Porto Alegre Brazilian Grill Restaurant — Restaurant in Hialeah

Wow. Where do I begin. I've only been here twice. The first time I went was because of a date that brought me to that restaurant and it was perfect. The atmosphere was excellent. The service was great. The staff was very interactive and friendly.

Now, based off of my first experience I chose to go back and bring my family for my mothers birthday. More than half of the restaurant was empty but they still kept us waiting almost 10 minutes just so we could be seated beacuse the hottest was to busy cleaning 2 tables out of the nearly 15 tables that were empty and clean.

Our waiter that came to the table did a piss poor job of introducing himself and disappeared most of the night. I had to get up and look for that waiter several times just so that we could get some More drinks. We were literally choking with our foods. When I asked the food runners to have our waiter bring us more wine or drinks the waiter would come back with a nasty grin on his face as if we were bothering him. When I asked one of the food runners for the check because the waiter wasn't available once again, he came and practically through the bill on the table and walked away. It was almost 15 minutes before he came back to the table with half of the restaurant still empty. My first experience wasn't like that.

The food was great tho and my party enjoyed the variety of foods offered and the food runners were very a tentative and curtious. They were very knowledgeable about what type of food they were serving. That's a big plus.

For the price one pays to enjoy their dinner here, I would've expected better service. I'm very big on service with any restaurant solely because I waited tables while in college so I know what its like to provide customer service and always be atentative to your guest. Because of my knowledge and past experience I'm a very bigger tipper when it come to service. Im Definetly not going back here.

The food was great and very well presented. It looked clean and of high quality. Everything was perfectly seasoned and the food runners were very professional with how they approached you, knowledgeable of what they were serving you, they actually took the time to rain to you how the food was cooked and what type of meat they were serving, they listen to you and brought out special requests and served your food to you exceptionally well. But if you were to be a host and take out a date or family you'll most likely be embarrassed because of the service from having to wait to be seated and the waiter that shouldve been around at least 30% of the time we were there. Its basic knowledge 101. You don't have to be around the tables the entire time your hosts are there but you have to pop out here and there to see if your guest are ok and especially to see if their drinks are low. That's how you bank off of tips but I guess that waiter just didn't care.

I hope this helps as I'm on a mission to try every restaurant in Miami.

Hope...

Only giving this a 1 star because 0 star was not an option. I visited this establishment once before and had a good experience. I returned today, to celebrate my birthday with my hubby and mother in law and was BEYOND disappointed. Starting with the welcome from host " hi are you using a coupon of any sort? We answered yes, Groupon for 2. We were three. She made a us aware we would pay a for person #3, which was fine."If are be aware it does not include dessert or drinks sit here" moving along we were sat under blasting cold a/c. Our food was so cold and we were shaking. The food... We had options of 3 types of steak today and everything was RAW. not rare raw. Our meal was less than acceptable , we barely ate. We then proceeded to ask for check so we could leave, we barely ate. Server came out with a tablet to scan my Groupon, I handed him my phone he selected view voucher (which invalidates Groupon from being cancelled) then proceeded to tell me since Groupon was purchased less than 24hrs prior, we could not redeem it, which was listed on Groupon. However, host NEVER mentioned that after we informed her of Groupon. Fine, no problem, went back and forth with server and owner (who was in back and refused to pcne out to talk to the customer, us, in person) poor server was sent back and forth at least ten times. Maybe more. Final resolution #1... I had to pay full price non Groupon rate for all 3. I said no problem at this point I'm tired and want to leave. I would just cancel Groupon and get my money back on that. Go to do that, can't cancel because SERVER hit view voucher and cancellation or refund was invalidated. So now back to messenger going to owner, finally they agreed to deduct Groupon rate $39 since they had voucher info, charged me an additional $10 to be back to regular price of 24.99pp (basically using amount paid towards cost, no Groupon pricing). We gave card to pay, then noticed a nearly $14 gratuity​ forced on us. We asked for it to be removed, were told no. NOWHERE on restaurant or Groupon does it state that gratuity is included. They forced us to pay a gratuity on top of horrible experience on my birthday. Cherry on top? The extremely rude managers answer when I asked why meat was fully rare, and I quote " we are too busy to cook it anymore, people are coming in and out and we have to cook fast to serve them". Wow. No answer to that. Will never return and will ensure NOONE I know support this horrible establishment or their unprofessional owner...

On Friday, September 10th approximately 7ish PM we went. First time there because my husband wanted to go. I had the gastric bypass surgery 2 years ago and I eat like a baby. I mentioned to our waiter (femake) do nit recall ger name because she only came to our table twice and I explained to her if they had a kids meal I can do due ti my situation. Didn't make sense for us to pay $33.00 p/p for since I eat a spoon and I get full. She said the owner lady advised can charge me $20 can only select 1 meat and eat all from the buffet. I hesitated because still to much $$ forcwhat I could eat. They didn't care. I only stayed because my husband wanted to experience the meats so I decided to pay the $20 but didn't eat anything except some fruits. I had them pack the meat but first needto ask the owner. The owner never came out. Instead they just stsy behind looking at their businesx cameras. I asked for a glass with ice in order yo drink my special bottle of water I can drink. The waitress said NO that I couldn't open the bottle, nothing allowed from the outside, i would need yo purchase there bottle, I said NO. So I ended up going to the restroom to drink some of my water, UNBELIEVABLE! They don't even give tap water, forcing you to buy a bottle. At this point my husband was upset! He finished eating what was left on his plate we paid less gratuity because we refused and made them remove from the bill. I strongly suggest to go to another Brazilian restaurant with no restrictions these new owners are ridiculous with so many restrictions. Not sure if this business will last with the new owners are a very young couplr that do not appreciate customers. Are next coming event of 18 people we're taking to a real Brazilian Restaurant Owners. We will not be going bsck at all!! Some the meats are salty. You got to constantly have to be asking for them bring Churasco and Filet Mignon. Very disappointed 😞 customers and the owners was invthe back never came to apologize but another waiter did come but too late. Believe there's other better placed then "Porto Alegro' it's just the original owners...