Brasa Premium Rotisserie- Northeast Minneapolis — Restaurant in Minneapolis

Closer to a 4.5 in terms of rating: All the stars go to the entrées which are some of the best I have had anywhere in the Twin Cities, while the sides can be a hit or miss depending on what one chooses to get. But because the entrées are just too good, I will give a 5 regardless since I can't do a 4.5 here. I have been coming to Brasa for more than 7 years, and I think they are excellent in every way. This is the first time I have returned since the pandemic and unfortunately the quality of the side dishes have decreased, along with some of the desserts.

I have tried rotisserie chicken, smothered chicken, and pulled pork before. They are all simply amazing. The meat is tender, flavorful, and juicy. No matter what you pair the meat up with, it is always a hit. My personal favorite is yellow rice and black beans, along with a piece of cornbread on the side. I must say, the cornbread I had this time was tiny, as opposed to 5 years ago when it was much bigger and more buttery. What used to look as large as my fist now looks like almost just a quarter of my fist, and it tasted very plain. Nowadays they also have bowl options, which is amazing! The smothered chicken bowl was very tasty, and in some ways even more flavorful than the plate since all flavors were combined together.

As for the side, the fried plantains tasted good. The greens were a bit bland even if I tried digging from the bottom, the part that had the most juice. The grits were good but not spectacular and I think more cheese melted inside instead of just on the top would help. The mac & cheese was solid, but maybe more cheese on the top would be better. The candied yam was still as amazing as I remembered, as I dipped the yam in the juice at the bottom. Overall the sides were a hit or miss depending on what I had gotten, but at least the prices were still decent.

I forgot to take a photo of the coconut-vanilla pudding but that was a pretty good dessert. Not too sweet, and contained all the flavors I was expecting. The chocolate devil's food cake was very basic and tasted like it came from a box from a grocery store. It was hard and old, unfortunately. I am hoping this was an exception and not representative of the general trend of how it tastes like.

Generally, still a solid establishment after this many years and I still give a 5 even if I normally would have given a 4 due since I round down my .5 ratings. But based on the quality decrease I have observed, I would love to see Brasa step up again to position itself as an even more...

Updating a review of a review I gave a few years ago to update and say I’m so so so disappointed with Brasa again. I was very excited when they changed the restaurant to a no tipping establishment and they explained increase in food prices to help cover wage costs which I’m 10000% okay with. Last week we went in for dinner, we see a sign on the tables saying we are going back to tipping, yet none of the food prices reflected that, they actually have gone up in price. Assuming that they didn’t decrease staff salaries since food prices haven’t gone down, staff are making the same wages they were when it was a no tipping establishment and now we are expected to pay higher prices of food on top of tipping?! Have you all gone insane? Sadly this was the first time I’ve never tipped a server, and I will not be going back to sit in the restaurant from now on unless this changes or if servers are aware that our community shouldn’t be tipping them on top of an insane salary. The fact that servers at a casual restaurant are making more than teachers, nurses, daycare employees, personal aids, PCAs etc is absolutely wrong, and I will no longer be going here and if I do servers will not be receiving tips.

Previous review: “2 years ago, I wrote a not so great review about high prices, quality of food has gotten worse, and sizing of food portions also got worse. I am happy to say I deleted that review because the last year of coming here things have seemed to have improved. The food has been consistently amazing, the service is great and the portions have gone back to normal. I’m happy to pay their higher prices now that it is one of the few restaurants that have gone into a no tipping policy which I LOVE. More restaurants need to incorporate the living wages into their prices and get rid of tipping and then customers can decide if the restaurant is too expensive or not, but at the end of the day it should never be on the burden of the customer to pay for living wages...

I have been to brasa before and this was my second time going there. I loved the food, I always have. The Rotisserie chicken is excellent,the juices are fresh and all around the portions are spot on. I love the vibe of the place and though parking can be a hash sometimes,it is hardly a complaint. However on my last visit; my server Kim came by after we had sat and asked for our drink orders. I had my lemonade and my companion had her orange juice within 5 minutes after we had sat at the table. Then after some commiseration with my order (didn't well understand some items on the menu,my fault),we had our order in and this is where things went awfully wrong. We sat there for well close to 50 mins before she walked by and told us that it would be a moment longer before the food was ready. About 10 mins later we had our food. So i believe this is what happened,she took our order at the table and instead of putting it in right away,she tended to something else and completely forgot,it's not until she walked by our table that she realized she had forgotten and hastily put it in. This is evidenced by practically everyone else that came to the restaurant later than we had and gotten their food before we did (the family next to us had practically ordered the same thing we had). To make it worse, she did not come by after bringing the food to even ask if we needed our drinks refilled,seeing as how we had been cooling on our laurels for well close to an hour. So we just ate our delicious food and i made a point to tip her well besides the obvious failures. I just did not know the tasteful way to handle it at the time despite my huge disappointment. I love their awesome food and i will make a point to go back,but it will most likely be take out. I was disappointed, really disappointed and i hope this is a slight blight to their otherwise well run establishment. Point is, i do not...