| rev:text
| - There's been quite a stir of Brazilian steakhouses as of late. My mom in particular, has been spent quite an insane amount of money here, taking me, all her friends, and more recently, my monster meat-eating brother, visiting from NYC.
I actually wondered if, upon bringing my brother here, a buffet would finally cut us off. His metabolism and appetite makes me want to enroll him in one of those Japanese eating contests, kid you not.
So first off, what did we order. Well, you have two options really:
*Pay $25 for the salad bar,
*or $30 for the salad bar and unlimited meat
The first time I came here, the salad bar reminded me of the typical kinds of tapas items I used in catering to large parties/events. High quality cheeses (fantastic Manchego), chickpea salads, asparagus, the whole basil mozz thing, high quality pasta salads, and tropical fruits (mangos), smoked salmon, mussels-- reminded me quite like Scandinavia "kaldbord" --cold boards. There's a relatively high profit margin in buying these things, and ppl always leave happy. Considered "luxury" to Nordic farmers, or Southerners.
But as someone who opted for only the salad bar, I have to say, $25 is a bit overpriced. The wine list, however, is FANTASTIC. I had an Italian pinot, and normally woulda been quite satisfied with good cheese, wine, and mussels... but the mussels...
The seafood available is OK (after living in Scandinavia, it's hard to impress:), but the mussels at the buffet were terribly overcooked. So I asked them to make a fresh batch, since it was the only hot "meat" part of the salad bar. The result was a somewhat discoloured, un-fresh grey version of the previous batch of mussels. Cie la vie. One nice thing they do however, is also bring out hot little "Brazilian" dishes, like baked cheese bread balls (fabulous) and fried polenta (also fabulous).
As for the meat. There's a good variety -- from sirloin steak, garlic steak, chicken sausages, lamb, spicy chicken, mainly. MOST of the meat was cooked very well, but there was an occasional bout of meat that was overcooked to death, or undercooked and bleedin' thru the ears. On the other hand, it must have been hard to constantly keep up with the ferocious appetite of my brother...
Let me make an injunction here, and say the service is truly impeccable. The owner, in his sporty jumpsuit, literally comes out with a doner in hand to ensure you are getting every bit of meat you want. When my brother asked for more sirloin, it was like the apocalypse had broken out-- the owner, the head chef, the waiters, went into a mad rush. Our server Antonio came over multiple times making we EVERYTHING was good. But not in an annoying American sort of way, a genuine, relaxed and helpful sort of way.
My mother leaves here with smiles, understandably. The quality of the buffet is good. I'm a bit jaded, thinking again that they're making donkeyloads of money. Purely based on the overpriced salad bar (to me, rice, beans, some nice pasta salad doesnt warrant $25), so I wouldn't come back here -- I also have a slight ethical problem with encouraging unlimited, mass consumption of meat (maybe why it appeals to Americans) -- as for my family members, I'm sure they'll become regulars.
Rankings
*# of times dined here: 3rd
*Cost of Bill: $30-35 for 1person
*Food Rating: 8/10
*Service Rating: 11/10
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