Via Brasil NYC — Restaurant in New York

We got tickets to a Broadway show so we needed a dinner place nearby. We don't have Brazilian food too ofter, so we thought why not? We made a resso for a Wednesday at 6:15. It was pretty empty. From the outside looking in, it does look like a tourist trap, especially because of its proximity to Times Square. But they had good reviews, and the menu looked good and was reasonably priced, especially for that area. We ordered:

-Assorted Brazilian Hors d'ouevres - this was an assortment of 6 different empanadas/croquettes with various meat/cheese/rice filling. Some were good but there were a few I didn't like. I don't even know what was what because nothing was explained to us. But its a fun dish to share between two people if you want to try a little bit of all the flavors. This was served with a side of some chili/tomato oil, which was really good but if you can't take spice, this dip isn't for you -Feijoada Complete (black bean stew with fresh and dried beef, salted and fresh pork, bacon, sausage and ribs, served with collard greens, rice, sliced orange and farofa) - we shared this and it's definitely enough for two people. I didn't care for the beef, but love the pork because it was tender, and the sausage as well. The collard greens were a nice garlicky tradition. I've never had feijoada before but having stew with orange was new to me but it was actually kind of refreshing and cut some of the richness of the stew. I didn't care for the farofa (toasted cassava flour). It reminded me of eating nutritional yeast. We wanted a bit more carbs to go with the rest of the stew and the cheese bread would have been great to soak up all the sauce but unfortunately, this was sold out. How can you sell out of cheese bread before a dinner rush! We ended up getting fried bananas, which I do not recommend. We thought it would be like fried plantains but it was literally battered and fried halves of bananas, kind of like the banana tempura you would get at a sushi restaurant.

I don't know if I liked this place enough to come back for a second visit, but it was a great...

If the tables in Via Brasil could talk (well, a few of them can) they’d tell stories about long and memorable Cariocan meals that were so much fun, with such flavorful food, and the coolest live music, all based upon the most perfect and poignant caipirinhas anywhere north of Copacabana.

Don’t waste time with too much reading, just go to the heart of Manhattan’s Brazilian street at 34 West 46th and ask for Dante, the managing producer/director of the very intimate scene, to help you plan your repast.

The entire staff at Via Brazil is fearlessly alert, smart, well trained, intelligent, lucky, and helpful. They will be your most respectful friends.

Strongly suggest you order caipirinhas and a selection of traditional appetizers for all who can enjoy them. After the fourth caipirinha , ask them to leave out the sugar.

The fabled feijoada is celebrative with black beans for the Moors, white rice for the Christians, smoked and jerked pork for the unwanted cuts that only slaves ate, green collards for the jungle, orange oranges for the sun, red fermented beans for desire, yellow yucca flour as the most common food, and luscious red and yellow peppers for sex.

Feijoada is the national dish of Brazil, an Via Brazil serves the best Brazilian pepper sauce available within 4,818 miles or 46th Street.

There are also outstanding seafood selections, salads, breads, and deserts to “die for,” plus top-notch Brazilian coffee.

Enough. Go. Say...

I just went to celebrate with my family and kids the "Three Wise Men Day" dinner 2017 and it's a Great place, great food and very nice service, specially you enjoy the environment with awesome Brazilian jazz, but a big Red Flag🚩... I used one of my credit cards to pay which I usually never use and boom!!! big mistake I got a call in the middle of the night from my credit card company stating a $500.00 dollar purchase was recently made but needed my confirmation for approval. The credit card company asked when was the last time my card was out of sight when payments and I told them I had previously visited and paid my dinner at Via Brasil and its a card a rarely use. Credit Card company suggested some restaurant staff member could've taken a photocopy or took down information to later try to purchase online. Next step, I called the manager and the lady who answered my call had an attitude once a asked for him and refuse to give me his name and told me to try another time. I hate writing down reviews like this... but after being so disappointed I had no other choice. Hopefully this restaurant manager could put his hand down and fixes the problem, otherwise it's a shame to see a great restaurant in NYC with this kind of issues. I suggest customers to pay cash if possible at this location. If it wasn't for this, I should have...