MEET — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

What can I say?

I've dined at some amazing eateries across several continents, including chef-hatted & award winning restaurants but I would have to say that Meet was one dining experience I will never forget.

And, it is a dining "experience".

Yes, Meet is loud, the music is loud, the chatter is loud & the industrial style setting dimly lit. (Pack your noise reduction ear plugs if you need to). Yes, some of the meat is cooked rare & has blood oozing into small pools on your plate. Yes, the wait staff carry the BBQ'd & skewered meats to your table where they carve it right in front of you - so if you don't like any of these things, maybe Meet isn't for you. However, you wouldn't want to miss an opportunity at this incredible dining "experience".

A party of 6 of us attended last night for the first time to celebrate my son's birthday. His girlfriend had the forethought to make a booking which I'm grateful she did because everything ran so smoothly, methodically & effortlessly.

We were greeted at the door promptly by cheerful & happy staff who directed us immediately to our table.

As soon as we were seated, we were asked if we would like to place a drink order or peruse the menu first. We pretty quickly decided what we wanted from the drinks menu which included some Brazilian/South American inspired & possibly sourced beers, wines & cocktails. I ordered a cocktail & others ordered a Sierra Nevada pale ale.

We had already decided as a group that we wanted to try the Brazilian Churrasco. From my limited knowledge, churrasco translates roughly from the Portuguese word for BBQ & churrascaria cuisine is typically served rodizio style where roving wait-staff serve the barbecued meats from large skewers directly onto the seated diners plates. And that is exactly what happens at Meet.

The food started being served to us before our drinks were even on the table, needless to say, we didn't have to wait for food or drinks.

First a duo of Brazilian breads - an individual Brazilian style garlic bread & Pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread) which was amazingly similar in flavour & texture to a good Yorkshire pudding!

We were then presented with side dishes of fries with delicious seasoning & a lovely crisp exterior & soft, fluffy inner, garden salad, Brazilian style garlic rice & something similar to coleslaw but could have been the pickled vegetables. All delicious.

Then the meat started coming out.

Be prepared, don't fill up on your bread & side dishes before you experience the meat. I would also recommended that you either keep a menu at your table or on your phone, simply because it can be a little challenging to hear the wait staff announce which dish it is being served. We just checked the menu each time to confirm - that's if you want to know what it is that you're eating.

I'm not a big meat-eater but I'm so grateful to have experienced this restaurant. The complex layering of flavours & textures were, as mentioned earlier, a dining experience that I'll never forget. Each & every morsel an exciting new explosion of flavours rippling across your tastebuds. About halfway through my experience, I realised I had unconsciously shut all the noise out & was simply focusing on the experience of each mouthful. I just wish I could describe the flavours and textures.

Every piece of meat served was cooked to perfection. Not dry or tough but perfect for every different cut & type, most of which melted in your mouth. Although each different meat was infused with the smells & flavours of real Brazilian style smoked BBQ AND layers of marinades, rubs, Infusions & amazing flavours, you could still taste & experience the subtle flavours & textures of each individual cut of meat.

For me personally, I would have liked to experienced the meats with less complex flavours like salt & pepper pork belly & 12 hour smoked brisket first & then build up to a crescendo of the big, complex, infused flavours such as the fennel & mustard pork neck, maple glazed speck, Picanha & Spanish chorizo & pineapple.

A truly magical...

