Emporio Inc. — Restaurant in Houston

This is one on of my favorite restaurants in the short time that I have been in Houston. Unlike the meat centric menu of the Brazilian steak houses that are popular in Houston, this restaurant represents a much wider selection of brazilian cuisine. I have often wondered at the "death by meat" eating experience in some of the Brazilian steakhouses that surely people in Brazile do not eat like this in their homes. Emporio has shown me what home cooking would be like in Brazil.

I have greatly enjoyed the feujioda pork and bean stew, the seafood stew, and the salt cod and potatoes. The beef stroganoff was ok and had little too much cream. The caipirinha is a wonderful sugarcane liquer drink and shall transport you to the beach of Ipanema. The wine selection is decent and the prices reasonable for the area and portion size.

The best part of the restaurant is the owner Tony. He is so soft spoken and welcoming. He helps you understand the menu and makes excellent recommendation. I love to understand the cultural side of food and it is great to learn from Tony about the food from the mountiains and from the sea coast, the effect of Russian and Japanese immigrants, the origins of salt cod, etc. Tony is a great ambassador of Brazilian cuisine and culture. His waitstaff like Josie and Emmanuella support the guests with warm enthusiasm.

I recommend this treasure of a restaurant to everyone, particularly those who truly want to try...

My experience today at the Brazilian café started as a tropical experience and ended very stressful. I sat outside and was served good coffee and cheese bread by an excellent server named Tamires (5 stars).. I asked for an ashtray....the manager brought one full of ashes and butts....he puts it over the table and he said I'm gonna empty it in a weird snobbish way...he did it.!!!.. However, after a few minutes, I noticed that he was sitting inside and checking out my girlfriend's behind in a perverted way and starring at me continuously for several times.

To me, not only that is a rude behavior, but also it made me feel very uncomfortable to the point that I had to leave without finishing my coffee.

I told the server to let him know about his rude behavior before I left the place. I was going to order food to go, but decided to pass on that because of the stress I was going through.

Ps: I work as a medical interpreter and these days , mostly work at centers of mental health and IDD...in other words, these individual have co-occurring intellectual and developmental disorder IDD...formerly called mental retardation,and deep mental illness. I definitely think he'll be positively diagnosed.

Obrigada Tamires..im going to stop by again for sure...and he better don't look at me more than once...otherwise. I will call one specific mental health department to get him in quarantine or Call spca. To be...

I'm not sure if it was because we dined here on a limited buffet style, but this was not my idea of Brazilian Grill I have become accustomed to here in Houston.... Where you are paraded with a variety of choice meats and seafood. I really didn't have much issues with the food taste, but this place leaves a lot to desire coming back. The meat quality for out buffet was the lowest cuts. It was tough to chew, medium rare which I liked anyway. The grilled chicken was delicious, and so was the creamy seafood dish. The pepper sauce was delicious, but the fried plantains wasn't cooked. Wine choices were poor for the prices offered, and the fact the year wasn't shown for each wine offered. Confirmed when they brought it. The mixed drink we later on ordered was delicious but too syrupy, not enough alcohol. Our party had been offered a discount on drinks, so we appreciate that. It appeared they are understaffed, or didn't staff enough for our group of about 50, along with the other regular diners. It took an hour for the bottle I ordered to be confirmed as not available, and the second choice they brought wasn't white, then later on I just settled for whatever bottle they had, that was my mistake. 3 stars for the staff present who did their best to keep up with all our orders. They were struggling, and even made mistakes when we read our bills. Thank you for...