Ye-HaLunch at Fogo de Chao
I've had dinner at Fogo de Chao, the Brazilian steakhouse chain, and it's almost perfect; tender cuts of steak, pork ribs and loin, bacon wrapped meat hunks brought to your table for you like a buffet for the worst of the lazy American stereotypes with plenty of carbs right at the table. The servers are many and very attentive, drinks are kept full and all meats make equal trips around the restaurant. It is worth the, about, $60 dinner would cost.
3 friends and myself decided to go after 1pm to avoid too much of a rush and easily got a table. First at Fogo, you are told to go up to the salad bar which most of us don't want to do but feel the need to anyways. At the salad bar are a number of veggies, hard boiled eggs, salads, dried and cured meats and fine cheeses and turns out to be worth the trip as long as you don't fill up.
Not long after you sit back down do the sides come out, which are a whipped potato, fried plantain dish and little bread rolls. As soon as you get the veggie plate out of your way, you flip a two sided card over from red to green which means "go" for the waiters carrying around whole cuts of meat. It's a Vegan's nightmare.
We found that our section was only frequented by a select few waiters; the bottom sirloin guy, the garlic beef guy and bacon wrapped chicken guy. It was a longer wait for top sirloin, pork tenderloin, ribs and tenderloin, but waiters will ask if there's any cut waiting to be tried and send them around.
Most of the food is great, particularly the beef cuts. The sides are consistent and perfectly cooked and brought out frequently. One annoyance was that I drink Coke with lunch, particularly one that's this salty, and they only offer 8 ounce bottles so I ended up paying $12 for beverages. Next time, I'll try the Brazilian iced tea as it's refilled for free.
No room for desert.
So, for half the price of dinner, you get the same cuts of meat at lunch. But take the rest of the afternoon off, because you will get very sleepy.
GRADES:
ATMOSPHERE B
SERVICE B
FOOD A
VALUE A
OVERALL: A-
3 friends and myself decided to go after 1pm to avoid too much of a rush and easily got a table. First at Fogo, you are told to go up to the salad bar which most of us don't want to do but feel the need to anyways. At the salad bar are a number of veggies, hard boiled eggs, salads, dried and cured meats and fine cheeses and turns out to be worth the trip as long as you don't fill up.
We found that our section was only frequented by a select few waiters; the bottom sirloin guy, the garlic beef guy and bacon wrapped chicken guy. It was a longer wait for top sirloin, pork tenderloin, ribs and tenderloin, but waiters will ask if there's any cut waiting to be tried and send them around.
Most of the food is great, particularly the beef cuts. The sides are consistent and perfectly cooked and brought out frequently. One annoyance was that I drink Coke with lunch, particularly one that's this salty, and they only offer 8 ounce bottles so I ended up paying $12 for beverages. Next time, I'll try the Brazilian iced tea as it's refilled for free.
So, for half the price of dinner, you get the same cuts of meat at lunch. But take the rest of the afternoon off, because you will get very sleepy.
GRADES:
ATMOSPHERE B
SERVICE B
FOOD A
VALUE A
OVERALL: A-
