We were very excited to try Rio Brazil last night. I really want to see this place succeed, and think it has potential, but there is definitely room to improve.
Ambiance: 3. Walking in, we had really high hopes for this place. It was packed and nicely decorated and looks very unique and upscale. We were seated next to the wine wall, but it was disconcerting to realize you can see through the gaps in the wall to the other side. I assume using glass versus a solid background is to make the space feel bigger, but using mirrored glass inside would have a similar effect and wouldn’t have made me feel like I was intruding on the people on the other side every time I glanced over.
We felt a bit crowded next to the wall—our elbows kept hitting it, but if we shifted away from the wall we were in the way of servers trying to get by. When we come back, we’ll ask to be seated elsewhere.
Service: 2.5. We arrived at 7:40 for our 7:45 reservation and were told it would be a few minutes—not unexpected as we were early. But we then waited over 20 minutes to be seated as we watched at least 4 groups leave, and 1 group of 3 seated ahead of us (we think we heard them say they had an 8pm reservation). We asked the hostess for the status and she assured us we were next, but it still took another 10 minutes and a manager noticing us waiting to be seated.
After we were seated, our server came by to take our drink orders but did not fill our waters. He then disappeared and we asked several staff walking by for water and they all appeared confused and suggested we ask our server. We had already been served at least 2-3 meats by the time our server reappeared with our cocktails and we asked him for water. We got our cocktails 20 minutes after being seated and our water 5-10 minutes after that. Somewhat confusingly, our waiter brought us glasses of water instead of using the pitcher to fill up the water glasses already on the table (as he did for every other table we saw him serve).
We also noticed halfway through our meal that other waiters, including ours, were placing silver trays of sides on every other table as they greeted them and poured their water. We didn’t get those, so had to inquire about them and didn’t receive them until at least 45 minutes after we were seated.
To their credit, and the reason for the half star, a manager seemed to notice the service issue and kept checking on us, but it never seemed to be resolved.
Food: 4. The food was very good overall. We were able to try most of the mains, except for one of the rib types, the Parmesan drummettes, and the honey grilled cheese (disappointing as we did want to try this.)
For us, the standouts were undoubtedly the flank steak, both lamb dishes, and the pork sausage. Sadly, though, the biggest disappointment was the filet (which should have been the star). We waited all meal to try this, but it tasted like it was marinated in liquid smoke—I actually couldn’t finish the piece I was served (a first for me and filet!) and my boyfriend finished it for me, although he also noted the smoke taste. I was also a little surprised at how much of the meat offered was well done—although I recognize that others like it well done, we prefer it on the medium rare side. As a result, we ended up declining a lot of what was offered and had to wait a bit longer for our preferred temperature to come by.
Drink-wise, we both had caipirinhas, which were great flavor-wise the first time around. Our second round (which we ordered halfway through the meal but didn’t receive until after we had been served all but one meat, see service above) seemed heavier on the ice and lighter on the cocktail, but it was still good.
Overall: 3 with great potential. For now, I’m chalking up the service issues to growing and learning pains with new staff. I’d love to see this place succeed as it is definitely our kind of place, but I’m not sure we’d keep making the trip out there and spending that kind of money without better service and...
Read more
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI.
