Per their website, the menu contains '15 different delectable cuts of fire-roasted meats, a sumptuous buffet of gourmet salads and fresh-cut vegetables, and a variety of Brazilian side dishes'. The meat cuts include, Beef, Pork, Lamb and Chicken. The salad bar is huge and contains different greens, Olives, Bamboo shoots, Artichokes, three kinds of Cheese and lot more. It is one of the best salad bar I have had food from. The side dishes include warm cheese bread, crispy hot polenta,seasoned mashed potatoes and fried bananas. The sides are replenished throughout the meal.
What makes this restaurant unique is the way the meat is served. The lunch or dinner is buffet style with a unique twist to it. Instead of you going to the food table, the food(meat and side dishes only) is brought to the table and served on to your plate. The 'sizzling fire roasted' meat is served by a Gaucho who brings the meat on a 2 foot long skewers. Some meat like Sirloin, tenderloin beef, Lamb Shank etc are carved on your table on to a small bowl that the Gaucho brings along with the skewer. You can pick the meat out of the bowl, or help the Gaucho with the tongs and place it on to your plate.
While this is unique, it can be overwhelming for a first timer. The Gauchos keep coming one after the other, bringing with them, different skewers. You can pace yourself using a Red and Green colored disk. You can place the disk to the side that is colored red if you do not want any more meat served. As you must have guessed, you can place the disk on the green side to let the Gauchos know that you ready to have more food. You must be wondering what a Gaucho means. According the Wikipedia 'The word gaucho could be described as a loose equivalent to the North American Cowboy' of South America. The restaurant uses the term Gaucho chefs to described the people serving food. I just used the term Gaucho to make it even simple.
Of the 15 types meat, I had only Chicken drumsticks, Lamb Leg and Lamb Rib. I liked the Lamb better than the Chicken. I am a red meat guy. The meat was tender and had a good flavor. The Lamb Rib was not that good. It had more fat than meat. Here I was introduced to a new combination of eating lamb with. by my collegaue. One of my colleague requested mint jelly to one of the Gaucho. He asked if we have ever tried Lamb with a mint jelly. Some said yes and some made an awkward face meaning no. I said no but decided to give it a try. I should say, though the combination was weird to listen, it was actually good. I will definitely try it next time. We were a team of 6 on the table and my colleagues tried the other kinds of meat. They loved it specially the steak.
The sides were tasty as well. The Cheese bread was warm, soft and yummy. The polenta was my favorite. I also tried the fried Banana and the seasoned Mashed potato. They were nice. All in all, I was a happy camper.
As in all my reviews, I include the average price of the items and my recommendation. So here it goes. As I said earlier, the food is offered in a buffet style and hence there is only one price. The Lunch is about $30 and Dinner is even expensive at $50. That is way expensive for my wallet to go back in there again. While I highly recommend the place, I myself would only go there if it was free. You should definitely go there if price is not a concern to you. The experience is unique and the food is great.
