Being married to a meat and potatoes kinda guy, I thought booking dinner for Valentine's Day at Fogo de Chao would be a huge treat. It turned out to be a huge disappointment. We went last night and will never go back.
We were seated promptly, way in a back corner...about as far from the salad bar as you can get. This place is packed with tables. You literally have to stand and wait as servers and other customers weave through the tables. I found it strange that staff didn't let customers pass first - they blew by customers as if we didn't exist.
We were seated and got the lowdown on how it all worked. We were excited to be there and dig into the amazing salad bar and try the different meat choices. Our trip to the salad bar was chaotic. The line was going every which way and people were reaching over each other to get to the different selections. Everything on the salad bar was fresh, the presentation was nice but what a hassle!
We were given some rolls which were odd. Soft, undercooked dough filled with some sort of cheese. I can eat some bread, but the texture of this stuff was just not right.
The meat...honestly, I'm not much of a carnivore, but even my husband was far from impressed. All of it was dry and so salty that we were reaching for our water glasses constantly. The service was what was really odd. The skewer guys would show up in our section in such a rush that they missed our table (and others) most of the time. You have to wave them down or ask passing busboys to get service. By the time the pork ribs and rib eye came around (after my husband spoke to our server about the lack of service) all of the sides were cold and we were just over it and full from the massive amount of water we had to drink.
We are not tough to please people. We don't do pricey restaurants often and were really looking forward to having a fun experience at Fogo. I regret booking our Valentines dinner at this strange, silly place. Should have gone with my first instinct and headed to Durant's for tried and true great food and perfect service. Live and learn.