Tucanos Brazilian Grill — Restaurant in Saint Charles

Dining at Tucanos Brazilian Grill brought back memories—vivid and fragrant—of my days stationed in Brazil during the war. I was a young man then, full of strength and purpose, and the evenings in Recife were long, warm, and full of charm. There was a grace to life, even amid uncertainty. Men knew how to treat a lady, and meals—especially in Brazil—were slow, deliberate affairs that unfolded like a conversation.

So when I stepped into Tucanos, I hoped to recapture some of that old magic. And in part, I did.

The picanha was nothing short of extraordinary—tender, perfectly salted, and seared with care. The peru com bacon—turkey wrapped in smoked bacon—was flavorful and indulgent, a worthy modern echo of the old Brazilian kitchens I remember. And the abacaxi grelhado—that sweet, cinnamon-kissed grilled pineapple—well, it transported me. With one bite I was back on a veranda under a lantern’s flicker, the air thick with jasmine and the chatter of good people speaking in soft Portuguese.

The food bar, though ample and fresh, was not my focus. The salads, beans, and stews were serviceable, but I came for the meats and the memories—not for leafy greens and vinaigrettes. Still, it’s good to see the option there for those of a different persuasion.

Now, I must be candid. The passadores, the fellows bringing the meats, were eager—perhaps too eager. They circled the tables like buzzards at times, knives glinting and voices urgent. I don’t mean any offense—many of them reminded me of the proud, dark-eyed locals I met back in the day. Fine men, salt of the earth, full of spirit. But I do wish they’d taken a cue from the old ways. In Brazil, the meat comes when the guest is ready. At Tucanos, it felt more like a drill line. I half expected a whistle and a shout.

My wife and I had hoped for a romantic evening, perhaps a cocktail or glass of wine to accompany slow conversation and shared memory. Instead, we raised our voices to be heard over the din, and found ourselves defending our plates from the next offering before we’d chewed the last bite. The pace was harried. The noise was high. It was all a bit much.

And yet, I’m grateful. Grateful that someone still takes pride in serving churrasco, in cutting meat tableside, in offering water cold and lemoned in a glass carafe—small details that matter to a man who remembers when details were everything.

In sum: the meats were superb, the service well-meaning if brisk, and the spirit of Brazil flickered somewhere in that dining room. With a little less haste and a touch more old-world poise, Tucanos could offer not just dinner—but something...

We went last night. We are here in town because we are expecting a grandbaby. My daughter suggested Tucanos because I am a salad bar fanatic. The bar is large, the salad is meh. I have burned the roof of my mouth and needed a less vinegary dressing, no options. The other side of the bar, the 3 cheese potatoes were good. There was shrimp on the third side and the hubs is deathly allergic so we didn’t even look at fruit and preprep salad options. We told our waiter that my husband is allergic to shrimp. Shrimp allergy causes anaphylaxis among other nasty things. The hubs took an allergy pill to keep the reaction at bay from the fresh shrimp on the salad fiesta bar. We started to receive meats, the first meat to arrive is shrimp. He’s allergic I said, and there was no urgency to get away with the server. Why didn’t our server relay his allergy to the meat minions? Then some steak cooked to my preference, then some to his, some grilled veggies, could have enjoyed an entire skewer of those, some bacon wrapped turkey, steak and pork, then another different meat minion with shrimp. Can this restaurant get a damn system to keep shrimp out of my hubby’s face? Like a sign for the table that says, crustacean allergy or just fish allergy would work. I would not go if you have a peanut allergy because you can talk until you’re blue in the face and no one takes the allergy seriously.

The restaurant needs to design a system for alerting everyone visiting the table to an allergy since up front communication doesn’t cut it. If they’d just not brought fish or shrimp directly to our table we would have had a pleasant experience, instead my hubby has hives today and is ill, while we are awaiting the arrival of our first grand child.

Let me reframe this, the waiter, the meat minions (I don’t know what they are called, but they are helpers) all did a wonderful job, but they didn’t all have the information to effectively handle an allergy situation. We left a tip reflecting our appreciation for the food we did eat and enjoyed and the abundance of meat offered us that was deliciously prepared. We just think the restaurant should find a way to organize a response to an allergy so that they people are not excluded...

A local relative recommended Tucanos, knowing my love of authentic Brazilian/Churassca dining. Upon arrival, I called to check the wait time, as we had a 4 hour drive home. The lady on the phone said there was no wait time. 30 seconds later my group of 2 adults and 1 child walks in and we were told it would be a 15-20 minute wait. There were several tables open.

We finally were seated. The best part of our experience was Sophie. She was very attentive and did her job well. The salad bar was great, and the cheese bread was excellent. That's where the good stops.

The first lady came by with meat and asked our preferred temperature. I told her Rare. She said "how about medium?" I repeated that we enjoy rare. She told me that the best she could do was medium to medium rare. The "good" stuff started coming out. I took two slices of Picanha (my favorite) I sampled a couple other offerings, but everything was mostly well done. I saw another server with Picanha again and he leaned over to our table to say we were being skipped as we had already had this. He proceeded to serve it to a table that had been eating prior to when we sat down. This server skipped our table 3 times with different meat choices. The other server came back with the same well done meats, most being so dry they should have just been packaged as jerky. The ham was tough. The parmesan chicken had very little flavor. The sausage tasted great. The teryaki beef was very tough and dried out. The sirloin was mediocre but at least more medium rare. These two servers seemed to despise their job and those they work with and had very poor attitudes.

$29.95 per adult is a lot for two pieces of picanha. So much for "all you can eat meats"

I've been to several of these style restaurants. Texas De Brazil, Fogo De Ciao, RC Brazilian steakhouse. In several states.

This place was not worth it and not even close to being on the same level as the others.

I wish I could give Sophie more stars. She alone was a 5 star experience. Very friendly. The others, from walking in to the...