Frigideira — Restaurant in London

Frigideira is the worst 'Brazilian' restaurant I've been to in the UK. Authentic it ain't! As a carioca (born in Rio de janeiro), I ordered a feijoada, a dish that I know and love from Rio. What a disappointment it was! Watery and bland! There was barely any meat in this 'feijoada'. One of the traditional garnishing of feijoada is couve (green leaves). Couve is fried slowly and with a hint of garlic and seasoned with a bit of salt. The couve at frigideira is served raw and straight from the fridge! Couve is definitely not a salada so should be cooked! I asked the waitress what's going on with this dish as I thought the chef made a mistake. I asked her to ask the kitchen to cook my couve as we do in Brazi, as served raw it's inedible. Waitress said that was how couve was served there but went to ask the kitchen to cook it for me (couve, like any greens, only needs a few minutes to cook). The waitress came back to say kitchen says no, that's how couve is served here and they wouldn't cook it. I was gobsmacked and obviously protested but the waitress said there was nothing they could do as that was the way the chefs' decision. That spoiled my dinner for sure but I was not the only one disappointed . We're celebrating my niece's birthday and she ordered the picanha frigideira for two people; which cust 48 pounds. We're told while ordering that although the dish was for 2 people to share (4 steaks), costumers cannot choose the way they want the meat cooked. So, my niece wanted her steak medium rare and her mum well cooked. Because the kitchen cannot be bothered to cook the meat to the customer preference, my niece had to eat overcooked steak. The waitress couldn't explain this anomaly but said that's how they chef wanted the kitchen to run. Probably because it would be too much work to cook the picanhas to the clients taste not the chef's. Their motto seem to be, just eat raw vegetables & overcooked expensive steaks as we cannot be bothered to cook decent food to paying customers. Therefore, nothing is special or really authentic Brazilian at this restaurant. The service is not as you'd have expected in a quite expensive restaurant. The waitresses were subdued and seemed disinterested in explain the absurdities we encountered in Frigideira. Service was mediocre. Don't believe what hype on their website: you won't feel in Brazil when trying their food unless you don't know authentic Brazilian food and you will not feel at home either. All in all, not a good experience for us from a pretentious and middle of the...

I never thought I’d write a bad review for Frigideira but here I am…

We went there for lunch on a Sunday (7 Aug 22). We ordered mandioca and cochinha as a starter and then the picanha as a main, which comes with all sorts of small dishes.

When the meat arrived, it looked really good but the first disappointment was the rice. It was cold and dry!

The meat was delicious but when we finished eating the first layer, we noticed that the meat underneath was tough and chewy. Some of it you could not even cut it with knife and fork.

We were both shocked, as Frigideira is well known for its quality and the impeccable service, and we were unsure whether to say something to the waiter or not.

After a few attempts to cut and eat more meat, we decided to speak up.

The waiter in question, a slightly bigger girl with long straight black hair, dismissed our comments by saying that the meat is usually cooked that way (?).

We cook and eat meat regularly and no matter how you cook it, rare, medium or well done, if the meat is fresh, one should be able to cut it easily and eat it without problems.

We then asked to see the manager, Kelly. She arrived and we explained the situation and offered more meat or a dessert or drinks as a gesture of good will…but we were not really that hungry anymore.

I told her that I was not going to pay the full price for the meat, and she agreed to give us a discount.

When the bill arrived, the waiter with long black hair told that 10% was taken off the bill.

I told her that the meat was terrible and that they could do a little better.

She rolled her eyes and looked at me in a disapproving way.

The manager then came back and agreed to a 20% discount. Still not enough in my view…but I agreed.

Basically, their trick is:

Put the better meat on top Hide the old tough meat underneath Hope the customers are stupid enough not to realize

We have been there many times and never had any problems.

The poor quality of food and the rudeness of staff are the main reasons in London for restaurant’s failure. I have seen it many times before…restaurants and bars go from being the top to closing down, because they become greedy.

UPDATE: we both have bad stomach and had crumps all night.

Also added the picture with the 20% discount we had...

I have paid a visit to your lovely establishment yesterday, my wife and me had wonderful time, the food was stunning and the service delightful, everything was almost perfect until we’ve got the bill.

I’ve asked one of the waitresses if I could add the service charge to the bill on my card, to my great surprise I’ve been told by this very polite server, that she could not include the service charge to the card, that there was not system in place for it and she could only take cash for tips.

I found utterly dreadful that a business with such hard working dedicated staff are deprived of their hard owned service charge as hardly anybody uses cash anymore.

I decided to make my way to the nearest cash point to take some cash out to give to this well deserved staff for their deserving service.

As a customer I shouldn’t have to do that and you should provide an option to customers to add gratuity to your waiting staff, It is awful that at this day and age businesses still not supportive of their hard working employees.

So after a great time I had at your restaurant I have left with a bitter taste in my mouth.

I shall not return until the day I find out the the waiting staff it’s fairly treated.

If wasn’t for that I would recommend your restaurant to all my friends, but I won’t do it until I know the situation has changed for the better.

I do hope you carefully consider my suggestion and apply changes to lift the mood of your workers, if that happens I shall gladly return and tell my friends about your great restaurant, but until then, I...