Rodizio Grill Brazilian Steakhouse Estero — Restaurant in San Carlos Park

Food service is hard business to get right everytime. There’s so many moving variables, and two different diners who are at the restaurant at the same time can have a completely different experience based on so many factors.

That being said, ours was mediocre at best. We’ve been wanting to go here but were never hungry enough to do the all you can eat meat, so finally we decided to try it as we are fans of other big Brazilian steakhouse chains like Fogo de Chao and Chama Gaucha in the previous cities we used to live in.

This wasn’t it. Like not even close! I really just wanted to come because I love the sides they serve at those other locations, most especially the Brazillian cheese bread pao de quiejo, the polenta and other little tasties.

I was super disappointed that the sides here are self-serve, and they are just sitting there getting dried out by the buffet heat lamps. Nothing had much flavor or properly seasoned, and it just wasn’t appetizing. They had a nice sized salad bar but nothing really stood out, and I felt weird about certain volume prepped food items sitting out in a buffet (like the various pasta and seafood salads), and stuck with the fresh produce salads and fruits.

I think if your taste buds are set to a lot lower expectations, and if all you want is volume and quantity, that’s fine. But I was wanting something appetizing and delicious, and did not find anything that made me feel like Rodizio was worth a visit. For meat eaters, again, if you want a lot of mediocre cuts, with maybe one or two good cuts that come infrequently, that may be fine. Our party doesn’t consume pork or organ meats, so that took away a few options that came around.

Lastly we actually had an anniversary and birthday in our group, but no one asked and we couldn’t find a good moment to talk to anyone as we were seated outside in the in between area of the patio and indoor seating. It was also hectic trying to go inside to the buffet area as there were so many people passing in and out between the tables with diners leaving and coming, meat servers and waiters just cross-crossing through. Just the whole thing was not something I’d like to repeat, and definitely not for $50 a person. I had also orders their signature Brazilian drink and it was so watered down and flavorless I couldn’t believe this was what they were serving.

Next time I will listen to my gut and just go across the street to El Gaucho Inca, and stick with my go-to items over there. Because eating at Rodizio was just really not worth the price at all, at least not if you actually...

We've been here before a couple of times, and it was decent. However, I took my family out for dinner and we waited quite a while for the server to check in with us (which was ok, since we understand that there may be a worker shortage, etc)... We ordered drinks, but again, took quite a while for her to bring the order. We put the green indicator "up" to let them know that we were ready to eat! It took a long time again, but as I said earlier, we were okay with this since it was a LITTLE busy... but I will say that the restaurant was not quite 1/2 full. The meat seemed to taste okay, but there was a lot of fat on the cuts that were served. The one huge bright spot during our visit was the pineapple which was OUTSTANDING! The desserts were "okay," but not great... But the worst thing so far was that after asking for the check, the waitress/server NEVER returned. My family left the table after waiting 20 minutes and waited in the car. I waited another 10+ minutes, but no one ever returned. Upon telling the receptionist that the server never brought the check, she brought this to the manager's attention. He was very nice and gave me some coupons for next time, but we will NEVER be back. Inexcusable. Here's the worst part... we missed our next gathering with more family since we were late, but maybe this was a blessing in disguise. I say this because once we arrived back home, everyone ran to the toilet to "evacuate." Two of my family members that ate at Rodizio Grill are still bouncing back and forth from laying down in bed to running to the toilet. These two went up to the salad bad, but others in my family did not; maybe something in the salad bar caused these issues? Be VERY CAREFUL walking on the "wood"/vinyl/Pergo type floors. It was VERY greasy and super slippery and we had to walk very carefully each time we got up from the table. Even the family across from us commented on the super slippery floor. The only rug to combat this issue was at one end of the salad bar and I told everyone at my table that they should walk with extreme caution and then walk over to the rug to wipe the grease or whatever was slick on the floor to get off the bottom of their shoes.

For nearly 60.00+ per person (without anything added on), it is definitely not worth it. Sorry Rodizio Grill. I really was hoping for...

My wife and I went here for the first time tonight. We enjoyed the food, the service, and the atmosphere VERY MUCH. Our server, Owen, was very helpful, pleasant, and prompt. The salad bar was totally NEXT LEVEL! And the meats were very delicious and tender. We never waited more than 2 minutes before we were being offered new selections of meats. I also liked the grilled pineapple! It was a GREAT palate cleanser between the different offerings. Lastly, even though we were BOTH stuffed to the gills, we had some dessert (You always have room for dessert, right? ) We chose the caramel flan. It was really good!! The whole experience was great, and we cannot wait to go back! Thank you for making a rare date with my wife such a great dining experience!!! 👍

UPDATE: So... Went here this past Sunday. (Apr 10, 2022) We were a party of 6. And we were celebrating a birthday. Two members of our party were kids. First of all, we were charged full price for all members of the party, and secondly we were automatically charged a 20% tip! And honestly, while the service is usually excellent, it was not great this time. There was no problem with the food. It was delicious and well seasoned. But to be charged full price when 2 of our party should have been charged for kids prices was not good...And then, with less than great service, to automatically add a 20% tip! I had assumed parties of 8 or more would be charged an automatic tip, not a party of 6!!! Especially when 2 of our party were kids!!! Let me be clear! I have NO PROBLEM tipping! And I value myself a good tipper!!! This left a REALLY BAD TASTE in my mouth, and I wonder if I'll ever return!!! I reached out to Rodizio on their website, hoping they would at least respond, but since they did not, my review went from what would have been 3 stars, to two!!! Apparently, they don't care whether a customer has a bad experience or not!!! I also mentioned in my website contact that in business there is the 1/10 rule! One person will tell 10 people about their experience at your establishment. I imagine that more than 10 people will read this review..that Rodizio didn't think was important....Hope it...