El Gauchito 1 — Restaurant in New York

A gem in the middle of queens! I’ve been to several Argentinian steakhouses in NY and this is by far my favorite. In fact, it is the only one I would recommend to anyone. The food is fresh, hot, authentic, juicy, and flavorful. The atmosphere is warm, cozy, and full of Argentinian mementos. The restaurant is split up into two sides and the back of the side of the entrance is a small area where you can purchase fresh meat and other Argentine items (Argentine mate bags, hats, tshirts, candy, etc).

The other side is fully decorated with souvenirs from different Argentinian provinces. There are also painted tiles around the perimeter of the room of famous Argentinian people. If you are Argentinian or have been to Argentina, you’d likely feel at home in this restaurant. The waiters are friendly, speak Spanish, and give you space/time to enjoy your meal.

The menu is beautifully hand drawn and there are many authentic Argentine food options available. Even though this place specializes in meat, there are many vegetarian options available.

We ordered the beef milanesa with onion and cheese, the complete parrillada for one person (which came with fries and a mixed salad), and a sifón. Having been to Argentina, one of the things I missed most about Argentina was the sifón. I love a good carbonated water and the sifón has the strongest carbonation I’ve ever had due to the strong bottle material. I couldn’t believe that it was on the menu and I had to order it. Truth be told, it was fun having sifón in NY but it was not the same as the sifón in Argentina. The carbonation was not as strong and was perhaps as weak as some sparkling waters.

But, before our food arrived, we were given (on the house!) warm bread with butter and chimichurri sauce on the side as well as this tomato, ham, and cheese in a green sauce as appetizer. The bread was fresh and tasted great with the chimichurri sauce. The chimichurri was tart (but not overly so), herby, and went with everything (you’d best believe I put it on everything we had to eat!). The green sauce on the tomato, ham, and cheese plate was similar in taste to the chimichurri but it was less tart due to the addition of oil and was even more addicting.

I believe the green sauce in the appetizer was the same green sauce used in the salad so obviously the salad tasted amazing. The salad had very fresh ingredients and these ingredients are all part of classic authentic Argentine salads. As the sides, the fries were perfectly crispy on the outside and fluffy inside (my favorite kind of fry!).

The onion and cheese beef milanesa was good and would pass in Argentina. The beef cutlets were covered in cheese and there were actually two layers of beef cutlet. The beef cutlets could have been made a little thinner but were a good thickness nonetheless. The beef cutlets were tender and not chewy at all. The onion flavor was very strong and perfect for anyone who loves onion.

The star of the meal was the parrillada. It had a piece of everything including entraña (skirt), tira de asado (ribs), mollejas (sweetbread), kidney, and several types of chorizo. All of the meats were juicy and cooked well (not overdone but also not uncooked). They retained a nice meat flavor without tasting like a cow. I will say there was a little too much choziro and not enough meat but I’ll forgive it because everything was so good. The chorizo was very flavorful and a little crispy. Also the meats were on a little bbq that kept everything nice and hot. Meat that is hot tastes 100 times better than meat that is cold and this bbq kept everything hot (not just warm but hot) for the entire meal. In fact, after I cut up pieces of chorizo, I would put them back on the bbq so they would sear a little bit. Also, included in the paradilla was several pieces of pickled cauliflower and peppers. The sourness of the pickled vegetables and the pieces of lightly salted meat was heavenly.

Due to this lengthy highly positive review, I now know that google has a character limit. If you don’t know by now, I highly...

I went to have a "parrillada" with my family this past Sunday because the other Argentinian restaurant Boca Juniors was closed ,,,we sat down and we order, 2 meat empanadas for starter, a parrillada for 2 and a kid menu which consisted in chicken cutlet and mashed potatoes. After a relative short wait we got the empanadas, but instead of meat they brought us chicken, we send them back , we then received the meat empanadas ( ICE COLD),we didn't complaint since I have been a customer to this place since 2003,,finally the food arrived, my kid got fries instead of the mashed potatoes,we send it back,,,when we started to eat my wife noticed the meat was so raw that was almost impossible to cut it, the kidneys , sweetbreads and chorizo where so raw that where bleeding!!,Im from Argentina and a very avid at the grill, and I know How dangerous could be to eat raw kidneys and sweetbread!!, not to mention the sausage, I called the waiter and far for creating a scene my intention was to point the "chef??" on the dangerous of serving this kind of staples Raw to the public!!, before we left the place to NEVER come back I have a little chat to the owner and his son who far for worried about my awful experience eating meat dipped in grease he was more worried about if I were still want to take home a dozen of empanadas I told him I was planing to take to Connecticut in my way out, off course I say I don't want to take any more chances with this greasy place and we left. At the moment we were there , there were like 5 tables with customers so is not that there were crazy busy,,, Chau Gauchito!! you have seen better times in the past, for me is a Never Go Back Place You have been...

My family has been going there for decades but the service and the meat quality has been declining for a while. This past Sunday was the last straw. This place has 2 sections a restaurant side and the butcher side with seating that looks more casual like a deli. I've never seen anyone eat on the butcher side until yesterday. My mom wanted to go for her birthday yesterday, there were 3 of us and we were told we could not sit in the restaurant despite several empty tables. I've only sat in the restaurant my entire life, my mom as well. I told the waiter I wanted to wait for the restaurant side then he brings out then the owners son. A condescending, rude and pushy little man that just looks like an annoying prick. He came out pushy AF and called us guys(3 women) and said the tables available are only for large parties. So we sat on the butcher side for the first and last time. Ordered molleja, morcilla and entrana. The only reason to come here is the molleja, morcilla, and chimichurri. I've had better beef from other places. The entrana was kind of tuff and salty. We had Sangria which was ok but I've had better. The molleja was good this time, it can be hit or miss with their molleja sometimes it's salty and burned. The sides are pretty plain and lackluster, green salad, mashed potato and maduros. Had flan and coffee for dessert and the waitstaff sang happy birthday to my mom. So now I'm done with this place and found a few Argentinian spots to try in Manhattan, NJ,...