The Taste of Brazil — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I have never felt like wanting give an establishment negative stars until my experience here.

I come to this place frequently & like to have family dinners here. I haven’t been here for a while but it seemed like it was under new management, or lack thereof.

So my family and I come to eat with a groupon. The groupon was for 4 people & we had 5 adults & one 6 year old child with us so we were acknowledged that we had to pay for our extra adult, which was totally fine.

When it was time to pay, they charged the 6 year old that was in our party a full price for an adult. We asked why was she charged for an adult when she was 6 years old? The waiter got extremely offended and asked us if why would we think they would cheat us for a child? But first of all, it would have been nice if they asked the child how old she was before assuming she was over 7. Granted she was tall, but her almost 7 foot tall father, former professional basketball player was sitting with us. Another point, she sat there playing dinosaurs the entire time & ate some spaghetti. I asked them what their policy was for children & they said it was for 7 years old and under. WHICH MADE US QUESTION WHY OUR THREE YEAR OLD WAS CHARGED?

The waiter who served us spoke to us in an extremely rude manner until the point where his coworkers had to take him to the back. At random times, he would come charging from the back and start pointing and yelling saying that little girl was clearly not 6 years old. We asked to speak to the manager because at this point, we could not believe how we were being treated and talked to by this waiter. EVEN BETTER, the same guy who was serving us our chicken said that he was the manager. We tipped $30 on top of the 15% we were charged and we were so upset at the way they were speaking to us, so we asked for our tip back and the guy ripped up our receipt & told us to leave. Another girl came up & I explained to her that we wanted our tip back, she gave $1.33 in coins from their shared tip jar and slammed it on counter. Never in my life have I ever been so disrespected.

Sorry, but you lost a lot of business. We bring a lot of friends & family here to eat but after this experience, you lost us & everyone...

I've been to different places that offer a Rodizio, which I really enjoy, so I am always on the lookout for a new place to try. Since my oldest is now at Temple, I was looking around in Philadelphia area for Brazilian restaurants, and Google located The Taste of Brazil for me. We gave it a try this past weekend, and glad we did. Walking into the place, it's a buffet along one wall, and a bunch of tables & chairs arranged cafeteria style. If you want privacy, this is not the place for you. We walked over to the buffet to check out the options there, and one of the waitstaff pulled us aside to explain how their restaurant works, with the Rodizio & buffet, or just the buffet. We decided to sit down & give it a try. The food on the buffet was very good. Nice selection of assorted salads, black beans, pinto beans, rice, yucca, plantain, etc... There were also some meats on the buffet, like chicken & a beef roast, but we skipped those in favor of the Rodizio. The servers came around with different meats on skewers, and cut slices off for us to have. They came around fairly regularly, and most of the meats were very delicious. I counted about 5-6 different cuts the night we were there. There was a top sirloin (excellent), a sirloin (very good), a sausage (also very good), beef rib (next time I'll pass on that one), along with a couple more options. Most were very good to excellent, save the beef rib and one of the meats (may have been a brisket or something). So I was happy with what I had, especially for the $20 cost. I've been to other places that offered the rodizio, with more selections (up to 20 at one place), but they charge a very high price for that many options, even if you cannot eat all 20 of them. So this place, with their buffet of salads & side dishes, and the limited rodizio experience was very good. Additionally, the service was very friendly & helpful, and many people around us seemed to be speaking Portugese, so it seems to be a known local place. We'll definitely be back on aonther...

The whole family enjoyed it. A bargain at the price for the buffet AND the rodizio at $15. Place was clean, everyone was friendly and efficient. Most of all, the meat was delicious. Picanha (sirloin) and Rib Eye were off the hook. So we're the chicken, pork ribs and sausage. Brisket was tough but flavorful, but that's just brisket. No WAY to make that tender, but it and the flank were still fine. Much less salty than competition (but hey.. salt is essential to the style.) They used just enough. Sides on the buffet were interesting and deliciously prepared. I would much rather eat here than the high priced more elegant chains. To be truthful, the meat is BETTER, more tender, and charcoal trumps gas big time in this style of grilling. We will be regulars. BTW, if you are the type that is intimidated by ethnic restaurants because you're not of their culture, be assured they speak English well and are genuinely welcoming. I have been in "mom and pop" rodizios in Boston (and Philly) where we felt slightly ignored (or even UNWELCOME) despite learning the names of the cuts in Portuguese, and translations of how to ask for a piece "rare." The staff here seemed genuinely glad that we were there.

Update 11/27/17 Better than ever. Friendly staff who speak English well. $15 for rodizio lunch is a bargain. Meats are perfectly done and not over-salted. You get a decent variety of cuts fresh from the REAL WOOD fire. Some rodizio seem ready to kick you out after 45 minutes. Here they IMPLORE you to have "one more slice" before you leave. It makes you feel like...