Estância Brazilian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Austin

The meat was delicious, 5/5, but the salad bar was a little underwhelming for a Brazilian Steakhouse, I've had better at Fogo de Chao in Houston (5/5 experience) and Casa do Brasil in College Station (4/5 experience overall).

We went last night, the day after Valentine's Day, so maybe that's why the vibe was off?

It was insanely busy from 8pm to 9pm, we felt like sardines packed into a tin can. The floor was DANGEROUSLY slippery- I recommend never wearing heels in this place unless you can afford to sprain an ankle, money and time-wise. The acoustics were horrid, I've been able to hold easier conversations in any TexMex restaurant on a Friday night during happy hour with 1/2 off margaritas getting the patrons completely wasted so that's saying a lot. They have curtains to--I imagine-- section off certain areas of the restaurant but they weren't utilized for the large tables/parties that were dining there, which makes me wonder if those curtains serve any purpose at all. The wait staff was relatively quick with the meat but the vibe was off, we felt very rushed and for the amount of money $75/person, and based on my previous experience at Brazilian steakhouses, I was expecting a more upscale/elegant experience. The waitress that sat us down- never got her name because it was so loud and she spoke so quickly, just ran through the specials I guess and offered a single bottle of wine . We were never offered menus until the very end when we asked for the dessert menu. It was bizarre.

We invited a couple of friends of ours out last night and I was really excited for them as they've never been to a place like this but I ended up apologizing to them and explaining that this is not the experience I expected them to have, it should've been better. But they enjoyed themselves overall and I'm grateful that they're easy going people.

However, I have no desire to come back. This experience left me very disappointed. 😞 I will stick to Fogo de Chao, as they've never let me down and offer a very elegant experience- at least the location in The Woodlands, TX, does.

Estancia is like the experience you would get on a Carnival cruise ship: they cue you up, pack you in like sardines so you rub up on every chair you try to squeeze through to get anywhere, offer slightly above mid-grade food (other than the lamb, beef, pork, and salmon, everything else wasn't impressive so don't waste your appetite on it), and fail to offer the elegant and upscale vibe one expects from a steakhouse. The wait staff was better on the cruise ship and I feel like that says a lot.. but they do go around offering shots of tequila periodically-- very much on brand for cruise ship dining, lol. Oh, and the seizure causing camera flashes!! That was also very cruise-ship like, we spent like 5 minutes getting blinded by the parties getting their photos taken, with the noise and the flashes, all we needed was a fog machine to make it feel like we were at a Silversun Pickups concert at Emos...

Maybe Estancia is a good place to start, because you can only go up from there in regards to Brazilian steakhouses, but if you've gone to Fogo before, expect to be disappointed here.

Recommendations: carpet the floor, reduce the amount of tables, offer some melted cheese with honey as most other steakhouses do, provide a hard copy menu, train your wait staff to slow down when they speak, and maybe train them to smile and pretend to enjoy...

We have been to Estancia a few times and have overall enjoyed the food and service. We had a guest visiting from another country so we decided to have dinner at Estancia with him last night. We had reservations and were seated almost immediately. The host was very nice and the waiter who initially sat us down was nice as well. He took our drink order and explained how everything went though we were very familiar with the process. He did try and sell us alcoholic drinks to which we declined. We had 1 underage adult, 3 kids, 1 baby, a recovering cancer patient, and one breastfeeding mother... so alcoholic drinks are not for us. The waiter told us we could go ahead and start with the salad bar. My husband took our 3 kids to go to the salad bar. When they got back, we still had no dinner plates for the meats. We were asked multiple times though if we wanted alcoholic drinks again. They definitely don't let up on that. We know that they make their money on alcohol but again, none of us are really in the position to drink. Anyways, we were there maybe one hour and it felt like they were trying to rush us out the door. They kept asking to clear our plates and side dishes at the table. I understand why they ask to give us clean plates once we are done, but that's not what I'm talking about. Our guest was still eating and different employees kept coming up to us asking to clean stuff off of our table. They also asked if we wanted dessert when we were not all done eating.

The selection of meats and service by the gauchos (I think that's what they are called) was fairly good. The only incident we had was from one of the gauchos who was trying to serve chicken drumsticks. The first time he came around, my daughter asked for one but the rest of us didn't want any so we politely said no thank you. He came back a second time which we again said no thank you to. The third time he came around asking our guest who was the only one still finishing his plate if he wanted a chicken drumstick. Our guest said no thank you and the gaucho looked upset. He was also shaking his head at us. Our guest believes he heard the gaucho also swearing as he walked away. This is definitely terrible customer service as it is in our right to deny meats if we do not want to eat them. It is nothing personal and I think that individual should not be acting this way to anyone.

We spent over $400 for our party and truly, our kids ate maybe 5 pieces of meat altogether and one plate's worth at the salad bar. I, myself, barely ate since I had the baby and we felt rushed to leave. For what we pay, we definitely expected better. If we had been there 2 hours or more, I'd understand the rush. As I said, we had been there just over an hour in total.. which isn't very long for a party of 7. We will no longer be visiting this establishment in the future. There are other, better restaurants in or...

Let me just say, a great time was had during the Mother’s Day brunch and lunch rush.

I had reservations, but I arrived a little late. My table wasn’t ready due no fault of the restaurant. I was running behind. Due to my tardiness, I decided to wait at the bar until my table was ready.

T and Victoria were the bartender’s. I asked T about the differences between Clase Azul Reposado vs the 1942 Don Julio Reposado. He proceeded to share his knowledge on both brands. I loved every moment of it!

He asked me if I would like a cocktail. I told him no because I hadn’t put anything on my stomach. He requested Victoria to grab me a snack to tie me over. Then she brings this beautiful mango drink over (it was the special for the day), it was amazing!

My table finally became available. Nina was my server. Honey, she was fantastic! From the beginning to the end her care nature, thoughtfulness, and attention to detail was the experience that I needed.

It gets better.

My dinner companions arrived late, but on time.

T comes to the table with a bottle of the 1942 Ultima Reserva. I told him that I wanted to try it when my family arrived and our table was available. I love the fact that he didn’t forget even though the restaurant was extremely busy. He also gave me and my daughter in law a free glass of champagne plus he brought my son a nonalcoholic beverage. I never told him my son didn’t drink cocktails.

He is a rare jewel! I was a bartender in the dinosaur days. I understand how hard it is to keep up with the demands and challenges one will face during a special occasion however his attention to making sure my experience went beyond my expectations will last a lifetime in my memories.

Thank you Estancia for another remarkable Mother’s Day. Thank you for the amazing food. My biggest thanks is for the amazing Staff that go above and beyond anything that I could have hoped for.

4.8 stars isn’t enough for this location. They definitely need to a five star restaurant!

Let’s help them get there…,,

Signed, Another Satisfied Returning...