Tucanos Brazilian Grill — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

Before I get into this, let me first say we have been here many times, and it was once one of our favorite places to go out to eat.

Pros Staff: The staff was great, as usual. If there is one thing that this place has still redeeming is the staff. We have never experienced an issue with staff in the many years we have gone. Grilled Pineapple: Of all the food that comes from the grill, this is by far the best item and remains unchanged over the years. Salad Bar: This is kind of a tough one, as the cost is a bit high depending on your dietary needs and restrictions, but for anyone that can eat whatever you want, this still remains amazing. One of the best things still. The reason it is tough is under the cons.

Cons Meats: Okay, not sure what has happened over the years, but something has gone downhill. The pork and chicken were both a bit dry. While there was plenty of flavor, it was harder to eat than in the past. I generally like the bacon to be crispy on the outside, so personally the flimsy bacon was also a bit of turn off as well. Many of the larger cuts, if we got it first, it seemed to be half or 2/3 fat, with a little meat. Being later in the meat rotation was better for us, as we got more meat from the cuts. Finally, the sausage had an odd taste. It wasn't like it was bad, but something was different about the seasoning that we all agreed did not taste that good. Bathrooms: I know, it is a busy place, but it was pretty nasty in there tonight. Someone got sick in the sink and chunks of food were all over the inside of the sink. The floors were dirty, urinals had stuff in them, and the toilets were pretty nasty. Overall, one of the worst I have seen recently. Salad Bar: This might be unique for us, but if you have any dietary restrictions, this may not be a good choice for you purely because of the cost alone. Of the 8 people in our party, two are post bariatric, one needs reduced carbs due to diabetes, and the last one is autistic and has very particular tastes. For the cost of the salad bar, even when charged as kids, it is still not worth it. Yes, there is a ton of variety, but dietary restrictions reduce the overall value for us. But there are other cons that also go along with this... Fried Plantains: Our son went to get some fried plantains, but they didn't have their normal taste. They had an old, brown banana taste (normally this is a positive; but think longer to the point of almost a dirt background taste). They were mushy and just not good, overall. This was once a go-to item, now it is something to avoid. Overall Cost: For our purposes, due to dietary restrictions, the value is quite poor. If you have any special dietary needs, the value is just not there for what you are able to eat. Sure, you get $20 off for bariatric people, but $15.95 is still pretty steep when you consider that you can enjoy about 1/3 of a plate of salad and maybe 2-3 meat choices before you are done eating. On top of that, you don't have the option to take anything home, and the value really plummets.

Final Remarks: I would say, if you don't have dietary restrictions, go for it and have fun at least once. Maybe they had an off night, but it had too many issues for us to think it was a once off issue. For those with dietary restrictions, it is NOT worth the cost at any means. If you want to go to try, just understand the value isn't there for what you get. If those with dietary restrictions could take a small to-go, that would be one thing. But it just isn't there.

Side Note: This didn't factor in, because this is unique to me. Virgin drinks should be much cheaper than their alcoholic counterparts. $12.95 for a virgin bloody mary? You can buy a whole bottle for that price and enjoy many drinks. My choice to have it, since it keeps my glucose in check, but come...

Despite being a Brazilian grill, Tucanos seemed to my American mind like a beautiful dream, where staff wandered about with various skewered meats and served them to your table every few minutes, with a massive and fully stocked salad bar.

Given that I've never heard of a "tropical onion" before, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Per the menu, they are "seasoned sweet onion straws", which are functionally chopped up onion rings, of variate size and thickness. The presentation is not necessarily neat, but I don't think it's intended to be. Various mounds of the onion straws surround a central bowl (of tropical mango dipping sauce), with a mystery powder substance on top, (which my dinner companion later correctly identified as parmesan.)

The festive platter is fitting for the venue, makes for an inviting dish, and facilitates easy sharing. The appearance of the onion straws, while interesting, do lack a certain consistency in batter covering, and the variate size can make the appearance a little messy. They are certainly exciting, but they do lack a certain quality of refined presentation.

I was already a bit disoriented when the tropical onion straws arrived, perhaps by the copious amounts of various Brazilian meat dishes that had already come to the table. The unusual presentation only increased my uncertainty: what would these taste like?

