Gaucho Grill Buena Park — Restaurant in Buena Park

Update 1/5/24 Sent them an email due to their response and got nothing in reply. Go to in and out. Friends said Pasadena sucks too. LOL.

Beware. I made reservations as my friends and I have wanted to try this place. It looks good inside but that's it. The service and food are not good! They're hiding real complaints/honest reviews with fake accounts it may seem. Shame on them for not taking the opportunities to address issues and improve.

My friend said we should have gone to Shakeys instead as his t-bone porter housep was thin, grey and flimsy. He felt it was like a Dennys quality steak. My other friend said not to disrespect Dennys like that... LOL.

Service: The waitress always took a while, although it doesn't seem too busy. But overall she was nice. Food took forever! Just everything took forever. Guess they're on Argentinian time???

I walk in and the host stand is empty. The bartender/maybe owner was just hanging with his friends. Tisk, maybe help your staff/team.

A waitress finally helps seat us. We are seated at a table with slightly broken and very uncomfortable cheap chairs. We switch chairs from another table and the chair is even worse. The handle is not attached to The seat. Uh, isn't this a newish restaurant? We continue despite these little issues... Drinks: Draft beer was cold. 3 canned IPAs were barely cold/room temp. Luckily my friend enjoyed them but wished they were colder. Bartender was hanging with friends it seems and also took forever to get our lukewarm beers. Waitress is trying her best and got it for us.

Waitress had brought out wine bottles I assumed refilled with water. It tasted bad. I asked for a new water and waitress was kind enough to bring a new glass and bottles. It tasted ok. But yuck on gross water for a "nice" restaurant. This shouldn't be an issue. I don't usually complain I just deal but I couldn't drink the water without being grossed out.

Food: Empanada: beef and Al pastor.. waitress recommended the empanadas as appetizers. In fairness the two we got were very good. Exterior was crispy. Interiors was flavorful.

I ordered their short ribs - 3 ribs and a side salad. Food takes forever. I am delivered 4 ribs and was so excited to be given one extra after our long wait... Only to try to cut the driest, hard, no flavor, almost jerky short ribs in my life. I usually eat everything and dislike complaining but I couldn't do it. My friends tried and all agreed not worth eating. During this time my friend finished his meh steak and finally the waitress showed, asked how we were doing, and I told her. I explained I'll buy the one rib but I can't eat this. She was kind and took it off my bill but then she disappeared most of the rest of the meal.

My friends picanha steak came with two sides. It was juicy but we all agreed it had no flavor. Looks good but was mid.

My other friend ordered their t-bone porterhouse and it was about 2 cm thin and floppy/grey. He ate it and said it was ok but really the thinnest saddest porterhouse I've seen. We've had better at Outback.

The sides: mushrooms and the gaucho salad were decent. Free bread and sauce were ok. The waitress, of all the sides, recommended fries. Now I understand why.

Also, I asked for any creamy dressing for the salad and fries. I never got it. This was before I returned the food. She had rushed off taking my food and I never got to ask her again for the sauce. Oh well. I enjoyed the salad and mushrooms and ate some of my friends food.

Anyways, what a a disappointing experience. It is so sad to have such a good location, nice decor, a cute market in front, but the food and service...

I came here with my family for my brother's birthday celebration and our server, Bryanna G, took great care of us. As first timers to the restaurant, she patiently explained to us the different meats and the differences between the portion sizes. If you order from their "From the Fire" menu, a La Carte is typically portioned for one person and the gaucho style comes with double the meat with a choice of two sides. The gaucho style is definitely worth it if you know what specific meats you want. Your first serving of complimentary bread is free so if you want more, it will cost you $4.00. You must dip it in their chimichurri sauce, it's amazing! They also have a bakery connected to the establishment so if you're too full to try out their desserts, you could always take some home. The prices are very fair and I'm happy that they don't overcharge just because it's part of the establishment. A great place for any special occasion. We will definitely be back!

|| L O C A T I O N / P A R K I N G || -Cross streets are Valley View and Orangethorpe Ave. -Plenty of parking located in the rear near the Motel 6 -Came on a Thursday evening and the lot was approx. 60% full.

|| F O O D / D R I N K S || Empanadas ($5.50/each) - Since it was recommended by fellow Yelpers to order their empanadas, we decided to get the short rib, al pastor, spinach & cheese, and beef. Our favorites were definitely the short rib and al pastor. Seeing that all are the same price, it's definitely worth getting those flavors that are not commonly found. Each is freshly baked to order and can be shared. We shared each empanada two ways and it was the perfect appetizer.

