Gaucho — Restaurant in Gauteng

We had a booking for a celebration dinner 6 adults. Been wanting to try this place for a while given the ratings and reviews.So we went

The service was ok , our night fell apart when it came to food.To be fair the starters(small plates) were tasty though in my opinion a little pricey.i’m not sure what was happening with the kitchen but they couldn’t push out all mains at a similar time or as close as possible, People at our table waited at least 15 minutes. after others have gotten their food Not sure if the waiter forgot to add the orders or it’s a kitchen issue

Mains Buttermilk chicken sliders Were average though Ok

2X Prawn linguine The one came out with literally five small prawns which were over cooked Flavor was very flat and tasted like a goopy mess needed a huge dollop of chili salt and pepper.

The second dish arrived 15 minutes later, which looked totally different The color looked a lot deeper. Prawns were cooked much better. The person that ordered it seem to have really enjoyed it worlds a part from the first dish. That’s what you would expect for a pasta dish the cost R325

2X Beef short rib This is the biggest fail of the night, I literally choked on this piece of meat, and could not swallow it for five seconds, while it was lodged in my throat!!!

I asked the waiter to find out how this piece of meat is prepared, with the restaurant being inspired by Latin America. You would have thought it would be grilled low and slow for few hours.Or at the very least slow braised, and then finished off on the grill.However at Gaucho its seasoned& grilled as a steak cut! Which is possible with short rib provided it’s cut thinner

Picanha Espetada It’s pretty hard to mess up picanha , but somehow they have seem too. Toughest cut of picanha I’ve every tasted not sure if the kitchen skewered it on the right way with the grain or against the grain but it was very chewy.

The management did try to assist and did the best that he could given the circumstances removing both beef short ribs, and prawn pasta from our bill. Which doesn’t really compensate for the experience of our celebration dinner being so horrible.

In a day and age where so few people go out let alone collectively as a group. you would expect Restaurant to at least be 80% on the game. Most people don’t mind paying for good food, but when you being taken advantage of for sub par food not so much.

I really do hope this gets to the owner for their sake! Cause with that experience I don’t think you would...

I can not fully express my appreciation for Argentinean Asada. I love the romance of the food sizzling on the parrilla at your table, a sight to behold. The scintillating smell of that gaucho barbeque of sirloin steak, lamb ribs, verde chimichurri chicken wings, espetada, beef short ribs and chorizo. Accompanied by a choice of two sides. we settled for smashed roasted baby potatoes, Root vegetables with goat cheese, and an extra portion of soffrito (rice), all washed down with a bottle of leuwekuil Shiraaz

The wine was a cheaper bottle on the menu but decent enough for the evening, smooth n delicate on the pallette.

The baby potatoes were done previously and probably just reheated, edible n served hot. The root vegetables were well balanced with the goats' cheese to cut that sweetness. The soffrito rice was the star of the accompaniments.. not just because of my love for rice... the flavours were delicate and lingered long after you swallowed the rice.

The chicken wings were moreish n delicately spiced with chimichurri... not drowning. The chorizo was a blend of beef and pork meat, good strong flavour but could easily be mistaken for wors. The meats were cooked to perfection as one would expect,with the right cook to continue basking on the hot coals bathed in beautiful unadulterated flecks of salt n hint of cracked black pepper, sans any basting.

My greatest disappointment was the lack of any offal (intestines), the backbone of any great asada parilla... which would have made this dining experience a 10/10.

The waitrons were absolutely amazing as one would expect from this establishment. Polite, attentive, unobtrusive.. ever willing to fulfill your wishes to make your dining experience an event and one to remember.

Our waitress overheard our conversation and realised it was my partners birthday.. the coffee I ordered took surprisingly long to be served... and what a surprise it was when it finally did arrive. we were presented with a dessert of sopaipilla dulce de leche ... Argentinean donuts with glace icing and caramel sauce served with vanilla ice cream, courtesy of the restaurant.

This was certainly a great dining experience with a bold ambiance. A restaurant that certainly prides itself in archetypical Argentinean cuisine only second to the food I ate in Argentina. Give it a try, and you won't be...

A few weeks ago, visited Gaucho for dinner - table of 6 on a busy Friday evening. The place itself, the food and the service are good, generally. Except on this Friday evening; I was bothered by an interaction with a young manager who turned my otherwise pleasant experience sour.

One of our party ordered a medium rare steak, however a rare steak arrived and we asked the lovely waitress to please have the order corrected. The small issue was that there was a little too much blood for the enjoyment of the person who ordered medium rare. She promptly obliged the request and returned with a medium rare steak and apologised on behalf of the kitchen. We accepted, made no fuss, were thankful. As we were carrying on with our evening, this young woman who presented herself as the manager of the establishment came to the table to query the steak situation. Not that anyone asked for her or asked to complain. We stopped our engagement amongst ourselves and attended to the manager’s question - explained the minor steak error and said we were happy with the correction. This young woman felt it was the right thing to do to then say “you should expect blood on a medium rare steak” - a defensive and accusatory statement that was unnecessary. we had not asked to complain to a manager, or escalate anything. The waitress had promptly corrected and we were fine. She insisted that the patron was wrong, the patron should accept what is put in front of them. This was very strange interaction and completely unnecessary and quite uncomfortable.

I advised the manager that a) all that needed to be said was sorry and b) a lecture about steak was not needed. I advised her that her tone and approach were not appreciated and that her coming to lecture a guest instead of just acknowledging a small error was terrible of her. I advised her that in future, instigating an argument isn’t the route to take, nor is arriving a table of guests with a defensive stance and escalating a situation, that did not have any complaints, into a mountain it was not was off putting and she should rethink her strategy in dealing with patrons.

it has been a few weeks and I am still shocked by her behaviour. I’d recommend training for this young manager. Thoroughly bothered and...