Gaucho Grill West Covina — Restaurant in West Covina

We came here recently for a DineLA date night. After reading all the 4 star reviews we had high hope for this place. Unfortunately, our experience was just okay.

We made reservations for 7pm but we arrived early at 6:30pm. They seated us promptly. We were offered complimentary bread with 2 dipping sauces. For drinks we ordered the Smoky old fashion and a virgin strawberry basil margarita. Both drinks did not meet expectations. We ordered the smoky old fashion for the presentation. They bring it out to you in a box covered in smoke. The waiter who brought it out didn't even bother to get our attention when he arrived at our table and just took it out of the box. We missed the whole presentation. When he saw that we wanted to take a video, he just put it back in and took it back out quickly but by that time the smoke was already gone. If we didn't care for the presentation we would have ordered the regular old fashion and saved a dollar. The old fashion taste wise had no smoke taste. The margarita was unacceptable too. It had a light salty taste. There was absolutely no sugar or syrup. Not sweet at all. I didn't even end up drinking half of it.

For the DineLA it was a 3 course meal for $55/person. Came with appetizer, entrée and dessert. For appetizers we ordered the shrimp empanada and the prawn and palms. The shrimp empanada was crispy and decent amount of filling. The sauce that it came with was good. The prawn and palms was a creamy mixture of shrimp, avocado and artichoke. It was overall good, flavor was more on the lighter side.

For the meal we ordered the 45 oz Tomahawk Ribeye (which was a $10 upgrade/person from the regular DineLA menu and required 2 people to upgrade together). It came with 2 sides so we opted for the cream corn and the potatoes. The steak and the sides came out at the same time. Really great presentation made the steak look ginormous. The only down side was I'd wish they'd bring it back and slice it for us. It was a little hard to slice it on the plate while the bone was hanging. But the tomahawk was very very tender so that made it easier to handle/slice. It was cooked perfectly to medium rare. However, it lacked flavor. We had to use salt and the sauce that it came with to substitute for flavor. Was expecting a bit more for such an expensive piece of steak. The cream corn side was delicious. Very sweet. Make sure you get this. The potatoes on the other hand were a downer. The potatoes had absolutely no flavor. It looked like it was just boiled and served and topped with bacon bits but even the bacon bits couldn't help the flavor. We told the waitress and she was very happy to exchange it for us which was nice of her. We opted next for the mushrooms but it also lacked flavor. We added a bunch of salt and mixed it with the sauces to give it more flavor. I'm new to Argentinian food so I'm not sure it was made bland on purpose?

Last that came with the meal was dessert. We both ordered the Ice Cream tasting flight which included home made chocolate banana and dulce de leche flavor. The ice cream was very smooth. The chocolate banana did not taste as it's flavor. It tasted more like vanilla with a hint of caramel. But it tasted good. I liked this flavor more than the dulce de leche. That had a strong caramel taste which was a bit too sweet for me. With tax and tips our bill came out to just under $200. So for such an expensive meal I had higher expectations. Hoping they can improve.

Service was great. They sat us in a back corner table away from everybody but our waitress still came over every so often to check on us. Minus the guys who brought the smokey drink. They are located next to the mall so there is...

Party of 2, on Saturday, 4/17 around 4:45 pm we went to Gaucho Grill West Covina with no reservations. We were told from the 3 hostesses they were not accepting any walk-up customers; they were completely booked and could seat us after 9:30 pm that evening. We decided to order to go and sat on the bench right beside the hostess station as we waited. The hostess encouraged us to have a drink while we wait but after we ordered it told us we would have to drink it in our car while we waited- WHAT? Is that even legal? So, we said not to the drink. Four other party of two with no reservations came and were told the same thing BUT when a party of 6 came it was different. We clearly heard the husband and wife BOTH say they had NO reservations and wanted to sit inside- 2 of the hostesses explained – no walk up, can seat you after 9:30 pm. BUT one hostess went inside the restaurant then came out- walked to the parking lot were this party of 6 was and sat them inside. We asked, “why did you seat them and not us?” She lies to our face saying they had a reservation- we said, “no they didn’t we are sitting right here- we heard them both say they didn’t have a reservation”. She goes inside and the head hostess comes out and tells us some BS story that we were confused this group had a reservation. OK – what ever we let it go and waited for our to go order. THEN another party of 7 comes forward- AGAIN we hear them say NO WE DO NOT HAVE A RESERVATION, the manager told them to wait. He goes and talks to the head hostess- we clearly see her talking about us. She then goes out to the parking lot and seats the party of 7. Remember we are sitting right there- we can see and hear every word; we saw only a party of three left the restaurant while we have been waiting. We have been sitting there for about 45 min waiting so we asked to cancel our order and said this wasn’t right what they were doing. One hostess ran inside, and the manager and head hostess come out and the manager says, “come in I have a table for you I can seat you”. We said NO and left. We understand Covid restrictions – we clearly saw they had many outside empty tables and as we waited for almost 50 min, we NEVER saw them fill up with “reservations”. They were holding them for larger parties, I guess. THIS IS A SCAM. Only after we canceled our order did they suddenly have a table for 2. We supported this place during covid and were frequent customers before as well. I don’t know if this is a new manager or new policy, but we will NOT be back. We went around the corner- were seated in 15 min. and had a wonderful meal somewhere else. It is NOT good customer service to LIE TO A CUSTOMERS FACE GOUCH GRILL-...

In my country, we have many wonderful Argentinean Steak Restaurants. The taste and smell of a good steak is something that you keep in your memories. Of course we always know that to indulge is expensive, but it is worth it. However, the memory I will keep of this restaurant will be like a nightmare. The meat, which if it is true that one of them was ordered well done, did not mean that it was tough and burnt. The other two dishes which were medium rare, but I can't say they had any flavor either unless it was the butter flavor they put on everything. The best part was the bread, I guess. The waitress seemed impatient and distracted and was in a hurry the whole time. But the worst was when we were just finishing. Suddenly three gentlemen came in and one of them seemed to be a manager, as he was Argentinean and not in uniform. Without asking us if we had finished or not, they started to clean the table. But not in the way they ask if you would like something else? can I take your plate away? No, they did it in a way that seemed to indicate that we had to leave because they needed the table. At no time did they make eye contact and politely ask. No, they moved with indifference because they were in a hurry. Then without my asking for the check, the waitress came and asked for my card. She returned without seeing me, gave me the bill and said without pausing, the tip is already included and not in a small amount considering the bad service. In other words, they assigned a tip amount without asking if you liked the service or not. Since I was inviting a visitor, I just signed and I didn't want to object. When I saw the bill it was disappointing, the price for three orders was what a plane ticket would cost. Price that might be adequate if at least the service and quality of the food was incredible. I think the food at Norms is better in this case if we compare the taste of the food and most likely the service is nicer. I will better try just to remember the Argentinians restaurants in my country. By the way, I forgot to mention that in the menu, each item has a number. I thought it was the serial number because it has no dollar sign. But as far as I can see in my receipt, it is the price of each dish. It seems to me that not putting the dollar sign next to the number is a...