Texas de Brazil - Fairfax — Restaurant in Fairfax

Overall a good experience.

Had a hard time understanding the waitress. She had a slight accent, but the real problem was that she was speaking softly (and quickly) and the restaurant was pretty loud. Fortunately I think(?) we ended up figuring everything out.

There's a salad bar towards the front of the restaurant. You pick up a plate from the salad bar and start off with a salad. The server also brought us french fries, fried bananas(?), mashed potatoes, and bread.

There's a little two-sided, color-coded, circular paper placard on the table in front of each seat. You flip it from red to green when you decide you're ready to start eating meat. Once you do this, employees will start to come around with large skewers of meat. Each one will generally bring a different type of meat (e.g. chicken, steak, lamb, etc.). They'll start to cut off a slice for you and then you'll take the little tongs that they provide to take it and place it on your plate. As far as I could tell, you reuse your salad plate for the meat.

At the end, the server brings a plate with fake plastic(?) depictions of the various desserts they offer. They had Brazilian cheesecake, pecan pie, etc.

Waitress wasn't very attentive, but to be fair, I think she was serving like half the tables in the restaurant. She was definitely scrambling from table to table trying to keep up with demand.

One nitpick was that the hostess asked us if we had a reservation even though we had already said "two please." People don't say "two please" if they already have a reservation. Instead they say something like "I have a reservation for 7pm." Asking if we have a reservation when you already know that we don't comes across as a passive-aggressive way of complaining that we should've made a reservation.

Quality of the food was pretty good. Everything I tried at the salad bar was very good. All of the plates brought to us by the waitress were very good as well. The meat was just okay, considering the price and the fact that it's...

I recently dined at Texas de Brazil, and while I had high expectations for this Brazilian steakhouse experience, there were several issues that left me disappointed.

To start, the food options felt surprisingly limited. As a seafood lover, I was hoping to see a wider range of offerings, but there were barely any seafood options beyond a few shrimp in the salad bar. For a premium price, I expected more variety, especially when so many churrasco restaurants make an effort to cater to diverse tastes.

One major issue was the pricing structure for kids. The cost for children is supposedly "half-price," but this still feels excessive considering how little most kids actually eat. For families, this approach seems unfair and adds up quickly, making it difficult to justify bringing children along. A separate kids’ menu with lighter pricing or even smaller portions would be a much fairer option.

The quality of the meat was good, but unfortunately, the timing of service made it less enjoyable. All of the meat offerings arrived at the table within a very short span, and by the time I had settled in and started eating, my steak had cooled off and was starting to feel rubbery. It would have been far better if the servers staggered the meat selections, so that diners could fully enjoy each cut while it was still hot and fresh.

Finally, a word of caution about the "wine of the day" deal. It was pitched as a great value, but when I saw the actual price on the bill, I realized it wasn’t a discount at all. This felt misleading and left a bad taste, as if I had fallen for an upsell trick rather than a genuine deal.

In summary, while Texas de Brazil has some enjoyable dishes, my experience fell short of expectations. The limited food options, especially for seafood lovers, high prices for children, poorly timed meat service, and the misleading wine deal all contributed to a disappointing visit. I hope they make adjustments to improve the experience for families and for those who want a bit more value...

The aesthetic and customer treatment at this restaurant are 5 star, but the top priority of any restaurant should be its food. This place just gives you one half of an exquisite meal and charges you full price.

If you don't know about Brazilian steakhouses, there are waiters carrying around random servings of meat, and if you flip your little coaster to the green side, they will stop at your table and offer you some. The entrance fee is high but it's all you can eat meat. There is also a salad bar.

While it was a whimsical experience having such well-cooked and often exotic meats brought directly to my table, it doesn't take long for the meat sweats to set in. Eating gratuitous amounts of straight meat with nothing to go with it gets gross fast, regardless of how well it is cooked. The salad bar options were just as plain as the meats and there was just a complete lack of actual food preparation. Food needs to be more than just cooked well, it needs to be paired with complimentary flavors and textures as well. This place just outright does not do that. I think a good comparison is stone's cove's sirloin, which will hardly win any awards for top steak, but is paired so well with tasty cheese grits and mashed peppers that the overall experience is superior to the plain, meaty powerhouse Texas de Brazil offers. The one thing they offer that defies this trend is the free roasted banana dessert, but you don't get too excited because it's pretty small.

Also the cost to sit down for one person is just shy of $50, which doesn't cover gratuity or drinks or dessert. It's a joke.

And don't for a second be tempted by their mouth watering display of desserts. That amazing coconut crumb pie is actually a pathetic, deflated mess when you order it.

This place is what you would get if Arby's decided to be an all you can eat buffet for bourgeois white...