Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse — Restaurant in New York

TL;DR Definitely come here if you want to experience an onslaught of amazing meats! 😋

Came here alone for my birthday at 8pm on a Saturday night after wanting to come for a while. And daaaamn I was NOT disappointed! The Full Churrasco experience was really awesome and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to any meat lovers who want to absolutely gorge themselves on an obscene amount of meat! 🤤

The restaurant seemed busy downstairs but I lucked out and was given a table at the top of the stairs where it was nice and peaceful. The service was phenomenal. My server was attentive and professional, without being overbearing at all. She explained the menu to me very clearly and was very pleasant throughout my meal. As of this review, it's $80 per person for an endless parade of delicious meats being carved right at your table, and full access to the salad bar! There's no time limit either! I will say, the service speed with the meats was a bit variable: sometimes it felt a bit slow, and at other times it felt like I was being assaulted by a constant barrage of juicy meats.

The food was honestly amazing! So, since I always write way too much here, let me break down my feelings on every single item I tried (save for a few that I forgot about amidst the blur of overindulgence):

The Infinite Meat Raid:

Picanha : A classic for a reason! Juicy, tender, and nicely seasoned. The fat cap was really tasty too! Lamb Picanha : I actually got two rounds of this. Similar in texture to the regular Picanha but with the distinct flavor from the lamb. Filet Mignon : Tender and lean, I enjoyed it. Flank Steak : One of my favorites of the night! It was very tender, to the point where the muscle fibers were starting to separate from each other. It was also extremely juicy. Each bite gushed meat juices throughout my mouth! 😋 Lamb Chops : Also divine. Fatty, rich, and very tender, these were a highlight for sure. I should've picked the bones... Garlic Steak : I couldn't tell what cut of beef this was, but it was pretty good. It was quite fatty and juicy. The flavor of the garlic predominated the experience.

Included Sides:

Pan de Queijo : Wow. I was honestly taken aback by how good these were. Slightly crispy on the outside with a soft, airy, and cheesy interior. I should learn how to make these... Plantains : Yum! They were sweet and creamy, with a distinct caramelized flavor. Crispy Polenta : Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. A good one for sure. Garlic Mashed Potatoes : They straddled the line between creamy and fluffy really well and carried the flavor of the garlic nicely but not overwhelmingly. Eating the whole portion like I did will probably slow you down on the meats though.

What I picked up at the salad bar:

Mushrooms : I really liked these, but I'm generally biased in favor of mushrooms. They were tender and flavorful. Eggplant : Solid, I'm glad I picked it up. Caprese Salad : The fresh mozzarella was awesome, but I felt that the tomato was a bit lacking in flavor. Asparagus : Really good. They had a very clean flavor, without a lot of the harsh grassiness that asparagus can sometimes have. The texture was also on point. Chorizo : Flavorful, but I did expect it to be a bit spicier. Pickled Onions : Good. I've had better pickled onions but these did complement the meats well. Artichokes : Honestly wasn't huge on these. The flavor was decent but Ive certainly had better. Cheeses : The cheeses were great. The standout to me was the caramelized honey cheese that was brought out with the meats. I don't think I've ever tried something like that before!

There were wayyyy more meat options but I was gonna combust at this point so I had to tap out. I'd love to come back at some point to try some of the others! Thank you for reading my...

Update: I am still waiting to hear back from them. I have now emailed them a few times and have left a BBB complaint but they seem to be giving me the runs around. I called them and they told me they’ll get back to me but they don’t and they’re slow to respond. It seems like they’re trying to handle this issue by simply ignoring it and not commenting or they have very bad communication. Whatever the case their cadences and lack of customer support aren’t appreciate and speak volumes towards their business practices.

Just wanted to provide a quick update: I went out of my way to contact the email as instructed in the reply and never heard back, this is very disappointing and unprofessional. I feel like they never intended to reply and just wanted to look like they were replying and dealing with the problem providing good customer service when in fact it was never their intention to reply. I will be following this up with a complaint on BBB and will update my review accordingly...

