Brasa Brasil — Restaurant in Ponta do Sol

It's a shame to be writing such a bad review as it feels like mine might have been a somewhat isolated incident but it was still unacceptable

Firstly, the place could use a bit more attention to cleanliness. An awful lot of ants were roaming on a nearby table which was unsettling. I get that we're on an island teeming with life and bugs are a part of that, but it felt like the restaurant wasn't even slightly concerned about keeping them at bay given how many were crawling over it.

The restrooms also had an unpleasant smell that was particularly pungent, I was fortunate to not be sat near them but my god I would not want to be eating near those toilets. It was honestly one of the more off-putting restroom encounters I've had.

The real issue, though, was with the food. I ordered a sirloin steak and chips which came in at €22. That's slightly on the pricey side, I'm okay with that if the quality matches up. I asked for the steak rare, but it was served chopped up which seemed very bizarre for a $20 sirloin and not even close to rare, it was well done throughout most of the chopped pieces.

Even worse, parts of the steak smelt and tasted off, it was evidently no longer a fresh piece of meat and will have certainly started to turn that brownish colour when it's past its best. I pointed it out to the staff, but the chef insisted it was fresh, which truthfully pissed me off as it clearly wasn't a fresh piece of meat.

I rarely complain about food, but this time it felt necessary. It's simply not okay to serve meat that might be going bad, this paired with the lack of cleanliness and odour in the restaurant makes me believe that they are probably falling foul of several unhygienic and unsafe food storage and preparation practices.

One positive note is that they didn't fuss when I didn't want to pay for my meal, although I literally never complain to the point of not wanting to pay so it was a very uncomfortable situation to be put in. Overall, the experience left a lot to be desired. I'm sharing this with the hope that Brasa Brasil can improve, and above all else stop serving meat that is even close to going bad.

UPDATE - What I thought may have been isolated incident based on other reviews may not be the case, Brasa Brasil tried to flag my review for breaking Googles review policies, I suspect they have made a habit of this to try and skew their reviews, if I hadn't had gone back and looked through my reviews retroactively I would have never noticed, honestly this highlights further bad practices and management, rather than trying to accept that an unacceptable mistake was made on their part they are trying to brush it...

This place has a lovely picnic style layout with amazing friendly service from the waiter. It's Brazilian styled food so you will be expecting lots of meat. They are tender and really lovely. Coupled with the buffet salad, it is amazing. Yes, their salad buffer includes a lobster tomato soup which is so creamy that you will just love it when you eat it. And guess what, all of this is £12.50 per person. You can eat till you drop for this price. Also, the feta cheese in the salad buffet is the best I've eaten so far. You can definitely feel the warmth of this family business in giving you the best service, best food, freshest ingredients and amazing wine choice if you willing to pay a little more on top of your meal package. They made me tip them because they were that good. I will definitely come back for more and hopefully, the restaurant get a...

We stopped here for a quick lunch while traveling from one area of the island to the other.

Marcus, our waiter, was quick to suggest we try their mixed grill, since it's their most popular dish - it also comes with a portion of rice and black beans. The dish was most certainly good, with some very good meats. I would have maybe expected a little more meat, or rather bigger pieces then the ones given. Having said that though, the meat was cooked really well and tasted nicely, especially the Picanha. We also had garlic bread as a starter.

Scored 3 on the atmosphere as we were the only ones present in the restaurant, and we feel giving a 5 would not have been appropriate since there was no actual 'atmosphere' around.

Thumbs up to Marcus who was...