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| - We visited Samba during restaurant week.
I had been here once before, and thought it was pretty good (though quite pricey).
Our experience last night was very mediocre.
HOSTESS AND SEATING: We were greeted immediately and shown to our table -great!
SERVER: Our server arrived promptly, poured water and explained how it all works - great!
It went downill from there.
SALAD BAR: There were many tasty items on the salad bar. I agree with others though, that the ingredients for an actual salad are limited, and there were two pretty unappealing dressing choices. The hot food around the outside tasted good, but it was all served at about room temperature...not good - overall, the salad bar disappointed.
MEAT SERVICE: We had several concerns about the meat service. Most of the meat was served extremely rare, to the point of being almost raw, and not even warm. Rubbery, cold, red lamb wasn't appealing to us. Service was extremely uneven and very slow. Sometimes we didn't see a gaucho for 10-15 minutes. The gauchos seemed very inexperienced, were not particulary engaging (except the pineapple guy, he rocked!). Of the 6 meat choices, only one really seemed great (the sirloin).
THE BILL: We were in the restaurant for two hours (yes, waiting for more meat much of the time!). Our server never came by with a bill. It wasn't until we both used the restroom and put on our coats that she asked if we wanted the bill.
BOTTOM LINE: I'm glad we only paid $25/person. I might consider going back again for this price in a few years, but definitely not for the regular price.
UPPING THEIR GAME: Samba could really make this special if they paid attention to some details: ensure the food is cooked properly and served hot, and put enough gouchos on staff to keep the meat coming to customers on a consistent basis. Also, please encourage your gauchos to engage with the customers a bit, and ensure they are comfortable and experienced in their role...some of our guys really seemed scared wielding a large knife).
It wouldn't really take much to make the experience at Samba much better.
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