Hocca Florida Mall - Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Pine Castle

Disappointing Experience at Hocca at Florida Mall in Orlando- Not Worth the Hype or the Price

My family and I visited Hocca Brazilian Restaurant and Bar at the Florida Mall last Friday during our family reunion — a special occasion we were all looking forward to. Unfortunately, this restaurant ended up being one of the low points of our trip.

We ordered a variety of dishes: my son had the Sanduíche de Picanha, I had the Picanha plate, my other son ordered the Virado à Paulista, and my daughter chose the Picanha Risotto. We also shared appetizers — Pastel de Queijo, Bolinho de Bacalhau, and a portion of the house specialties.

While the menu sounded promising, the actual portions were incredibly disappointing — especially for the price. The picanha sandwich came loaded with everything except picanha. I’m not exaggerating when I say the meat portion was barely 2 ounces. My plate had roughly 4 ounces of picanha, which is shockingly small for a dish priced over $30. Every dish at our table followed this same pattern: overpriced and severely under-portioned.

Our total bill came out to over $300, and to top it off, the restaurant collects the tip upfront, which made the experience feel even more frustrating. We aren’t complaining about the money — we understand what a good meal costs — but the value and portion sizes we received were simply unacceptable.

We were so unsatisfied, we ended up returning to our Airbnb and making our own churrasco just to feel like we had a proper meal. What should have been a memorable family dinner turned into a major letdown.

This was our first and definitely last visit to Hocca. Unfortunately, it ruined part of what was meant to be a special family moment.

Follow-Up to Management’s Response: After reading the management’s sarcastic reply to our review, I feel even more compelled to clarify what really went wrong. The issue was not that we shared plates — the issue was that the meat portions served were ridiculously small, more appropriate for a child’s meal than a main dish priced over $30. A sandwich labeled “picanha” had barely 2 ounces of meat, and the picanha plate wasn’t much better.

Instead of accepting this feedback with professionalism, the response was full of assumptions and passive-aggressive remarks. If this is their idea of “premium,” I’d suggest the management take some time to actually visit first-class restaurants — not just read about them. Because our experience was nowhere near that level.

The service was far from premium. The waiter only spoke with us when taking the order — no one came back to check on the table, offer additional drinks, or present a wine list. Our dishes arrived at different times, so we didn’t even eat together as a family. The food was delayed and brought out in separate waves. Even the bill took a long time to arrive, which just added to the frustration.

A real high-end dining experience is marked by attention, pacing, and hospitality — not by rushing guests through overpriced, under-portioned meals without a single follow-up.

Sarcasm isn’t customer service. We gave honest feedback, and instead of owning up to what could have been a teachable moment and read your past client reviews that have similar comments, they chose to mock us. That...

*Edit in response to the owner: yes, things do come down to personal taste, but when you’re charging $18 for a burger, it should be good at least, possibly great. There are plenty of other places in town that charge that amount for a burger and I never leave feeling like it was a giant mistake. The fries were obviously re-heated with a microwave. I’m glad your business has been around for such a long time, and I know times are tough for restaurants, but this was just not up to any standard for the price you’re charging. I don’t think after this experience we’d ever want to come back :/

We decided to try this place on a whim; we wanted burgers and the reviews of the restaurant claimed they were great. We drove well out of our way to try this place out - 4.7 stars with over a thousand reviews? Sounded great.

When we arrived - on a Saturday night, there was hardly anyone else in the whole restaurant. Not a great sign, but maybe just a slow night. The lights were on full blast - very cool white fluorescents, which made it feel more like a cafeteria than a restaurant. I think the lights bothered us more than anything else, aesthetically. Not much going on in there either in terms of ambiance. We checked the reviews again and noticed that all the decent ones had been a few weeks or months ago, many were years old. Uh oh.

We ordered burgers and empanadas; the empanadas came out quickly, were very hot and fairly good. The burgers, however….oh boy. Stay away. The consistency was very heavy; I felt like I was eating a tightly compacted meatball more than an actual burger. The meat blend they were using is picanha, which I’ve had before, and it was not like this. It was oozing with cheese and sauce, which was its only saving grace. At a price point of nearly $18, I felt immediate regret. Having to drown out the taste of a very mediocre burger with sauce is not what you want when you pay EIGHTEEN DOLLARS.

You know when you try to take home leftover fries and reheat them? That’s what the fries we were given tasted like. They were dry, stale, not at all hot or fresh, and had very clearly been microwaved. It actually grossed me out to think about what else we might have been served.

My advice would be to check out one of the other spots in the area. A dinner for two, with one app and two entrees that costs $70 should actually be...

So disappointing 😔. The staff was friendly. The bar and menu were amazing and the empanadas were ok. But the service was so incredibly horrible. Honestly, I don't think I've ever had worse.

We arrived during happy hour there were two full tables and another two gentlemen at a table near the bar. They must have been VIPs because they got the attention of all the staff.

We ordered 3 drinks: one shot on the rocks with lemon, one specialty drink and a sangria as well as two empanadas. While we were waiting, we'd decided we would order the mignon capitury and the classic Camarao to share.

We received two of the three drinks and our empanadas. The empanadas were ok and two of the drinks were good.

The problem is that we were there for 40 minutes and NEVER got the third drink. After staring at staff members for 30 minutes trying to get their attention, our server asked if we were ready to order but we decided to just get the check and go elsewhere.

I was really looking forward to some authentic Brazilian today, but unfortunately this location was not interested in taking care of all of their guests.

The manager, bartender, or owner (not sure) walked by after I paid and left a 1 star review. Then he walked back by and looked over his shoulder to ask if we needed him. ? Not sure why he would wait so long to check on folks. It was clear that it was an after thought and he really only cared to attend to the two VIPs at the front table.

I wish I had looked at the reviews before deciding to check this place out. It seems that every negative review has a response from the owner that is either an excuse for poor service or trying to discredit the reviewer. That alone sets off red flags for me.

It's really a shame. This place has such potential, if not for the poor management.

Save yourself the trouble and just go to Carinas. The staff is so attentive...