Beija Flor — Restaurant in New York

Came here on a weekend for dinner and had no issues getting a seat. This restaurant is fairly tucked away so unless you were told about this place via word of mouth, you probably would have never visited this restaurant. Late at night they have live music and dance. I think that's when the "locals" come out. From what I've heard, a lot of Brazilians visit this place. I chose to come here during the more "quiet" hours to really pay attention to detail of decor, food, and service.

For appetizer we got the Isca de peixe (battered and fried stripped swai fish fillet). The appetizer was a generous portion. Could definitely be split amongst 4 people. The fish was lightly fried and each bite didn't taste like a ball of oil. The actual fish meat itself wasn't a lot. I think they could have combined a little more fish meat to balance out the ratio between batter and meat. Dish takes great with the complimentary lime.

For main course we got the Moqueca de peixe com camarao (traditional brazilian seafood stew swai fish filet and shrimp in coconut milk and palm oil with onions, peppers and cilantro served with rice and brazilian fish gravy) & costela no bafo (oven roasted prime beef rib served with mashed yucca and sauteed collard greens)

The seafood stew was amazing. I thought it tasted great! It had lots of ingredients in it and the soup base was delicious. At the end of the dish I was using the bread and dipping it into the broth. My only issue with the broth was that it was coconut milk heavy. They could dial it back to let the other spices and ingredients shine. The little spice/kick to it is needed. The choice of shrimp was fine. I just wish it wasn't overcooked. It's hard to gauge because most soup based dishes will tend to have their ingredients overcooked if left for too long. Despite some short comings, I would still highly recommend this dish.

The prime beef rib looked monstrous when it first came out. Definitely a generous portion. The meat was very tender and it just came right off the bone without much effort. It was properly seasoned and if you have a dog at home, you can bring that gigantic bone home =D My issue with the dish is the mashed yucca. I think just slicing the yucca into wedges or something similar would better suit the dish. Yucca is extremely starchy and when you make it into a mash, it just becomes difficult to eat because it's not like mashed potatoes where it easily comes off as "chunks". The mashed yucca sticks together so it's not easy to take a "chunk" off. I liked how they made their collard greens. It tasted like it has some Asian influence.

For drinks I got the cashew fruit juice. I had tried this juice at another place and it was sweet (not overly sweet). However, when I tried it here, it wasn't sweet at all and to me, it tasted sour, somewhat alcoholic (because of the fermentation), tasted spoiled. I told the waiter that it tasted like there was alcohol in it and he was more than willing to replace the juice for me. In my mind, I thought it came in a can but I later found out that it came in a bottle. The 2nd glass that he poured from me was probably from the same bottle and of course it tasted exactly the same. I'm not from Brazil so perhaps I do not know what true cashew fruit juice should taste like so I told him to try it for himself because maybe the other place I tried it at prepared it differently and it was supposed to taste somewhat alcoholic. I don't think he did, otherwise he would have known what I was talking about. I was definitely disappointed. I ended up not drinking it at all and he was kind enough to take it off the bill.

The overall experience for this place was enjoyable except for the drink issue but I am glad that their service was top notch despite not being a premier restaurant that charges an arm and leg for a meal. Their decor is amazing. It was decorated by the owner's mother.

I would highly...

Initially I was not going to be writing a review as I wanted to let this be water under the bridge, but now that I see my brother is communicating his grief and what the restaurant has responded I feel obligated to do so. Although the wedding ceremony itself went without a hitch because it was small and intimate, the problem was the communication and impulsive urge the owner Lucia has for getting more money at whatever cost. Good luck signing a contract with Lucia or even getting proper treatment as a customer. They don't work with contracts, so any and everything that happens on the day of is basically on you and when we were first interested in setting up the ceremony there, Lucia couldn't give us more than a minute of her day even though we had set a meet and greet. As soon we got there for the initial meeting she was rushing with everything and asked us why we were there in the first place and we could have done everything by phone. I don't know a single person who would be willing to select a wedding venue place and go over all the important details of what is supposed to be one of the most important day of your life, much less rush everything. The real problem was on the day of the wedding, and as expected some things don't go according to plan.. late decorator, added a few more guests(called the owner and she said its fine). Basically things that can happen at a wedding and not entirely in our control. Here's the interesting part and where I feel we were betrayed and a total lack of empathy on Lucia's part. We didn't have a wedding planner so it was pretty much my then bride and I(selection of music, seating arrangements, coordination with her entrance and things of that nature for the wedding ceremony) organizing everything and we have in our e-mail back and forth for the day we would have open bar SOFT DRINKS for 2 hours and she would give the guests who want to indulge in alcohol for happy hour price on the day. I will add, on the day of, I did see the servers with pitchers of sangria and caipirinha and maybe a couple of others types but as groom and bride our attention was not to keep count who's drinking what so I didn't pay it any mind especially because that was not what we had agreed. At one point during lunch I walked up to Lucia and thanked her for arranging for the extra few persons and at the end of the ceremony I would pay for the remaining portion owed and the now extra guests. After all this confusion we ended up having to use every single gift envelope my guests had left us in our wedding gift box, it was very upsetting and left us with a terrible bitter taste. If it wasn't for her son, who also works there and what I would call the more level headed and considerate of the two I would have even less good things to say about our experience with her.

Side note: Before the wedding, we were invited by a friend for a birthday gathering in the same restaurant in May where we noticed the owner wanted to charge the table an extra $600. The birthday person took everyone's receipts and showed the owner where she had to reimburse my friend. Knowing all this we took a chance so do your...

Here they don't have parking so street parking it is. but depending on when you get here it is not super hard to get parking

They have live music on certain days so make sure to check it out cause if you love it yay if not nay cause there is a cover charge associated with the live music. Also pay attention if you come in and the band starts well after you been there cause they may sneak the cover charge on you too.

Here they have Brazilian food and it is all a la cart, so don't expect a buffet not a by the weight. The atmosphere is nice, the decor is warm and sophisticated.

The staff is friendly and very accommodating to larger and small parties, however keep in mind that they do have live music here on certain days and then it can be very difficult to find a table. But they are amazing to try and accommodate, they will try to give you a table for a quick dinner whenever possible even if they are all booked.

We came over for a late dinner. We were a larger group but at the time we came it was near closing time so it worked our just fine. They were amazing

Batida de coco- amazing, a must try when coming here, nice and sweet. Loads of coconut flavor and little coconut pieces. this is my go to cocktail here.

Guarana- this is a very popular soda in brazil, I love it and if you never had you should!

Pasteis de queijo- I was not impressed with them, the cheese was almost non existant I was expecting a lot more cheese, this appetizer is not a great idea. It comes with a ketchup and mayo sauce and still did not save it. They should add more cheese and have the pastry a little drier cause it was a bit too fatty

Manjar de coco- that takes the prize, amazing!! Not heavy and very yummy with lots of coconut pieces, loved it.

Brigadeiro- this mousse was a little heavier so unless u are a crazy chocolate lover this is not for you, this dessert is very strong and thick.

Pao de queijo- as expected, fresh and warm from the oven very nice, these are worth to have for sure.

So I been here plenty of times and some of them the food was amazing and others not so much, I think I don't have a pic but the feijoada is awesome, you might have to order your protein separately but none the less it is a very worth it dish.

Here is a hit or miss with the food in my opinion, so good luck, but the service at least to me has been great consistently.

Come by and take a chance you might be...