will absolutely love how the food is served. Almost every other time I have ever ordered a steak, in any part of the world, you order your steak, your side, and your sauce all as one meal. Everything is separate here, and pricey. Initially, I ordered a pasta dish, as it was my partner who wanted the steak more. I was told there was no pasta. So went for the small fillet. It was a very tasty steak. I asked for well done with no pink. Little bit of pink all down the thickest side, but I can live with it. The pepper sauce was obviously made in-house, using the juices from the meats. Not pepper sauce as I know it. Very watery and not too flavourful. Chips were OK, but far too salty. As stated above, I understand that a lot of people probably love all of this, but for me, apart from the steak being tasty, almost everything else was slightly...

We went as a group and ordered most of the special steaks on offer. The Tira de Ancho Ribeye had quite a lot of fat and tissues that were a real struggle to cut, the Tira de Cuadril Rump Steak with the special Churrasco sauce was also underwhelming. For steaks at this price level, even in Munich, one can expect a medium rare steak to be uniformly pink inside with a minimum layer of "well-done" meat under a beautifully seared crust. Most steaks at our table were not like that, the 800g Ribeye for instance were cut into 6 pieces and the two end pieces were more like well done. The crust was not very even either. The seasoning was also done quite plain with relatively limited sauce options compared to other Munich steakhouses. Then there are the sides, we each ordered some sides like prawns and fries. One of the fries did not arrive when almost everyone had finished their steaks. Then for the three king prawns ordered for 3 different people, two of them were served in one small bowl without telling, so one person was waiting for his side dish only to realize that it had been served and he needed to order again. The restaurant also went lights out completely dark for birthdays, which was OK at the beginning but started getting a bit disturbing for the 4-5th...