Mussels ($20.00) - Another great appetizer. The broth is best soaked with their gaucho bread which we ended up getting a second portion of. The broth has a strong garlic flavor.

Gaucho Bread ($4.00) - 1st serving is free. Additional servings are at a cost of $4.00. The chimichurri sauce is fantastic but we also loved dipping it in our mussel broth.

T-Bone /A la Carte ($48.00) - This was not included in the Meat Parrillada. We opted for medium rare and that was what was delivered. Meat was super tender.

Meat Parrillada ($135.00) - Great choice if you're with a large party and you want to try a variety of meats. We were able to split up each meat into four pieces so we could get a feel for our favorite cuts of meat. My favorites were the entrana, NY strip and tenderloin. My least favorite was the short rib as it was kind of tough. I've had better short ribs at kbbq spots.

Short Rib Pappardelle ($34.00) - The pappardelle was cooked to al dente just the way we liked it. Short rib was extremely tender.

Strawberry Basil Margarita ($16.00) - Beautiful presentation! It was quite tasty as well.

Smoked Old Fashioned ($18.00) - Comes out in a treasure chest. Props to our server for knowing that we would want a shot of this so she waited until we had our phones ready before opening the treasure chest. Super strong smoky flavor.

To make my brother's birthday celebration special, they brought out their banana bread pudding with candles. Unfortunately I couldn't taste the banana bread pudding as I'm allergic to bananas, but my family enjoyed it so much that I ended up getting some to go at...

Never again! Horrible experience! Food was not remotely tasty for almost anyone in our party. Service was so incredibly bad that we had to finally get up and get water to pour ourselves from the server station because the server never refilled our water the entire dinner and dessert! We're talking 2 hours of no offer for water! I even asked for them to refill the small water bottle on the table, which was never done.

Never having been to this establishment before, the server was asked what vegetables were in a dish. His response was, "The same vegetables that are in our appetizers." (like I should just know what they are). I had to tell him, I hasn't been there before rather than him just volunteering them. It was like pulling teeth to get him to do his job and provide good service. He then listed off two veggies and didn't seem quite confident that those were all of them or if they were right. He also didn't bother to point out that our tip was already charged because we were a group and instead let us discover the charge and then ask what this extra charge was. I got the impression he wanted to be sly and hoped we'd double tip him. Maybe this is why the service was so bad because he knew he had a built-in tip!

Also, the bread was placed on our table without us asking. We had a large party and not enough for the whole party, so when we asked for more bread, they asked if we wanted a half loaf or a whole and quoted us prices we had to pay. When one of our party asked why we weren't provided enough for the whole table, the response was that we had less people at the table when they placed the bread down (as our whole party hadn't arrived yet) so rather than adding more bread as we got more people, they just left us with the same limited amount of bread for half our table and then charged us $8 for more bread to give bread to the rest of our table. For a place that is gouging you for $18 for a veggie salad that is just lettuce and some basic veggies, I can't believe they can't put cheap bread on the table for free. Rip off!

Also, I made it very clear that I was trying to be sly and pay for a friends meal without them knowing. I even tried to pass the credit card behind my back to the server who said loudly, "I can't take that right now." He leaves the table and eventually comes back and with no tact at all, gets half the tables attention only to ask me outright, "Now you wanted to pay for her meal and whatelse?" so my friend then knew what I was trying to do and fought me on it, ruining the surprise. Wow! Never had a server be so out to lunch they can't handle taking a credit card discreetly.

The establishment was loud, so it was hard to talk. No sound absorption and also a musician blaring on his amplifier. He played nicely but just not a place to talk to people at your table at. The place has a nice look and that's about it. The chairs were very uncomfortable. They will only split a check three ways max. The manager was very friendly, so at least there is someone who knows how to provide customer service, just wish he'd train his...