Bertrand (7 December 2008)

This is a place where more fat is what you get! We all know that the meat at whichever Gauchos restaurant you go to is good. Tonight, I tried the one in Beethovenstraat in Amsterdam. As expected the meat was good, the problem was ‘how much meat?’ Four of us took the same kind of meat, but different quantities. At least that was the idea. 400, 300 and 225 grams were ordered, and of course different prices were charged. Now, throughout the meal as each of us ate his/her meat, each of us started removing pieces of fat surrounding the meat. Fat, to be clear, is not meat and should not be eaten, and therefore should not be sold, or charged for to customers. In this Gaucho, fat has its value. It is part of the ‘steak’ you order, as the owner of the establishment gladly argued. The more meat you order, the more fat you get; way more fat. We tried, with no luck, to explain this to the owner who refused to understand, that charging more money to a customer for more fat around their meat when in fact what they were hoping for was more meat was simply not right. After a good ten minutes of begging her to understand, we were not even looking for a refund, but simply for an apology, we gave up. The Gauchos have suffered tonight from poor management, and obvious dishonesty. You need to keep in mind that a steak of 400 grams has as much meat as a 225 gram steak, why pay more then if what you get extra is fat? PS, the service was extremely slow.