Brasa Premium Rotisserie- Southwest Minneapolis — Restaurant in Minneapolis

First I want to state how wonderful Alex Roberts establishments typically are. Restaurant Alma is a blessing in Twin Cities culinary scene. Also, kudos to him and his wife for supporting fair wages. Their menu states, "Tipping is not expected at Brasa. Menu prices support premium ingredient sourcing, $16–25/hr wages, paid time off, health/dental/vision insurance for full-time staff and 401k with 4% company match." I like that so my bill is not a surprise to see 20% added at end as at other restaurants. Upfront is best!

I preface by saying it has been at least a year since I was last at Brasa. I went for their nice happy hour, as you can't get tacos on regular menu and you can't beat the price! But server could have been more attentive by coming back to tell us happy hour is about to end, would you like more tacos/drinks?! I would have ordered more! I added extra tip anyway as I know how difficult the restaurant scene is currently.

Since I did not get my fill during happy hour, I ordered a 2pc chicken plate to go. I was going to eat later and thus, did not look at it prior to getting home. My fault. See the picture. You can see the size of one piece is same size as tines on my plastic fork! They cut one piece of breast meat into 2 pieces. The side I got was collard greens. The paltry amount of food did not match paying $14 for this "plate." This certainly did not match the other reviewers' pictures as others got drumstick plus breast w wing plus sides. ...

You know, this was alright, not terrible but not stellar. The chicken bowl was jambalaya like, but the rice wasn’t cooked in it. So maybe more gumbo? Regardless, it was something in-between and I felt it lacked an identity. The rice was really dry, it had spice but tbh, nothing beats steamed white rice. The most dominate flavor was the sausage. If you weren’t looking for the chicken, you wouldn’t even know it was there. The pork bowl was similar in the sense that the rice was desert like and the dominate flavor was Wilbur and not much else. The egg was definitely needed to add some moisture. The baked mac’n cheese was solid. Creamy, cheesy, and the crumble on top added texture. It was a little runnier than I prefer but it was better than the bowls. A little side gripe, I hate small drinking cups and especially if you are like me and drink like a parched elephant, you’ll be making frequent trips to the water station.

Tangent, the server didn’t do much, brought water, utensils, and menus. That was it, no check ups, and you order on your phone. What warrants a tip now-a-days? I know it’s deeply engrained into murica culture and I tip well, but I just thought it was interesting to see places go more “self-serve” and wonder if tips suffer due to lack of presence at a servers assigned table?

Keeping it a buck, I’d go again and try some other items...

Brasa has always been a top staple in our restaurant dining choices for our family and guests since it opened, always the St Paul location. The STP team, especially Courtney are amazing and always keep us coming back. Miss the Pineapple Ginger Ale - which I understand is gone forever. We've been getting take out occasionally from the new location in South Mpls as it is closer to home. The location is great, but some of the food is a bit inconsistent versus STP (we never go to the NE location for the same reason). I usually rate Brasa all 5's but this is the 3rd time we've gotten the collard greens from the South Minneapolis location and they taste nothing like the STP location - which we just got take out from last Wednesday. Not like the STP location meaning not good. Seasoning is completely different and almost has a southwestern flavor which isn't working. Some the other sides we got in Mpls are also not the same as in STP. As long as the weather isn't terrible, looks like we'll continue to go to STP as everything is always...