What a wonderful place of contradictions...it was quiet (I know I rang for a booking and they casually said it's fine just rock up) and when we arrived although the sign said "wait to be seated" the 3 bar staff were so engrossed in conversation and with no one there...after a couple of minutes we figured it may not matter on quiet nights and started to head to the restaurant through the bar. How wrong we were!! And we're promptly, politely and firmly requested to wait back at the sign. And fair enough to! Signs are there for a reason and it couldn't have been clearer. Wait to be seated!!!! I admit I love order so took it on the chin and dismissed the first impression. Our first waiter was lovely. Got the wine and mocktail there in a giffy and kick started a beautiful environment with my significant other..then were were asked how did we want the steak done? I said medium keeping the "my wife is pregnant so we should cook it a tad more" to myself cause if felt like it didn't needed to be said and I would have look like a overbearing pregnant worrier husband. the wonderfully attentive waiter said no problem. Then after about 20 minutes I had another waiter come back and tell me "now chef has cooked the steak just tency wency, slightly... medium rare"in a tone that must have thought poor man... He doesnt know how to eat steak... It's time to help this poor poor man he is making a fool of himself in front of his partner. There was no malice in this but it was amusing. The steak was delicious..my wife rang the gauntlet if you must know... and I'm all for chef knows best, that why I go to restaurants! and if they said we only cook at medium rare I would have happily understood and ordered something different. But why ask the question how would you like your steak? Was it a test? Did they want to see what type of patrons we were? It was tantalisingly intriguing.. It went like this for the whole night. We had some wonderful waiters and waitresses that made the night so effortless and lovely. Beth was a standout. so attentive and sweet then there were others acted like it was an absolute privilege to be there and we should be act accordingly and be greatful to receive a little proper education of how you dine at Meet. And why so many waiters and waitresses with very different views on service for one table? I loved all these perplexities and must say the atmosphere wine and food was all delicious! It was weird I walked out of their in a state of equilibriuem each experience was at either end of the spectrum so therefore balanced perfectly. not annoyed but not elated either. Just a full belly.... maybe a little bamboozled but in a good way. So if you're up for an experience, good food, Lovely wine, great atmosphere, a bit of a roller coaster ride oh and some free proper dining education..., head there , but if you're not, maybe head to the Prince hotel, the Steak and food there are just as good, slightly cheaper and it's the good old table card service which...

If you are looking for an "All you can Eat" Charrasco restaurant in the heart of Newcastle, this is not the place for you. In fact, to call it "All you can Eat" is the exact opposite of what it is.

I've eaten at a Charrasco restaurant in Brazil and Meet is a very different experience. First off, the food itself is very good. The atmosphere is very good. The decor is outstanding. I really liked the decor and I am not a decor type of person and I don't like to pay for decor at a restaurant. It was packed and everyone was having a very good time when I was there on a Friday night.

My friend and I ordered "All you can Eat" Charrasco but it is a bit of a joke to call it that. The cost for "All you can Eat" is around $70 a head. You get 10 pieces of meat and 10 sides and then they ask if you want to try anything again. You also get 2 or 3 pieces of dessert. Then it is all said and done. The slices of meat you get are lucky to be as big as half of your hand. The size would be 2 to 3 inches x 2 to 3 inches. Over the course of the meal, I probably got 15 slices of meat. And this is "All you can Eat".

At a Charrasco Restaurant in Brazil, it is all you can eat. The waiters come around frequently and they slice all of the meat on the skewer, that is, three to four slices of meat falls into the tray on the skewer and they give you a whole heap of meat. The waiter may ask or you can say if you want more. It is not a problem. At Meet, you get one small slice of meat and you have to take it off with your tongs. Then the waiter moves on.

You only get one try one type of meat until the end of all of it when they ask you if you would like to try some more. With a Charrasco Restaurant, they will continually come around with varying types of meat. After some time, when you are starting to get full, the waiter comes and you say not to the meat and they start to know that you are full.

Also, at a real Charrasco Restaurant, you are not made to feel you should move on. It is a very relaxed place. At Meet, you get the feeling that you are time stamped. Just something I noticed. Maybe if you're buying lots of booze they like you. I don't know.

In Brazil, you can eat meat for two hours and get full and then chat for an hour and get your appetite back up and get more meat. A very different experience at Meet.

Do not go to Meet if you want to enjoy eating a lot of meat and be completely or overly full as a goog like a normal "All you can Eat" buffet.

Let me put it this way. We paid $70 a head for "All you can Eat" Charrasco and we both left hungry.

I would say that Meet is a Charrasco style or influenced restaurant with excellent...