Most good onion rings have a strong onion flavor as a necessary component of the taste. These tropical onion straws, however, had an incredibly mild onion taste, a reflection of the sweet onions they were made from. Further exploration revealed that every component of the plate, from the batter, to the thick mango glaze, to the gentle sprinkling of parmesan and other sweet and savory bits on top of the straws, were deliberately structured to provide a cohesive taste.

That taste was sweet, which floored me. Onion rings are typically a greasy and a savory dish, two things which I love, but this was neither. Though there was some grease, as is to be expected with anything fried, the taste was overpowered by the strength of the sweet onions and the batter. The accompanying tropical mango sauce was thick and syrupy, almost like a glaze, and dripped and slid slowly down each straw on consumption.

Tucanos has revealed an entirely new world of fried onions to me, revealing an inner sweetness (through the sweet onions) that I never thought possible. The Tropical Onion was billed as an appetizer, but in truth, I would consider this an excellent dessert. Somehow, they have devised a way to turn fried onions into a mild and sweet dessert dish, displaying an entirely new dimension in the constantly evolving world of fried onion concoctions.

As alluded to above, these had a soft and flaky texture, almost pastry like, which contributed to my classification of this dish as a dessert, rather than a traditional appetizer. Despite the softness, the batter still delivered a sufficient crunch, without being mind-blowing. There were no instances of slippage, but I believe the choice of onion straws made this an easy task to fulfill.

That said, the flakiness of the batter often led to bits and crumbles falling off on consumption, an unfortunate consequence of the bold experiments of flavor.

For a mere $4.99, we received a truly massive platter of the onion straws. For what may be a Sola Cepa first, we were completely unable to finish the full plate, which is certainly a consequence of the massive amounts of other food we...

The Applebees of Brazilian steakhouses. Having enjoyed Fogo de Chão many times, my expectations may have been set too high. If you're looking for large quantities of food in a very casual setting and quality isn't important to you, this is your place! But be prepared to still dish out ~ $50/ person even with lowered standards.

The staff were all very friendly and attentive! We did dine with reservations at 8pm so the restaurant was relatively quiet. The salad bar was fully stocked and appeared clean, though I only had a couple of items. The cheese bread was tasty and I really enjoyed their fried bananas - I'm used to eating fried plantains which are more savory, but these were rolled in sugar and cinnamon and quite good! I was going to help myself to shrimp cocktail but the shrimp wasn’t appealing- it was small and did not appear peeled/ deveined properly, so I passed.

I ordered a Copacabana Cocktail - the pineapple seemed fresh but there was little effort in the presentation. There were 2 little umbrellas stuck in the sides unopened and still wrapped in rubber bands. I did not taste any rum and questioned whether I may have been served the virgin alternative instead. The juice was good though!

However, all of the meat we were served was low quality, overcooked (everything was cooked very, VERY well done), incredibly dry, and not flavorful. The red meats were quite fatty and gristle-y and difficult to cut. Very chewy. Did I mention dry? At least the need to spend 5 minutes chewing every piece of meat fills the time waiting for the next round to come :) I did enjoy the "grilled" pineapple! Juicy and not chewy ;) Grilled in quotations because it was warm but otherwise didn’t appear grilled.

The ambience wasn't great - bright lights and the furniture/ fixtures/ decor could use a little love (for example, the paint on our meat turner was 95% worn off and we worried the servers wouldn't be able to tell whether it was flipped to green or red, but thankfully we had no issues!). Surprisingly casual setting for the price point.

Our bill for 2 people was over $108 before tip - YIKES! Pretty shocking for the quality of food and atmosphere. Almost went for my birthday with family and friends and was SO glad I didn't because I would have been really disappointed and embarrassed. I would not dine here again. For a comparable cost, you could go to Fogo (or Texas de Brazil or Rodizio) and enjoy much higher quality food and atmosphere. The food and experience is worth half the cost we paid at best, and that's being quite generous.

I typically post pictures with my reviews but sadly, there was just nothing worth taking pictures of :'( Wish we had more Brazilian steakhouses in the Springs!! ...