Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Columbus

We have been here about 6 times since they recently opened because it was such a great experience the first week. That first week you could tell they had experienced people that knew how to cook the meat properly, how to keep the salad bar stocked, how to serve you - everything was perfect with a slight bit of inexperienced people in the mix trying to learn.

After that the service started going downhill. I thought maybe I'm getting unlucky, so kept going, and it kept getting worse.

The last two visits the meats are so heavily cooked through that it was like trying to eat the soul of your shoe. I don't know if they used high quality meat only in the first week or two, or if the people cooking the meat are ruining it - I'm guessing the latter as they have been cutting half-inch thick slices of meat that should be cut thin, and they are still grey colored beyond that half inch point - just so overcooked and tough.

The salad bar has been going down as well. The lettuce has slowly been turning more brown with the most recent visit making we wonder if I should even eat it. They completely removed ranch from the salad bar with the most recent visit, but after I asked for it they brought some out for my son. Then I tried to get some cheese to put on the top of the salad and they completely removed that from the bar as well.

The meat options have been slowly reducing also. The first week they had meat like ribeye, filet, porkbelly, beef rib, and some cooked cheese things you put honey on that taste great. All that is gone now - you get extremely tough sirloin meat, or extremely dry chicken. I finally complained on my visit there tonight and they swarmed the table with almost all of those meats all at once. Tried a few, but they were similar to the sirloin and were heavily cooked - I'm guessing they had been roasting over the fire for a while.

The atmosphere is also frustrating in multiple ways unless you sit in the seats in the front of the building - those seats where we sat during the first week were a great experience. The worst seats are in a room in the back that is like a dungeon that has a little hallway you can barely fit through to reach it. At the end of the hallway there is a table literally pushed right up on the doorway and that's where they chose to seat us the last time. In this dungeon, you are forced to stare at a big screen tv that loops a set of Fogo commercials, showing all the great meat you will not receive. To make it worse the sun went down and that triggered some spotlight to shine down on each table in the dungeon, which was directly over my wife and it was blinding her while trying to eat her extremely tough meat, and after multiple attempts to ask them to turn it down, they never did. Tonight's visit they sat us near the bar at a round table (because we had 6 people tonight) and there was a speaker right above us that was so loud we couldn't have a conversation.

I don't know how this could go from a restaurant I would gladly pay a premium price for, to something I would rather skip for Mcdonalds, in just a few weeks. It's very sad. I finally told them personally all the challenges I've had recently here, and how bad the service and food was, and they still went ahead and charged the full price for my Indulgent Churrasco of $85. I rarely ever complain at dinner, even if the food is bad, but it was so bad tonight I had to say something and thought they would at least cut it in half or something to make up for the poor experience - nothing - they just want your money and for...

Went to Fogo De Chao for the first time last night to celebrate my boyfriend's birthday. We had a group of 10. Most everyone got the full churrasco, and a couple got the indulgent churrasco.

Everyone ordered drinks. The drinks took a long time to arrive. I would say about 25 minutes. When they did finally arrive, our server must have forgotten to ring a couple in. He asked what drinks we had ordered and that took about another 15 minutes.

One person got the Chilean sea bass that she ended up sending back because it had a very pungent fishy taste. They allowed her to have some of the chicken and steak instead. Those who got the lobster with the indulgent option also mentioned it was very fishy for lobster.

The market table was great. A lot of fresh variety and good flavor. The meats were good also. Overall, the food is what I would come back for.

Our server was friendly, but a lot happened that really ruined part of our experience. When we sat down, I let the server know I had a tree nut allergy and if there was anything I should stay away from. He said he didn't think so, but he would double-check to be sure. He never mentioned anything more and I didn't see him for a while. So, I just chose the options I knew for sure there were no nuts in.

The biggest problem was checking out.. I had a discount code that I shared with the server. He said he would figure out how to enter it. It took him probably 20 minutes with just my check. He finally asked for help from the manager, and then it seemed to be resolved. Meanwhile, most of the people at the table didn't have their checks, and a couple he had already brought the check to and took their card. He brought the rest of the checks around, realized a few of them were incorrect, and had to re-print them. He came back around to pick up everyone's payment, and he had lost someone's card from a previous check he had taken. He spent time looking for the card and finally found it. Then he proceeded to cash the rest out and when returning their cards he had no idea which card went to each person. Everyone took their cards, but he still had not given one last party member their check at all. We alerted him of the issue and he printed the check. However, this last check was for someone who got the indulgent experience which includes a free dessert. He was charged for a dessert anyway. Which the server didn't say much about aside from sorry. The party member just asked if he could have an extra dessert to go to resolve the issue instead of re-doing the check..

It was around 8:10 when the process of checking out began. We were done eating, the plates were cleared, and table was clean. We didn't walk out of the restaurant until 9 PM. Almost an hour of dealing with check debacles..

I felt bad for the server, but so much went wrong I felt a review was necessary. I understand this location just opened, but we were a pretty easy-going large group. Also, I discovered the next day after emailing their info email that Fogo is totally nut free.. That's a pretty important thing to know as a server since allergies are so important to accommodate. I would come back for the food, but I would really hope to have a better experience...

High expectations, very bad delivery.

Came in on a Saturday night WITH RESERVATION to try their churrasco experience which is the typical and what a Brazilian steakhouses are renown for.

We were greeted by a server who could hardly answer any of my questions about wine and took 15 minutes to acknowledge us.

I ended up blind selecting the seltan “Intenso” cabernet Sauvignon bottle to pair with the selections of meats that were to come.

The first skewer arrived at the table after we were sat for 20 minutes. (VERY SLOW) Our server disappeared for the rest of the night

So much so that when i asked one of the managers at the end of the night who was our server? , she was puzzled and said “everyone”LOL

Great save!

I’m not sure if the place is understaffed, amateur, or both but service was painfully slow. There was lapses of 15 minutes in which no skewer of meat came to the table.

The place looks bigger on pictures although the aesthetic and elaborate vibe is consistent with what is expected from the photos.

They have an extensive salad bar and an underwhelming soup station which was disappointing but not a deal breaker because i was there specifically for the meat.

Unfortunately their meat selection and cuts is exactly why they got a low rating.

All the meats specially the lamb was so salty!

Other selections like the chicken legs were overly cooked to the point where i had to spit out my food into a separate bowl.

If the meat was not salty or burnt, it had excessive fat! It was just miss after miss on quality of meat!

Only three items out of the whole rooster redeemed the experience which were the bottom sirloin, the caprihna (which only came around once), and the cheese with honey ( my favorite)!

The cheese with honey should be an appetizer that is offered with the bread in my opinion.

Andrew, the manager, was another great reason that our awful experience was saved. He took care of us, accommodated us when our server left without saying anything, and he was the one that took great care of us. He also got us a complimentary dessert for the awful experience without us asking.

Andrew is the reason this rating is not a 1 star.

Regardless of the food, i left the restaurant with an uncomfortably full stomach because for that price, it is something i wanted to get full worth of my money.

Needless to say, i had to hunt down a manager to pay my bill cause were left to fend for ourselves at the end of our dinner. It took us 20 minutes just for us to pay.

We left tired and irritated of the whole ordeal.

All in all, it left a-lot of expectations unfulfilled and compared to other Brazilian steakhouses i have been to like texas de brazil, this one definitely lacked in service and meat selection. Will try another location ( maybe?) but will not come back to this...