Nôa Ipanema — Restaurant in Região Geográfica Imediata do Rio de Janeiro

Good Morning,

I was a guest at the Nôa Ipanema last week on the 01.01.2025 and I would like to share my experience.

We were a group of nine and were really excited to get a table. Unfortunately the experience was beyond bad. (We are all working in the food service industry)

Food was cold and then just warmed up, service was disrespectful and inattentive. Prices on the bill were not the same as in the menu. Suggested tip is not suggested - We had to pay 10% even though we were extremely unsatisfied. Long waiting times.

In detail:

First we ordered aperitifs and wine. The drinks took around 30-40 minutes to arrive. Even bottled beer took 20 minutes. And all drinks came one by one. 3 cocktails, 2 beers, 1 bottle of wine and a coke should not be served separately. The restaurant was not full.

Then we ordered food. The only thing our server could say in English was "You?". He moved from person to person with "And you?", "and you?" asking for the order. One friend asked for a recommendation concerning the fish and the server just said: "Just take the ... fish." Disappointing.

Cold appetizers were delicious but again served 90 minutes after we arrived at the restaurant. No explanation from the server at all. My tatar arrived first. 20 minutes later one Ceviche arrived. I had to start eating before the other appetizer arrived. Not what I expect from such a restaurant. I tried to asked the waiter, what's happening. He looked at me, turned around and left without an answer. Disrespectful behavior again.

With the main courses we had again the same problems. The biggest problem was, that the Filet Mignon and the puree arrived cold. We told the waiter, he took the plate without a word. 2 minutes later, he returned with the EXACT same plate. I don't know what they did, but it looked like they put the plate for 30 seconds in the microwave. Still cold and unacceptable that they serve the same food just warmed up. At that point we were extremely hungry, so we just ate.

We asked for the bill. First problem: Wine had a different price on the bill. But okay. The bigger problem: We were forced to give a service tip. It is written "Suggested tip". Why are you forcing your unhappy and unsatisfied guests to tip? A compensation would have been appropriate.

Price over 500 Real for a horrible experience. It could have been a nice experience. If the kitchen takes a little longer - no problem. Just tell your guests. We would have had no problem enjoying the nice atmosphere and some more wine.

Unfortunately - Very bad, inattentive, disrespectful service, extremely long waiting times, cold food (warmed up in microwave), high prices and forced to tip 10%.

Zero out of 5 Stars. Expectations were high and the performance on that night did not meet...

Visited in July 2024. Brazil. Rio de Janeiro.

We stumbled upon Noa while exploring the neighbourhood and were immediately drawn to its lush, verdant terrace, offering a welcome respite from the bustling street. The positive reviews we'd seen online sealed the deal, and we decided to take a break from the city's hustle and bustle.

Food:

We ordered two appetizers and a main course. The portions were on the smaller side. For starters, we had calamari and prawns in a tempura coating with a dipping sauce. They were fried perfectly, with a light, crispy, and non-greasy breadcrumb coating. Next, we tried the mini crabcake burgers, which unfortunately were not to our liking. The crabcake itself contained mostly mashed potato, with only a hint of crab flavour detectable, mostly by its fibrous texture. The bun was decent, but the overall taste was heavily bread-forward and lacked balance. For our main course, we had prawns with pasta and a creamy, tangy mousse. The prawns were cooked flawlessly – crispy, slightly caramelized. The pasta was also good, smooth, al dente, and the mousse added a nice flavour, though it felt a little heavy on the cream.

Service:

The service was good. Our waiter spoke some English, and the photos of the dishes on the menu helped us make our choices.

Overall:

Noa is a pleasant restaurant in the heart of Ipanema, serving Mediterranean cuisine with an Italian twist. It’s definitely a good option for finding something delicious. The restaurant itself is attractive, making it a great spot for a...

Downright worst service experience in my two weeks traveling Brazil. Food was good but found the service (ordering and payment) severely lacking. Full story below..

Had ordered the grilled salmon double pasta at the beginning but the waiter forget to key it in the system and so had to retake my order after appetisers were finished. The second time taking my order was forgotten about too.

And on the third time I tried to order the pasta, another waiter explained that the restaurant had run out of double pasta. Immediately as the waiter finished his explanation, he had already started keying the order in his system and was trying to push me to say I was okay with the order. Because I didn't hear the waiter's initial explanation, I clarified what he meant and he was actually trying to say that only one type of spaghetti was available. And before I could even give my answer, the waiter again tried to push me to order the pasta.

At this point I thought to just get the bill and leave. Restaurants typically give you the option to pay in either local or home currency (which usually would be more expensive than paying by local currency. However, while trying to pay with credit card, the staff independently chose local currency on the bill without giving me the choice on which currency I'd like to use to pay. The POS system literally says "pass the machine to customer to choose which currency to pay in".

I got the restaurant to process a refund and to do a repayment in the local currency. That in itself took 15...