Santa Monica Promenade - Gaucho Grill

I met up with a couple of my west coast colleagues for a dinner at Gaucho Grill on the Promenade. I think it's supposed to be an Argentinian restaurant? The place was practically empty, which didn't seem to be the best sign. The place is fairly large and attractively decorated.J ordered an appetizer. It looks like an empanada, but I totally forget what it was. But I do remember it being good.
She also ordered the salmon entree. It was grilled with a sweet cherry tomato sauce and served with spinach and rice. She liked this very much.
To continue on the salmon slant, S ordered the grilled salmon salad. It was a huge portion served with a garlic vinaigrette. She liked this, but felt that the greens got soggy too quickly with the hot salmon and other warm ingredients being heaped on it.As for me, I was the lone non-salmon person, ordering the cuban chicken paillar. It was basically a giant flattened chicken breast with grilled onions. Simple yet tasty. I really loved the rice as well. The beans were ok. Overall, good food and good company. I'm not sure why this place was so deserted. It wasn't great, but it was perfectly good, affordable, and had good service.