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| - We went here after searching for good restaurants on Yelp near our hotel. Parking is easy, but the restaurant is located in an industrial area; a bit disconcerting given the type of fare offered.
First impressions: well, the menu taped to the window had a very large scary beetle-thing stuck between it and the glass window. And there were little dead tiny moths stuck to the tape. I was a bit alarmed (because the beetle is so obvious when you walk up that the staff not noticing it was scary), but since we were there with no other options, we went inside.
The other reviews about the decor were spot-on: a bit plain, but the lighting was nice.
My husband really enjoyed the meats. He probably tried about 12 of them. The hot salad bar was not for me; I don't eat meat so nothing in there really appealed to me, and although I did try the whitefish in curry sauce, it was inedible IMO.
Now, the fresh salad bar was very good. Not excellent, mind you, but very good, especially considering the type of food I'd been eating on this trip for the last few days. Other reviewers talked about the freshness of the salad bar, and I would agree with them that this restaurant needs a little more patronage so that the fresh stuff gets eaten quickly and more fresh stuff brought in. I definitely had the impression that some of the food was set out, brought back in and refrigerated, set out again, etc. In CA, we have random health inspections that rate restaurants on these issues, but unfortunately, PA doesn't seem to have these inspections posted. I imagine if this restaurant were in CA, the health grade on it would be a B.
However, despite these concerns, we did still enjoy a very nice meal. The owner came over and talked with us and was super friendly and I could tell how much of her heart was invested in her restaurant.
If you have been to Texas de Brazil, do not expect this restaurant to come close to the quality of that restaurant. If Texas de Brazil is a 10, this place is a 7.5 or an 8. But they did an admirable job for the area, and I would probably come back if we are ever in the area again. The place was pretty empty last night, but it's been raining and it was later in the evening. I would love to see this place have a ton of patronage; I think that would improve the quality and feel of the place.
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