CopaCabana Brazilian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Toronto

My partner and I were celebrating our anniversary and was eager to try this new restaurant. On the surface, CopaCabana was expected to be stellar but it quickly deteriorated quickly. I should mention that I worked as a server for The Keg Steakhouse for 6 years, training new servers and with the highest industry standards so perhaps I'm more sensitive when I see misteps from restaurants. Bear in mind this is an all you can eat restaurant that you must finish within 2 HOURS.

First, I have to say that the servers that came around with the Rodizio Grill meats, seafood and veggies (the ones that cut it off a spit right in front of you) were AMAZING! Very friendly, very quick and was constantly coming by to offer new items.

Second, the food was not only good, it was GREAT! I was quite surprised at how good the food was (whenever we did get our sides but I'll elaborate more on that). The food wasn't overly complicated and to be honest, was curious why it took so long to get everything.

Now the gripes that seem to echo the same as the other diners...

FILTHY: The glassware, tables and floors were disgusting! We didn't drink from our water glasses as there wasn't only dirty water stains covering them but they both even had lipstick stains on them! It was surprising that they put this out for guests because this is a public health issue.

SLOW: The restaurant was only about 60% occupancy when we were full into dinner. There were numerous servers and our female server had a small section but we never saw her and barely came to the table which prevented us from ordering more sides (perhaps this was by design so guests don't order too much food? It is after all an all you can eat restaurant?) When we sat down and already we waited for 10 mins before someone came by. Our server was very nice and quite pretty but that's where the pleasantries ended. The other Rodizio Grill servers almost immediately started coming around but our server made us (and the tables around us) wait 20 mins for sides every time, which weren't overly complicated (rice, salad, mashed potatoes, etc.) and was annoyed that we already had a few rounds of meat with no sides nor server in sight. Once the sides finally came, we had to wait almost 10 mins for our bar drinks. The sides came and went and while we wanted to order more sides and drinks, again, no server, so we decided to focus on the Rodizio Grill meats that came frequently. In the end, we resolved to the idea that we would never get sides nor bar drinks in time which was a huge bummer because they were so good.

ACCURACY: We ordered a number of sides, which again weren't complicated and yet our server didn't even get it right, giving us a different item and missing another. Given how slow they came out, we only ordered another round and that was it. When it came down to the desserts, I told here our 2 simple orders and noticed she didn't even write it down. We used that opportunity to order 2 more drinks because we knew it wouldn't come quickly. Sure enough, she got the desserts totally wrong, so we had to shuffle our desserts onto each other's plates while she stood there. Did we get our drinks with our desserts? Of course not! We finished our desserts and sat there until our late drinks arrived. Given how slow everything was, our "all you can drink" option only allowed us 3 drinks in 2 hours--TERRIBLE! When we got the bill, I was surprised to see they charged us for the gingerale that I started with after they already rang my CC and noticed once I looked over the VERY EXPENSIVE bill and the server had to redo the payment.

PRICE GOUGE: Despite how terribly slow everything was, preventing us from utilizing our all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink options, boy do they ever gouge you! After only getting 3 drinks, a modest amount of sides, they automatically added 18% tip (wasn't deserved!) and our bill finally came out to $240!

I'd choose another location and see if the service is the same there but definitely avoid this location for its lack of cleanliness, horrible service and...

My girlfriends birthday dinner yesterday. 3 of us arrived on time and the other 3 were 15-20 minutes late. They sat 3 of us down at our table and came pretty quick with cheese bread and cornbread (surely as a tactic to start filling you up with bread). Started off good. Manager was actually really nice, he took a picture for us. This review only applies to the manager as he's in charge of the other employees.

Anyways, I'm gluten intolerant so the bread wasn't an option for me. They kept bringing out steak and no one offered us anything, our table was right beside the kitchen. I politely asked if I could try 1 piece of meat from a servers stick as he was fraternizing with another employee. This was after maybe 6-7 meat options walked right past me. He told me no, I had to wait (guy with lots of tatoos/neck tattoos. I refrained from eating lunch that day as I wanted make sure I had an appetite. If it wasn't my wife's birthday I would've got up and left so fast it's not even funny. He said it in such a way like I was a peasant. No disrespect man, But you're the meat slicer. How is that anyway to treat your customer that's been sitting at a table for 20 minutes. That shot call you made was not your call to make. Your job is to smile at the customer while you slice off meat for us. Every meat guy looked miserable. 1 piece to tie me over is the least you can do, you offered me everything else on the menu but not what I came for.

