Spencer Williams, Contributor

Gaucho's Grill is high up on my 'best restaurant ambience in Kingston' list. Set back from South Avenue, it is hidden from the public eye behind earth-toned walls with mango trees towering over them. You might be fooled into thinking that you're out of town while sitting in lovely wooden chairs, around tables made from the same material. The furniture is a bit like what you would find in a country garden catalogue, only the tatty and ageing umbrellas need changing yesterday - come on they can't be that expensive!

You can expect to hear the occasional honk of a horn and roaring engine at lunch time, but it's when night falls that it's the real winner. The romantic tranqui-lity lingering in the air can almost be smelled, and when the food is not completely up to scratch you might almost forgive them!

Beautiful Ambience

Before you even enter the premises you can hear the water cascading out of clay pots into the pool. It's the main feature of the decor, with a bridge across the middle that you actually walk over to get from the covered part of the restaurant to the fully alfresco side! In the day you are hit by the gorgeous vegetation of ostrich feather palms, the 'sun' and 'moon' ornamentals and the potted plants on the walls. At night it's the bamboo-like lanterns that get you, and there's something about listening to running water when it's dark outside - truly magical.

Whether you are there as a couple or in a group, the experience will take you to the 'countryside' if you're not in too much of a hurry (if you get my meaning). Even when at full capacity, the tables arefar enough apart so that you don't feel as if people are listening to your conversation, and you can maintain a certain amount of privacy if you are dining à deux.

It's a bit of a shame that the car park and walkway into the restaurant don't do justice to what you'll find inside the surrounding stockade. If Gaucho's were unknown to me, there'd be little to entice me once driving in there. I'd turn right back around and find somewhere else to eat! Perhaps more of the same flower pots, vegetation and a few lanterns would persuade a visitor that this is somewhere worth trying.

The one corner though that really does spoil the whole experience is the restrooms. The owner, the manager and all the staff ought to be ashamed. The floors are grubby and the walls are pitiful - a paint job and some mopping are needed desperately! The toilet paper rolls are rarely on their holders and you can't even shut yourself into the cubicles properly, due to the broken locks. Ladies, you had better just pray that no one tries to walk in on you. You know it is fine for us men, but the embarrassment for women when an unannounced stranger pushes into your toilet, I understand, is no picnic. You're sitting there doing your business and suddenly you see the door coming towards you. You want to get up and stop them but all you are able to do is cry out, "No, someone's in here!" Alas, it is always too late!

But perhaps you won't grouch about this water closet incident the minute you walk past the rather lovely water fountain feature in the courtyard between the bathrooms and the main section!

Gaucho's Grill, 20A South

Avenue, Kingston 10.

Telephone: 754-1380

Open Mondays-Saturdays for

lunch and dinner. Closed on

Sundays.

Look to spend: $150 on a small soup, about $400 on burgers and sandwiches, about $500 on starts, and about $1000 on a main course.

Before you even enter the premises you can hear the water cascading out of clay pots into the pool. It's the main featureof the decor, with a bridge across the middle that you actually walk over to get from the covered part of the restaurant to the fully alfresco side!