This past Friday I had made a reservation at Fogo de Chão to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday and we were very disappointed with the experience and quality of food and services. Fogo de Chão is one of our favorite restaurants and we have had the opportunity to eat at various locations and this by far was the worst we have experienced. The food quality wasn't great, the salad bar wasn't the cleanest.

When we initially arrived they sat us down on the top floor which wasn't ideal given the buffet was downstairs, this was very disappointing, we requested to be moved downstairs to the dinning room which was eventually done but took time and it was awkward.

We were eventually say in the main dining area against a wall with 3 directions of traffic on 3 sides, it was very busy and not the ideal seating arrangement.

As always we did the prix-fixe, all you can eat option. Our food quality and assortment of meats was less than ideal, they primarily only served us beef and very few other options of the other meats that we typically enjoy. The meat was rather tough and didn't taste great, at one point we stopped eating and decided to go elsewhere to finish our evening and get the ideal steak we were wanting.

We were ignored by a lot of the staff when we tried to get their attention. The alcohol drinks we ordered also weren't that tasty or mixed well, they were somewhat inapplicable and we didn't finish our drinks. My girl friend was given a complementary slice of cake for her birthday which was appreciated and good but we didn't enjoy it until later that evening because we were still hungry and like I said we went elsewhere to eat.

We were very disappointed with this experience especially given we were celebrating a birthday and had high expectations, perhaps we went at the wrong time or day. Very disappointed with the quality of food compared to other locations we have visited.

Overall I am still a fan of Fogo de Chão but I wouldn't go out of my way to go to this location, I feel it isn't as good as other locations we've been too and would recommend the one in Brooklyn over the one...

DONT BOOK A RESERVATION! I wish I had positive things to say about this experience given how expensive it is. (😩) I booked an 8pm reservation months prior to our date. I even got a confirmation from open table the day before to confirm our party size and timeframe of arrival. We got there and it was complete craziness. I found an employee who confirmed we were on the reservation list, and pointed us on the general vicinity of where to wait. It was literally body to body, and I don’t mean that dramatically (this was the tightest space we were in during our entire trip to NYC, times square, which is saying a lot). There was one woman quietly calling to seat people. We told her our names, and she verified we were on the list. The couple next to us expressed that they had a reservation for 7:15. Multiple others around us were in the same boat. After waiting at the front of the line, and watching them seat many, many parties (somewhat randomly- there were reservations for after ours that were sat much before us), we finally got sat at 8:53pm. If the woman we initially talked to had told us it was going to be such a long wait, we would have had adequate time to find food elsewhere. But she kept saying she didn’t know who would be called next. This wouldn’t normally be such a big deal, but it was too late to find dinner elsewhere, and we had a 10pm show that was 10 minutes away. Once we were rushed to our table, I expressed my concerns to our waiter and asked if we should order one large steak for everyone and call it a day, and he said “we will get something out quicker for you”. So we never “ordered” anything. Suddenly food started being offered to us and it became clear to me that he signed all 4 of us up for “the experience”. We were never given water until we flagged down another server, and this was halfway through our “meal”. All of the meats we were offered were obviously rushed. The pork chops were dry, the steaks were overcooked, etc. We have eaten at many Fogo de Chaos and never had this experience. We were there for 40 of the most rushed minutes. I asked our server for the bill, as we were going to be late, and he threw down a bill of almost $62 per person, before tip. This would have been okay with me, had we have had a positive experience. It would have been a kind gesture to have gotten compensation, dessert, or something of the kind given they were over an hour behind, and probably longer had I had not been assertive about being sat. The cherry on top was when the host stated this is what it is like “every night”. You’d think a restaurant centered around the experience would care about the experience enough to remedy or not double book themselves. They obviously just take reservations and deal with the consequences later- which totally ruins the experience for everyone. Super disappointed in...