Texas de Brazil - Grand Rapids — Restaurant in Kentwood

It took us over a month to actually get reservations which was fine. We traveled an hour to try this restaurant during date night with my daughter and her husband. We were seated right away but was seated in front of the window where they were making the food. This gave us a Birds Eye view of the workers preparing the meats. No gloves, a few played with their hair which was not in hair nets and then touched the meats. Several were taking the meats off the screwers and eating the food while continuing to prepare the food (not very appetizing to watch). We started to question the food safety at that point.

Once we were seated we were not even given a menu nor explained to us how it all worked so our table of 4 was like the blind leading the blind. We were not told that deserts were separate from the cost (which made our meal exorbitant in cost $350 😳). The salad bar was ok, nothing fancy. Once we came back from the salad bar from getting our salad. The waitress had already brought a dish with mashed potatoes and french fries, which were not going to sit and eat the mashed potatoes and french fries while we’re eating our salad so we continue to eat our salad, but then we ask her to take the potatoes back and bring us warm potatoes And she willingly did that. The meats were cold because they’re walking around with it. Everybody’s breathing on all of this meat and the person walking around has no gloves on and is handling your meat so again the concern for food safety is there. The atmosphere was loud You could not carry on a conversation. It was not a relaxing meal because the tables were squished so close together, people were bumping into each other the waiting staff was bumping into each other. The men walking around with the meat was bumping into each other, and it just was not conducive to a very relaxing atmosphere. Once we left about 10 minutes after my husband got sick then about 30 minutes later, my daughter and her husband got sick and then later that night I ended up getting sick, so I’m not sure if it was that we were not used to eating that many different types of meats or if it truly was the sanitary conditions of how the meat was prepared and how it was delivered to the table, but again food safety was a major concern. The best part of the meal was their white rice up at the salad bar. Overall, I felt for the cost. It was not a pleasant experience. The food was not worth the cost, and I would honestly say I do not foresee us returning even if someone else was...

Been to a few different Brazilian restaurants such as Fogo de Chiāo and Brazzaz in Chicago, so my comparison to the experience with Texas De Brazil will be on par with the previously mentioned.

The ambiance: Sat for over an hour at the bar, waiting for a table to open. I contribute the extreme wait to the first of its kind of restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan known for breweries and budget meals. There was alot of movement going on with waiters and waitresses which past history in the restaurant business has told me that the higher the volume of customers to service the harder the restaurant becomes to organize and manage. So I give the restaurant a 3 out of 5 for ambiance.

Location: I understand why the restaurant chose the Woodland Mall as the restaurant location. The pedestrian traffic throughout the mall during normal business hours may hit 50k people, however, during the holiday season, the daily traffic could exceed 250 daily. So, this location was easy to find and parking was not terrible. As a result, I give the location a 5.

Food and drinks: The buffet model is used for all the Brazilian style restaurants. The Texas De Brazile salad bar was clean and no wait when I visited. However, the later evening hours between 730-8pm, produced a crowd and lines forming. Not a feel good look for a new restaurant that charges $50 a person. There were a variety of meats that are served in medium rare with the only exceptions of pork and chicken. If seeing blood in your steak or lamb is a turnoff, then you can opt out of the buffet style and order your meal from the menu. I waited between 5-7 minutes between servings of meat. In comparison from the other Brazilian restaurants, my wait was 2-5 minutes. So was the meat good? It was okay. I received meat with alot of fat on it. Matter of fact, I used another plate to seperate the fat from the actual meat. Very disappointing for the price paid. As far as the alcoholic drinks goes, they have a variety of wines and mixed drink on the menu to choose. Most of the drinks start out $15 which is steep for a cocktail. So, in the food and drink category, I give the restaurant a 3 out of 5.

Conclusion: My experience at Texas De Brazile wasn't terrible. I did however expected alot more out of the experience due to prior experiences from other Brazilian restaurants. The food was just okay and personally wouldn't go back. Nothing against the restaurant itself but as I mentioned previously, my experience at other Brazilian restaurants were...

For the price for two of us, which came out to a little over $130 before we used a first time $20 off coupon, the service at this establishment is extremely lacking. I will give an explanation so as to not blame all of the staff.

First off, the management is VERY helpful. They did a wonderful job helping to correct two problems that we had.

When we sat down, we sat at the table for maybe 10 minutes prior to being even offered drinks. So we waited and waited and waited. Once we ordered a bottle of spring water ($8) we went up to the salad bar and got a few items from there.

It took another long wait to get our bottle of water and then even longer to get my drink to the point I forgot I even ordered it and was confused when he placed it down by me.

The gauchos were amazing, we got to try almost everything. Props to them for great service.

When we decided to go back to the salad bar for a plate, the people who clean the tables cleared ALL of our stuff from the table including my still half filled beverage and half bottle of water. My husband had to talk to the people up front and have them replace it all.

While our waiter and his trainee were nice. We finished our meal and ended up sitting at a cleared table for close to 30 minutes while we waited for our check. Our waiter said there was a problem and that his manager had to fix it. Items were placed on our order that we never ordered.

While the manager is a wonderful man, I don't think we will ever return to this establishment. I have a hard time sitting for 30 minutes to pay and leave. We don't rush through meals but we like to get out as...