Gaucho Parrilla Argentina — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

4.5 stars ... near perfect. Loved the food! The only small tiny item was cleanliness.. I think the wait is worth it considering how good the food is!

Honestly, I can see why it is so highly rated and super popular. I arrived on a weekday at 6 pm and though there was a line inside the restaurant, that line kept growing and growing outside on the sidewalk. This place is completely deserving of all the success cause it does Argentinian grilled meat so damn well. Great thing about this place ... it shows love to all your vegetarian and vegan friends too so they don't feel left out. Though you could look at them with pity for not enjoying the buttery tender bites of rib eye.

It's a fast casual dining style where you line up first cafeteria style, place and pay for your drink and meal orders upfront, and then be seated by the restaurant. Our wait in the line was only 15 minutes when we first waited just inside the door. Quite reasonable seeing how busy the place is. The menu is a huge chalkboard offering everything your carnivorous friends could ever dream. Prices here are so affordable that I had to double check ... grilled small ribeye for $15 only? Oh heck yeah.

The dining space is loud but not unreasonable and it's a vibrant, simple with a slightly rustic charm, and fairly clean. Tables are a bit sticky ... so just be aware of what you're sitting on or putting your hands on. Bathrooms are not bad but certainly could use a bit of a cleaning too.

Chimmi, Ajo (garlic), pimenton (pepper), and cebolla (onion) - it should be said that no bite should be empty of any of these sauces. They're addicting and I am so tempted to bring it back with my over the border. Chimmi was bright vegetal parsley notes with the right acidic punch with good heat. Ajo was a milder garlic than anticipated... think roasted garlic. Pimenton was my favourite because it was roasted pepper sweet with an amazing smokey note. Cebolla was a nice sweet onion note. 5+/5

Chorizo - juicy, tender, meaty, and had a nice heat kick. Probably one of the better chorizos I've had in a while. I'm normally not a sausage lover on any type but this has me rethinking how I've ignored this on other menus. For only $8, you got a nice medium sized plate and no its not enough to share but you could always try to steal a piece. 5/5

Rib eye - cooked medium (though we asked for medium rare), this grilled steak was very good. Nice beefy flavour while still being tender ... probably my favourite cut and gaucho did it so well even being medium. Add on the sauces and it's one of my favourite steaks of the year by far. The fact its only $15 blows my mind. 5/5

Empanda (veg) - for only $3, you get a browned pastry filled with corn, peas, and pepper. Without the sauces it's ok ... soft doughy crust cover a decent helping of veg. I'd probably try something else next time 3.5/5 with the sauces

Argentino salad - generous helping of grilled vegetables and some avocados over a leafy salad. I really loved how this salad was .. lots of smokey tender grilled vegetables. Each bite was different and always flavourful. 4/5

Grilled vegetables - I didn't realize the same vegetables in this dish was on the Argentino salad! Oops... still good as it just let me enjoy more grilled veg for my dinner while being so ridiculously affordable. $7 for a good medium sized plate of tender smokey grills veg? Yes please! 4/5

Blueberry and peach bread pudding - hot from the oven, this bread pudding can be quite good. Custard soaked pieces of chopped bread embedded with juicy bursting blueberries and peach slices. The bread on the top just crisped up from the oven offering a nice sugary crunch to the creamy custard bread. 4/5

For the price we paid, I was pleasantly shocked on how good everything was. Quickly served and oh so good... there's tons of the things on the menu to try and as long as you got those 4 sauces, nothing can be less than good. I gotta find a way to bring this...

I'd like to start by saying how much we were looking forward to eating there. We traveled to Pittsburgh for business and this was the restaurant we most looked forward to eating at. We made a reservation late, and so part of the experience's shortcoming is on us. But, we arrived for our 7:45 reservation four minutes early. When we walked in, we were excited to be able to eat there, the vibe downstairs is amazing. The host was friendly and pleasant and we were off to be seated. We walked up the stairs and saw the bar area and the few tables in the area. Most were empty when we walked up there. We were then sat at what can probably only be described as literally the worst table in the restaurant, the one behind the staircase (service elevator?) and up against a black wall against the railings on the other. Like I said, attributed this to making a late reservation and had this been the only disappointment I wouldn't have cared. The server approached us and he was very friendly and helpful. We ordered drinks and they arrived no later than 8:10. We placed our orders for the shrimp appetizer, two steaks and the wood fired cabbage because we had never seen anything like it. As the tables in the upstairs bar area filled out shrimp arrived, probably around 8:25 to 8:30. They were amazing, the server had told us they were the best in Pittsburgh and they truly were great. Then we sat, and sat, and sat, on two occasions the server approached us to reassure us that our food would be coming. I watch the other tables in the bar area receiving their orders though they had been seated, some of them 10 to 15 minutes after us, while wondering where our order was. At 9:15 I told my partner that if the food didn't arrive by 9:20 I was going to ask for the check and we'd leave. With about a minute to spare, the food arrived. I'll be honest, the food was amazing, truly special. But an hour wait AFTER the appetizer, is a long time. The server was friendly when he came to see if we wanted to order any dessert, but we were full and wanted to leave. I guess, when you spend over $100 a person and the table is less than good, and the service is even worse, it doesn't matter how good the food is, it's very difficult to give more than three stars, even...

My boyfriend and my daughter brought me here for mother's day 2023. We also had our 6 month old as well. When I first arrived the women at the front greeted me with so much love. They looked great and even complimented me as well. Once we got seated everything changed. The fireplace was on and it was burning up. If you live in Pittsburgh you know just how warm it was this past mother's day. My baby was so uncomfortable we didn't stay long at all. I had been planning to come here for the longest so when my family surprised me I just knew it would be nothing short of amazing. However it wasn't. Our server tried his best but his spheel was so rehearsed it didn't feel genuine. He took a table right next to us and repeated the same exact things he said to our table. There was no connection with him at all. The appetizers were ok. For our entrees we ordered steak( which is what they are known for), a burger for my daughter, and branzino for myself. My daughter's burger was dry and over cooked. My boyfriend's steak was to be medium well and it was also over cooked and way too charred. My fish is what really disappointed me. I am a foodie and an actual chef. I work in this industry so I truly understand how crazy business can get on holidays but this was no excuse. I posted a picture of my fish. It was a complete disaster. Stuffed with lemon and herbs and sprinkled with bread crumbs. I didn't like it at all. It wasn't properly executed. I had just ordered a delicious meal with branzino just a few weeks ago in NYC at Serafina's. It was so exquisite!!!! I just knew Gauchos would get it right also but they didn't. . Over all I am truly saddened by this experience and will never be back to this restaurant. We spent over 200.00 and we were cheated out of what could have been a delightful mother's day dinner. I usually complain if I have to but I didn't this time. We ate our food, tipped our server and left. I hope the owners see this and make some changes on this fish entree it's horrible. If I could make a suggestion it would be to revamp that dish and take off the sprinkled bread crumbs it didn't taste good and it...