Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Brea

We came to Fogo de Chão genuinely excited for the Bar Fogo Ribeye Tasting Event. The night began with promise, the atmosphere was vibrant, the drinks were flowing, and we were eager to experience what was advertised: a premium tasting of Bone-In Ribeye and Dry Aged Tomahawk Ribeye, paired with two specially selected bourbons.

As longtime, loyal customers, we expected a seamless, high-quality experience. And at first, it was. We were enjoying ourselves, happy, engaged, and ready for a memorable evening. But after an hour and a half of waiting being served everything except the Dry Aged Tomahawk Ribeye, the very centerpiece of the event, our excitement turned into frustration.

We approached Mouh Oukhdidja, the customer service representative, and calmly explained our concern: while we had been served the Prime Rib, we were repeatedly overlooked when it came to the Dry Aged Tomahawk Ribeye, the main highlight we had come for.

We asked for a reasonable resolution, waited and waited assuming the steak was being prepared. Nearly an hour passed as we tried to stay patient over drinks, Mouh made no effort to update us, no communication, no follow-up, no action. When we approached him again, he coldly insisted that we had already been served the Dry Aged Tomahawk Ribeye and instead offered other meats. That was not what we came for. We even asked him to bring over the server who had been distributing the ribeye, as we could identify every server who had visited our table.

This wasn’t about getting a comp or asking for extra food, it was about principle. We came for the experience we were promised. Mouh had no further response and said he would speak to his superior, which led to another wait of nearly thirty minutes for nothing.

Eventually, I asked to speak to the General Manager, something that should have happened much earlier. But what we hoped would bring resolution only made things worse. Sevenir Girardi, the General Manager, escalated the situation further. Instead of apologizing or taking any accountability, he doubled down, insisting, without evidence that we had received the steak.

We went in circles yet again, and by then, the group had lost all patience. To our shock, rather than make things right, Sevenir threatened to have us removed from the restaurant.

That’s not LEADERSHIP! That’s a complete and utter FAILURE!!!

What started as a night of anticipation ended in frustration, then descended into outrage. It wasn’t just a bad dinner, it was a total breakdown in service, professionalism, and basic respect for paying guests. We’ve been treated with more care and dignity at modest, local restaurants that don’t pretend to offer “premium” experiences, but still understand that customers deserve to be heard.

Fogo de Chão, you failed us! You made it clear that loyalty means nothing to your staff. That professionalism is optional. That when things go wrong, your leadership prefers to gaslight and silence guests rather than take responsibility.

We’re done. We will never return—and we will not stay quiet!

Mouh Oukhdidja and Sevenir Girardi, you turned what should have been a special evening into an absolute disaster. You should be ashamed of how you represented this brand.

Fogo de Chão, you’ve lost...

• FOOD POISONING * I am sharing this review to highlight the extremely serious and disappointing experience my 41-month-old daughter and I had at Fogo de Chão. Both of us suffered food poisoning after dining at their restaurant, and it has been two weeks with no proper follow-up despite multiple attempts to contact them.

My daughter’s illness was particularly alarming. She began vomiting at 4 a.m. and continued vomiting throughout the entire day. She couldn’t even keep water down, even though her doctor advised us to keep her hydrated. She also had severe stomach pain that lasted an entire week. As a parent, it was devastating to watch her go through this, and I am deeply concerned about the lack of attention given to our situation.

As for me, I began experiencing severe diarrhea starting at 2 a.m. and continued throughout the next day. It was a very distressing experience for both of us, and I can’t stress enough how serious this situation was.

When I first called the restaurant, I spoke with the manager, Ramon, who didn’t seem to take the situation seriously at all. I was expecting at least an apology, but instead, I was told someone from corporate would follow up with us. It’s now been two weeks, and we have received no communication.

The lack of response and care from Fogo de Chão has been incredibly frustrating. Foodborne illness is a serious matter, and it’s alarming that this incident has been treated with such indifference. I sincerely hope that they take this issue seriously before it affects more customers.

We are still waiting for a formal response, an apology, and a resolution to this matter. However, we doubt that they would call us.

Date of visit: 11/17/2024 6PM Location: BREA, CA location

** Card transaction completed on 11/19/2024 in their system, but the actual visit was 11/17/2024

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• UPDATE ** After I left a review here, they replied with their email address so I can address my issue there. I emailed them twice, but they haven’t replied yet.

It is deeply concerning and completely unacceptable for a prominent restaurant to ignore a serious complaint, especially one involving food poisoning that affected my young child. Such a lack of response not only demonstrates a disregard for customer safety and well-being, but it also reflects a troubling lack of accountability.

When a family experiences something as serious as food poisoning, especially involving a child, it is imperative for the restaurant to take immediate action, show genuine concern, and ensure that proper steps are taken to prevent future incidents.

I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant unless you and your family would want to get sick...

I'll preface with this, i understand this is a new location and there will be kinks along the road of getting processes down but for this price point. Processes should be worked out, and the location should've spent more time fine tuning.

Initially i was not greeted by a host as no host was to be found. When she finally arrived I let the host know we had a reservation and they told us to take a seat. 10 minutes past the front door is filled with tons of people, majority of people who walked in after us were seated and there was no crowd control what so ever. I had to walk back to the host and ask when will my table be ready as it's been 15 minutes past my reservation time. The host looked very lost and clearly forgot and sat me down after that..

Once finally seated the saving grace was the servers, but it took a few tries to get there. We ordered the " Full Churrasco experience "and let me tell you, i was not buying the fantasy. It was a miss and should have been named the Churrasco experiment. The people with the meat were circling all around us and would make eye contact and walk right off not serving us. We had to flag down the servers twice to let them know if they could have them acknowledge our table as we were not getting any meat, and clearly ignored while having the green side showing we are ready and willing for their meat. There is definitely a lack of communication amongst the restaurant, one server said if we wanted hot sides like mashed potatoes it would take an extremely long time but she can put it in. A couple minutes past and another severe said it will be about 5-7 minutes until they can provide hot sides so clearly there is a disconnect in communication. We did not try all the meats available and were mainly offered pork. The steaks did not start coming towers the end and did not get to try all varieties available. The meat was a bit over cooked, if you like crispy crunchy meat you will love. But definitely on the over cooked side We also didn't receive the Fogo sauce and chimichurri sauce until the very end. And lastly it took about 40 minutes for our beverages from the bar to come. We didn't get them until after we paid for the tab.

At this price point it is unacceptable to be Guinea pigs for a restaurant, these processes and kinks need to be worked out. With so much staff wandering around, if they fine tuned these processes a lot of the service issue would not happen. I would suggest you try one of their more seasoned locations and try this location out in 2025 hopefully they will...