Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale

Honest Review: Disappointing Experience

I recently visited Fogo De Chão in Fort Lauderdale and unfortunately had a highly disappointing experience. The restaurant fell short in multiple areas, leaving me thoroughly unsatisfied.

To begin with, the service was unbearably slow. It became apparent that the servers were burdened with additional tasks, such as cleaning and setting tables, resulting in a noticeable decline in their ability to provide attentive and prompt service. This lack of attention greatly impacted the overall dining experience.

Adding to the frustration, the women's bathroom was woefully lacking in basic necessities. There was a complete absence of toilet paper and paper towels, showcasing a lack of proper maintenance and care.

The meat, which is a significant highlight at Fogo De Chão, failed to meet our expectations. Despite explicitly requesting a medium cook, all the meat served to us was excessively rare and red. Towards the end of the meal, we finally received some pieces that were closer to medium, but the majority remained undercooked. This inconsistency was truly disappointing.

While the salad bar offered a decent variety of cheeses and salads, it did little to compensate for the other shortcomings. The experience was further hindered by the excessive wait times for each serving of meat. The delay in bringing out each type of meat made the meal feel drawn out and robbed us of a smooth dining experience.

Regrettably, during our visit, we were subjected to the unprofessional behavior of the server and, presumably, a manager or another server. They engaged in a conversation complaining about something right behind me, without regard for the guests or the fact that people were waiting to be served. This lack of professionalism was disheartening and created an uncomfortable atmosphere.

The disappointment continued with the key lime pie dessert, which had an unpleasant taste of butter and graham crackers. It failed to deliver the expected flavor profile, leaving a lasting negative impression.

Furthermore, despite being informed that the dessert would be complimentary due to a birthday celebration, it was still included in the bill. We had to specifically request a correction, an unnecessary inconvenience that added to our overall dissatisfaction.

Lastly, when it came time to settle the bill, the lack of a pen provided for payment was yet another oversight that showcased a lack of attention to detail.

In conclusion, my experience at Fogo De Chão in Fort Lauderdale was undeniably bad and incredibly disappointing. The slow service, undercooked meat, lack of bathroom amenities, unprofessional conduct, mediocre dessert, and billing errors collectively contributed to an unsatisfactory dining experience. I sincerely hope that the management addresses these issues to prevent other guests from enduring a similar...

DISASTER of a lunchtime churrasco experience! Thoroughly disappointed in the poor service level from my non-existent and incompetent waitress Niura and the glazed-over busser.

First, the busser clears my table when I stepped away to the salad bar to get some items. I was still working on my plate. The dining room only had a handful of tables, and if he half-paid attention, he would have seen me 10 yards away, and clearly not finished. The guy was walking around like a zombie, sleepwalking through lunch service - so I should've known better and paid closer attention. I hate wasting food, and he wasted half my plate. If I was finished, there would've been a bill on my table, like the table right next to mine that had finished. Critical thinking clearly non-existent...

A few minutes later, when I'm actually done, I try to make eye contact with my waitress for the bill, to no avail. For 15 minutes, I'm trying to make eye contact with this woman!! I finally had to wave my arms like a maniac to get her attention. From which ensues more comedy. I tried to use a birthday reward from the Fogo loyalty program. I write it down, along with my info. I explain to her what I write down. She nods her head in auto-pilot mode like she understands. I watch her go the POS terminal, look confused and come back. Repeat instructions. At this point, I'm annoyed. She goes back to the POS terminal and looks confused again. Gets her manager, and then another manager. And the three of them huddle for another 10 minutes before it finally seems like they figured it out. She finally comes back with my check, and runs away without a single word. I look, and no birthday promotion applied. All that huddling, and what the heck happened? Again, it takes another 10 minutes to get her attention and flag her down. Her explanation belied her clear lack of comprehension of the birthday promotion. IT'S NOT THAT HARD! More huddling with a manager. And then the manager finally comes over, and resolves the situation. He did resolve it with a courtesy he didn't have to take. So that was appreciated. But seriously, none of that had to happen. I've been eating at this location since it opened after COVID. The service has always been spotty, but never this disastrous. Birthday promos aren't new. It's not that hard. SMH.

Lunch is slow for Fogo - so I get it if they don't staff it with the A-team. But this wasn't even the C-team or the D-team. This was the FLUNK EVERYTHING Team! Thank goodness the gauchos were competent and did well, even if I only got 10 minutes of Nelson before he finished his shift - so perhaps 2 stars is deserved for that salvage. Hopefully, just a bad day. But will look to avoid Niura going forward....

My wife and I went here for our wedding anniversary on recommendation from a friend instead of going to our usual venue not too far from there. Upon arrival the atmosphere was very inviting, and what is to be expected from a venue like this. Because we had reservations, the wait wasn't long. However it was after being seated the nightmare started. Our server came over introduced himself, and said he would be right back, but took a while. It was a young lady, I believe she was a manager that came over and took our drink orders, and explained how it works. After that, we went to the salad bar to help ourselves, which they had a great selection.The chicken salad was some of the best I've had. Unfortunately I didn't come to eat chicken, or salad! I went to indulge in the full churrasco and the indulgence offered on the menu. After watching the gauchos walk by and around us with all those delicious looking meats and not offering us any, I started to wonder was my card on red. It wasn't!!! We've been seated now 45 plus minutes and I've only had a beer and salad, my wife , her salad and the lobster tail that came with her meal brought out by the young lady i mentioned previously.At this point I was trying to do anything to subtly get there attention, to no avail. There was a family that came and sat one table to the right of us, and they got served practically immediately. I felt as if I went in sat down and was begging 😪 😩. The server finally came over and asked, "How are things?" I said I will let you know as soon as I get some protein on my plate, for now I'm hungry. The traffic to our table picked up after that, but it was already an hour and change since we've been seated, and I was already annoyed. We got another set of diners directly to our right and left, and the server as he was talking to them in between tables, had his BUTT, hanging over my plate, a napkin that was hanging from his back pocket continously grazed my mashed potatoes..... needless to say, guess I didn't need the carbs.... i didn't eat em!!! At that point I just finished my drink and was ready to go. I left a decent tip regardless of how bad it was. The food that I could get was good. The service not so much. I wish we could have had a better experience here for our anniversary, but I will remember it as where I paid and to watch others eat while my servers butt and handkerchief scribbled in my mash potatoes. Gonna stick to...