Gauchos — Restaurant in Bella Vista

Eleven of us dined at Gaucho's steakhouse in Panama. We found it rather challenging to reach the restaurant by telephone to make reservations. Despite the restaurant's website indicating it was open, several of us called repeatedly for a couple of hours without success. Furthermore, the website did not accept online reservations. I eventually managed to make a reservation for 7:00 pm. We were warmly greeted and promptly seated. Our server was initially attentive but appeared to become overwhelmed as the restaurant filled. The menu offered a variety of steak options, and ten of us ordered different cuts of steak. The fresh-baked bread was a delightful touch, and our appetizers arrived quickly and were exceptional. However, our salads did not arrive before our main courses, and one of our party did not receive a salad at all. Most of the steaks received positive feedback, though some were not cooked to order and were overcooked. The baked potatoes were small but served with excellent accompaniments. Our server's attentiveness waned as the evening progressed, and service slowed. Overall, the experience was adequate but could have been significantly better. We will likely try a different steakhouse during our next...

This is an old place and you can tell by the décor, but that's not a deal breaker at all. Just an observation.

The foods were fresh and delicious. The fresh bread that they brought out, along with perfectly soft butter, brought back memories from when I was a kid in Brazil. It tasted grilled bread with butter (pao na chapa). So, naturally, one was not enough, we had to have 2 of them.

When you say medium rare, they bring you exactly what you ordered. No ifs and buts, it was simply perfect. We asked for mashed potatoes and those was perfect as well!

The calamari was very fresh. The only item we weren't impressed was the Caesar salad, which was our own fault for ordering, out of guilt, for eating 16oz of meat. We though we should balance things out....but now, the salad was not the best, but not the worst either.

Focus on the bread, steaks and breads when you come here and...

Food was absolutely delicious. I had a taste for a steak the entire time I visited Panama City and this place had great reviews. Glad I ventured out of Casco Viejo and came here bc the food delivered! The steak was perfect, the garlic and parsley French fries were amazing and so flavorful and the mussels were delicious and just the right amount. Let's talk about the bread though....omg best restaurant bread I've ever had-flaky outside and super soft inside. I do wish the service had been a tad more attentive. I felt like maybe bc I was a solo diner I didn't get catered to like other tables. They took the example steak tray around to most of the tables and never offered it to me. Yes, I could have asked but why not offer it to me too. Nevertheless I picked the NY Delmonico and it was delicious. Well...