1 /5 Sadie Stringer: Id like to start off by saying that the server who ended up taking care of us was very nice and accommodating. Aside from her, this was a dining nightmare, here are the main points. The first server to come to the table greeted us, I asked for waters for myself, my friend, and if she could bring some sort of to-go bowl with water for my dog. She returns with 2 waters in 6 oz plastic cups reminiscent of the cups youd see at a water cooler, along with an empty to-go container. My friend and I both assume this was the set up for the dog, so we pour the water from the small cups into the to-go bowl on the ground. When I ask what the seasonal beer is, she can only tell me the name of the brewery and nothing else, I order a beer at 4:20 pm. At 4:30 a second server comes over and greets us as if weve just been sat, this is the server who ended up taking over our table, we tell her weve placed a drink order with the first server. At 4:35pm, one of the bartenders comes over and greets our table. I say we ordered from the first girl, he confirmed my beer order and then walks back in to the bar. At 4:50 our now server ( the second woman who greeted us), brings over a very dead beer that had clearly been sitting a while, and takes our food order. She does apologize for the waters we were initially given and brings us actual glassware with water.
It took 30 minutes to get one beer.
I order the lobster roll, my friend orders a hamburger cooked to medium. Now, given that this was on Labor Day, I assumed the food would take a little while. It took less time for us to get our food than it took for me to get the one beer. When our food does come out, my friends burger is beyond well done; practically burnt and beyond dry.
My lobster roll is pitifully small, served in what looked like a grocery store hot dog bun that is so burnt on the bottom its entirely charred, and rock solid. For $30, there was only 4 oz of lobster mix. The portion of fries outweighed the lobster roll, the sprig of parsley was half the size of the lobster roll. I also notified the kitchen of my food allergy, it was disregarded and still served with the allergen.
Both of our dishes were also bland.
Throughout the meal, as other staff would bus tables, theyd throw the remaining liquid in glasses over my shoulder, into the bushes next to our table. Disgusting.
I did ask to speak to the manager and explained the many many issues, when he offered to buy us dessert I said that we were ready to leave and to do what he thinks is the right thing to do for our bill. He offers then to buy the beer I ordered.
10 minutes go by and the manager returns with a new beer. I tell him, again, that wed like to leave and did not want this. He says hell comp both off our check. 10 more minutes go by before we see our server and ask her to bring us our separate checks. The manager interrupts her splitting the checks and instead presents one check to us, prompting us to pay even though we asked again for a split bill. We paid and left, I made sure to still tip the server since other peoples incompetencies arent her fault.
The overall attitude from the management is apathetic, as if they believe because theyre bound to get tourists due to their location they dont have to work hard or take any pride in what theyre doing. Ive been in the service industry for over a decade, that is a terrible attitude to have. I live in Long Beach and will not be going back. There are so many other great restaurants that going to Gaucho Beach again would be a waste of money. It was a waste of money to go there in the first place.