Let's dive into some other details. Finally when they decided to start serving us some meat, they were bringing some really bloody cuts of meat. Me personally, I don't mind medium rare. We had a 10 year old child and 2 women that asked really nicely if they could prepare some meat more medium well/well done. They told us anything on a skewer is going to be medium rare with no exceptions. Really? I've been to every copa cabana there is (Niagara being #1) and that's not a real thing/policy. They let it roast a bit longer over the heat. How do you not know that as a 35+year old steak cutter? After saying he can't on 90% of the meat, he said there were a few cuts he could make well done for us. Guess what? They never came with ANY well done meat. The other dinner goers were very disappointed. I was the one who hyped up copa cabana to them in the first place. I was so embarrassed. They wanted to go to a proper steakhouse and I go and open my big mouth about how great the food and service is.

I felt as though he didn't care about our experience at all. Dining at this location has really dampened my love for copa cabana. If you asked me what my favorite restaurant was, I would have said Copa Cabana all day, no question. I've gone there for my birthday and my wife's birthday 6 years in a row. Gone many times in between birthdays aswell. Sad to say I won't be patronizing this establishment, too much money for that kind of treatment/service.

Maybe if they didn't include 18% tip, the staff might actually work hard at making customers feel welcome. Because it's just added automatically, they feel entitled to it, no matter the quality of service. Our waitress had a nice personality, but terrible service. Didn't come around often enough. Sides were coming out super inconsistently. It just felt like the staff was doing a job they felt was beneath them.

A once excellent establishment. Sad to say I won't...

Yesterday I was invited to a birthday dinner at this Copa Cabana location. Upon arrival I was seated at the table that was reserved. I was just a guest; I did not make the reservation. I arrived at the appropriate time, and I was waiting for the rest of the group to arrive with two other people. The manager who was on the floor yesterday was very rude. Came up to me multiple times asking me where the rest of the table was even though I explained multiple times that it was not my reservation. I am just there as a guest. He continued to come to me and let me know that they don't see people past 11 . He came a few more times to let me know that they will not let the party into the restaurant and if we weren't going to order food right at that moment, we needed to order at that moment, I again explained that this is a birthday dinner, and I did not feel comfortable ordering anything or accepting any food without the birthday girl being present, I also said I don't know what the plan is as I'm waiting like how he's waiting. I let him know that I didn't wanna be rushed so that I will try to figure out where the rest of the party was, he responds to let me know that "restaurants do close". As an adult, I am perfectly aware that restaurants do close, but I've never sat in a restaurant and been approached four times basically telling us to order or leave. Even if the restaurant was closing, I've never been rushed to place an order and eat my food like that ever, even if it was closing. What upset me most about this interaction was that I am an African-American woman, and when the rest of the party came that involved non-Black people. He did not mention a word to the person that had made the reservation for the table but had no problem of coming up to me multiple times before they got there so I couldn't help but feel targeted. Furthermore, he told me that they stopped seating at 10:45 and that we wouldn't be able to eat but we found out through a waiter that they stop serving food at 11:30pm. The whole interaction let me know to never come to this location again because the credit card was on file and the phone number of the person that reserve the table was also on file If they had any issues in regard to time they could've called whoever booked the table, but they insisted on approaching me and harassing me while I was waiting for the party I just wanted to let that be known and how unprofessional that is I understand that restaurants do have a close time, but as a manager or a waiter, you are not allowed to sit there and rush someone . I left unhappy because no one else at the table got questioned or was harassed like I was on top of that. The restaurant had no air conditions had messy floors, wet floors, not one wet sign was placed on the wet floors, no one dry mopped the wet floors. I even watched an employee fall. So I strongly feel that that manager had other things that he could've been focussing on like the wet floors versus bothering me while I was waiting for my group. I will not be coming to this location again, and I really hope that he gets spoken to because that was just an unsatisfying...