El Gaucho Porto de Phuket — Restaurant in Choeng Thale

Me and my girlfriend went to this place on our last day (unfortunately) in Phuket, on Google it says they are open from 11:00 so we arrived just before 14:00 but outside was a paper that was taped over the sign with the opening hours and the new time was 15:00 :-( When we came back to our hotel we checked their homepage and there was the correct opening hours.

We came back later in the evening and were greeted by the most amazing Slovakien host (or maybe you were the manager?) We ordered the "filet platter" to share and the wagyu filet 9+ on that platter was the best we ever had. The complimentary bread that you get is really good.

We will be back in the end of januari for a big piece of wagyu and many...

The service was great, and so was the ambience of the restaurant.

However, the steak was extremely disappointing. I've had my fair share of steaks at this price point but this was possibly the worst steak I've ever had.

We ordered the Japanese wagyu striploin and ribeye. Both were cloyingly oily with not much flavour (be it the taste of meat or the grilled aroma, both were missing). Tasted like the steak had an oil bath.

The bread starter was probably the star of the night. Along with the truffle mashed potato and mac and cheese sides that were decent.

We paid about 6,909THB (approx US$220) for 2 steaks, 1 glass of wine and 2 tiny sides.

Pretty disappointing for a place that is meant to be...

Ok, so my steak was great (Ribeye), but hubby's was average not that tender (filet). The setting is good in Porto Phuket and even better once playground re-opens as you can see your kids from the outside table if they play there. The service was good, but the issue is the price - it really is expensive to eat there. We took advantage of the 50% off steak deal but would struggle to justify at full price as found it expensive even with the offer (see receipt photo). Sides were good but they didn't have a few available, and these add up too as the steak doesn't come with anything so ever item is extra.

Basically, good steaks but...