Gaucho Tower Bridge — Restaurant in London

Dined in 3 January 2024 for a birthday date

When you see £££ believe it!! I knew it was pricy, but whew, I was not expecting that!!

As soon as we walked in and saw the dining area, we felt under-dressed for how fancy the setting looked. But, as we walked in, we saw others in sweaters and sneakers.

There is a free coat check by the receptionist before you are shown to your seat. She then walks you to your seat and provides the menu before your waitstaff greets you.

The view of the bridge lighting up the night from inside is nice if you get a seat near the windows. Our table was more located in the center of the restaurant, but we were still able to have an okay view.

Our server was Alessio. He asked for our drinks order: 1x glass of wine, 1x virgin pina colada, and later 1x virgin mojito, then when he returned, he asked if we plan on having steaks. Once I responded yes, he quickly disappeared...I was so confused before he popped back out with a tray of various cuts of steak (see attached image). He then proceeds to explain each cut and recommended pairings. After explaining, he disappears again, assumingly this time to take the tray back. He returned shortly afterward and took our dinner order.

We ordered two cuts of churrasco Lomo (we actually wanted the ribeye steak, but I guess he heard otherwise. We didn't fuss). The steak was ahhhmazing!! One steak, for the birthday boy, was topped with a half grilled lobster (yes, grilled lobster is listed on the menu as a "topping"), mashed potatoes, and mac & cheese. The other steak was accompanied by roasted vegetables. I'm not sure what type of vegetables were all there, but a few cubes were not pleasing to taste. The carrots, beet, and potato were good, though.

Minus the unknown vegetables, the food was great. The setting was great. There were two other parties there celebrating a birthday as well. I planned on having cake or some other dessert to celebrate, but we were entirely too full to even consider it. We didn't even finish our food and had to take some to-go.

After we were done eating and decided we did not want dessert, I asked for the bill fully expecting mid-£100s, but was taken aback when I saw the actual amount. Keep in mind, too, 12.50% gratuity was also added. I'm used to automatic gratuity being added for parties of 5 or more, not for 2 people. Wow.

Anyway, I paid and we left.

Since we were there to celebrate a birthday, I was okay with the cost as I know it would be thee only time I went there.

I would recommend trying it for a one-time experience, but I'm sure you can get similar food and experience somewhere else for a...

We chose Gaucho Tower Bridge to celebrate my wife 40th birthday – a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Our reservation was for 17 July 2025 at 20:00 (Confirmation #: 2110381385) and we were joined by our young son to mark the occasion as a family.

At the time of booking, I wrote a polite note asking if the restaurant could help make the evening special – something small, like a birthday dessert or a candle. We weren’t expecting anything extravagant – just a little warmth, some recognition of the occasion, a kind word from the staff.

But absolutely nothing happened. No mention of the birthday, no greeting, no gesture, no acknowledgment from the team. Not even a smile that would suggest they’d read the message.

It was just a regular dinner, at a high-end price point, with service that felt distant and cold. For a restaurant that promotes itself as a place for celebrations and elevated experiences, this was a huge disappointment.

You had a simple opportunity to turn a family dinner into something memorable – but instead, you made it forgettable. Sadly, we left feeling deflated and regretful that we chose Gaucho for this important night.

We won’t be returning – and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone looking to mark a special occasion.

P.S. to the restaurant's response :

Thank you for your response, Mr. Luca. However, I’m not looking for any kind of compensation – you can’t make up for lost moments and a ruined celebration. What I do hope is that my review serves as a warning and guidance for others who may consider Gaucho as the place to celebrate an important moment in their lives.

If you’re expecting a warm, thoughtful atmosphere and attentive service for a special occasion, there’s unfortunately a high chance you’ll be met with indifference and leave feeling disappointed – as we did.

One more thing: when a high service charge is automatically added to the bill, it creates a clear expectation of equally high standards of care. In our case, this felt unfair – we were charged for service that simply wasn’t there.

We won’t be returning to Gaucho, and I won’t recommend it to anyone. Yes, the food and drinks were tasty, but that’s only one part of the experience. The most important part – how guests are treated – is sorely lacking here.

Mr. Luca, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and do some serious work on what truly makes a place memorable.

Best regards to all...

I have heard about Gaucho from anyone and everyone but finally got a chance to visit the London Bridge branch for dinner.

We were after steak. Gaucho is KNOWN for Argentinian style steak and this brand serves halal steak. All four in the party ordered steak and my three sidekicks went uncouth with the medium steak whereas I stayed true with medium rare.

Please forget the old ‘bloody’, ‘raw’ meat as modern butchery and meat methods mean that meat is cured and aged nowadays for considerable times. This reduces the water/blood content and much of the protein matures and develops deeper flavour as the natural msg content increase through this method. Once cooked, the meat is rested for a long period to allow the moistures to reabsorb into the meat fibres. This all means that the meat requires less cooking to be the perfect texture to enjoy. Order medium rare and taste what you have been missing.

My fellow diners and I eat in a sharing style. We ordered the Burata salad - very delicious with the fresh creamy cheese and the fresh salad. We went for the truffle arancini, these were crispy and light on the outside while being rich, cheesy, moist and truffly goodness on the inside. There was also the prawns in a fresh tomato sauce and garlic bread, although quite simple, the prawns were good quality, well cooked and elevated the dish with a punchy piece of garlic bread. Finally, we had ordered the fresh bread which was excellent and a must for any dinner.

For mains, we all went for steak, me with medium rare and the others with the medium. We went for a few sides including the amazing chips (must order), the broccoli (to help balance the richness of the meat, Mac and cheese (very good), garlic mushrooms (very good), béarnaise sauce (excellent), creamy mashed potato (yum!) and we tried the humita (too rich).

The medium steak was felt to be a bit chewy all around. My medium rare was really good BUT all the steaks could have done with a bit of trimming. The meat was good but I would probably order one steak to share between two.

All in the food was very good but the waiter was very friendly, welcoming and helped make the evening memorable. Great good in a lovely location on the...