Rodizio Rico — Restaurant in Birmingham

Firstly to say the quality of the food was really really good. The sides I found to be particularly good. The meats that came round were a good selection, although I did have to ask for Lamb toward the end of the meal as I wanted to try it.

In my opinion the meats are cooked quite quickly, the outside parts that they carve for you were black, crispy and crunchy. The next layer down was basically still red/blue/raw etc. if you like more medium/medium rare you were out of luck.

The strips they cut are so very thin. However over all the food is 4/5.

Now. The reason for overall 2/5 score. The service was not great, arrived at 8.25 for an 830 booking.nwe were sat at 850. We were walked to a narrow strip of tables at the rear left of the seating area. The greeter walked off. We sat there for about five minutes. Someone brought us a knife and fork each and the meat tongs...and walked off. Well we knew the rough premise of a rodizio so we grabbed a plate at the salad bar and got some sides. (Very nice, but limited) We sat back down, no meat arrived. We then realised we didn't have the red/green indicators so grabbed a pair off an empty table of diners who had left. The food slowly started to arrive (I'd picked at my sides in that time).

No-one asked if we wanted to order drinks or table water etc. we had to flag a random staff down. Nobody else ever asked again, I'd have had another cocktail if I'd had the chance. Nobody asked how the meal was, any questions etc at any point.

By the end of the meal the meats sped up.

There were desserts knocking around and as there was no menu or introduction we didn't know what was included or what to order.

When I tried to take one from the tray the server said they'd bring me one. I didn't know if I'd tried to take someone elses or what. As it turned out they were for display and you choose and they bring you it. The plain chocolate mousse was actually very nice, albeit a little basic.

When we asked for the bill, it was brought, we paid by card and the bill was taken away again. I have a credit card receipt but no idea what it's for. The numbers do not add up to what we expected. Appx 10% more.. perhaps there was a mandatory service charge or as others have said the prices charged are somewhat flexible or advising the website not up to date. Hard to argue when there is no menu card. (Yes we could have check the receipt in detail or asked for a receipt copy but don't normally expect this sort of thing - perhaps we are naive and it is prominent, we were visiting and don't eat out in Birmingham very often.)

The interior surroundings felt cheap, everything was open plan and fittings squashed in despite the big foyer and bar area. I wasn't particularly comfortable on the small table and small chairs. There was either a band at the back or some questionable music was being played throughout, can't quite put my finger on it but it was enough to think it felt out of place and a little loud.

All in all, 2/5. In no hurry to go back, and others have since said on here and in person. Fazenda is excellent and similarly priced but...

Firstly I would like to say me and my husband have tried a lot of different Rodizio dining, both in the UK and Brazil so we know what to expect. On arrival we questioned what sides there were, out of the 6 different rodizio restaurants we have been to before there is always a counter with an extra selection of food on but in addition to this there is ALWAYS a menu of sides you can choose from that will be brought to the table as many times as you like. This was not the case at Rodizio Rico, there was only a poor selection of food at the counter (half looked like it had been sat there for hours) and no side’s available to choose from. There was no ask of how we liked our meat, I will only have well done meat. The only meat brought around was medium and when I told the server(s) this happened 10 times to say the least) they just walked off and at no point was well done meat brought, a tiny piece of the medium part was cut off to which I was told was well done (see picture attached). Some of the meat being brought around in trays was extremely off putting, dog food looked more appetising. The meat I did try just tasted like corn beef. In the end after 30 minutes we asked for the bill as it was only getting worse and there was no hope of the experience getting any better. When the waiter was taking our payment and asked how we found it we provided honest feedback to which we were told we should have ‘said something’ - not sure if telling 5 different servers was enough however the food looked awful it wasn’t even worth it. In addition to this bins were being mood back and forth through the dining area, not something you wish to keep having past you however from reading other reviews this seems to be a common theme.

In summary, the service wasn’t horrendous although it’s extremely frustrating our requests of well done was ignored and provided medium meats instead. I would strongly urge anyone wanting to try the Rodizio dining experience to head over to Fazenda which is the closest one in Birmingham as the meats and service is absolutely amazing and the precedent set here is what made us try more of this dining! They have amazing sides, a counter and actually care for your needs/ requirements! Fazenda’s lunch menu is amazing and is £35 whereas this awful place is £39 so definitely getting more for money elsewhere. For the £110 bill we had for 2 x meals, a lemonade and Long Island ice tea it was not worth it. Safe to say we will never...

I can’t believe how bad this was

I have been to many of restaurants of this style over the years where meat on skewers is brought to your table over and over again until you can no longer move.

This particular restaurant was moments away from my hotel so on a Sunday evening I thought I would give it a bash

The restaurant was about a third full but the atmosphere was good and people appeared to be having a good time. As a solo diner getting seated is never normally a problem anyway

So drinks (a bottle of beer) ordered and time to first hit the buffet. A good selection, well presented and something for everybody. There were also some items you might class as mains but as I was here for the meat, I avoided those.

Back at my table and the first meat to arrive was some beef ribs. Unfortunately my knife was simply unable to cut into them. I managed to tear a little meat away but this was tough as old boots. The next two meats (beef and lamb) were better but still on the chewy side.

Later, some pork ribs arrived. Again impossible to cut. The chicken thigh that followed was fatty and slimy and not pleasant

By now there was a significant amount of meat building up on the side of my plate that was simply inedible either because the knife couldn’t cut it, it was mainly fat and gristle or is was cooked to within an inch of its life and like leather.

I was also out of beer but the meat kept on coming and my knife kept on failing and the meat that could be eaten was salty and over cooked. I turned my marker to red (meaning no more please) but the meat kept on coming and still I was out of beer. I was tempted to go back to the salad bar but to be fair, with the amount of inedible meat on my plate, there was little room for more salad.

So I gave up! Asked for the bill, paid and left wishing I had gone somewhere else instead.

£32 spent on a really rubbish meal and one bottle of beer. Nobody asked me how my meal had been. If they had I would have told them that they were serving over cooked poor quality meat. I’ve had more tender beef jerky! Perhaps they know which is why they never asked?

Just avoid this place. They give this kind of restaurant a bad name serving rubbish like this but perhaps they...