Mäska — Restaurant in Região Geográfica Imediata do Rio de Janeiro

Food is okay but definitely feels very pretentious and not especially good. But really the 2 stars here come from the way that the service was handled at the door. The guy who greeted us, besides being all bruised and beaten up with his hand in a cast (should he even have been working? Unclear), with a very condescending attitude and telling us that he would have a hard time seating us because he had no tables available. When we inquired if we could sit at the bar, he was inquisitive as to why we would want that, and offered us a four-top table instead, in a very confusing manner. Why would he offer us a four-top table if he didn’t have tables available? We accepted and when we got into the restaurant it had several tables clear and we were offered several different 2-tops by the waiter who took us to the tables?! So weird.

The food had a strange, and as I already wrote, pretentious atmosphere around it. Is it French? Is it asian? Is it Brazilian? Is it Italian? It has so many flavor combinations going on but nothing really works and feels unbalanced and mismatched. It’s clear to me that the chef thinks highly of himself, and maybe rightly so, but the menu and food don’t feel honest. The biggest problem I had was with my fish dish (from their prix fixe lunch menu) that was dry from the combination of farofa and beans, and just a little drizzle of a herby kind of sauce. The meat that my husband had was full of chewy bits and he left most of it.

The one saving grace was the passion fruit dessert (a sort of deconstructed pavlova) which was delicious and not to be missed if you go here. But honestly, there are so many great restaurants in the surrounding blocks, and you should take up one of...

Visited in July 2024. Brazil. Rio de Janeiro.

This place was on my list of recommended restaurants, and it's also in the Michelin Guide. It’s Brazilian food, but with a more extravagant touch. It’s a small restaurant, and the tables are close together.

Food: We ordered a few appetizers and the octopus for our main course. We try octopus at almost every restaurant. It’s a Brazilian tradition. The octopus was served with sweet potato purée and crispy bread crumbs. It was cooked well, but it lacked flavor and spice. It was soft, but it had more of a boiled texture than a crispy, grilled texture, which is what we prefer. We also had the cauliflower katsu for an appetizer. It’s more of an Asian dish, and it was really delicious. The best thing we tried. It was crispy on the outside and the sauce was perfect. We also had the beef short rib bao. The ribs themselves were delicious, but the patty and breading were a little dry. It was hard to eat with the rice bun because it lacked sauce and moisture. The rice bread was really dense and not airy. They should use brioche instead. Our bao had a surprise in it from a plastic bag, but they replaced it right away. Still, they need to be more careful.

Service: The service was good. There was a manager on shift who spoke English and took good care of us, helping us choose dishes.

Conclusion: It’s a good restaurant. You can definitely find something tasty here. The menu is pretty small, though. Overall, I’d recommend it, but more for a...

The best restaurant i’ve been to. I’ve been to a few restaurants i could rate the same but this one was the best for few reasons: The service was way more than expected. I always wanted to have my own restaurant and they were doing what i would do to give a perfect experience. They gave few attention that i’ve NEVER seen in my entire life. So imagine about how good it is. very cute and cozy restaurant. Not too big but enough space to feel in your bubble. Prices are not the cheapest but they are very low compared to the level of the food. We took 3 dishes. They were each of them the best we ever got. Octopus, tuna sashimi style and cauliflowers. Also a very very good desert. We are lucky we found this place in the last second and it was totally...