Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Schaumburg Township

Ok here we go, lets start off by saying I have been going to Fogo's all over the states for more than a decade. This will be the second visit to this location and most likely the last. I frequent Fogo often as I choose this place as my cheat meal usually ever month or so. I am a large human and an athlete so I need to eat allot to be satisfied, again this is why I frequent the Fogo's. However this time was the very first time I left and was not stuffed! My wife and I were a two top and we were seated promptly, however the hostess had to wait with us at our table until a server came. She said normally if she was the only one on she would go back to the host stand, I looked over and there was another girl there, rolling silverware (which i feel in the industry is a bit of a no no to be doing out on the floor) Server came she was nice, in fact everyone was nice.My wife is a vegetarian so really she just comes here for the salad bar We did all that and then I flipped the little thing to green, well i had no one for what i would say 10 minutes even stop with food. We were served the little buns and all the sides quickly though. The mashed spuds were at best room temp and had a weird film on the top of them so we only had a small bite. The caramelized bananas were cold so we passed on those as well, however the polenta was hot and fresh. It should be noted that across from us was a large table 19 top, nine adults and ten kids which i believe was why our table was overlooked all night.Every time they went straight to that table and never not once stopped with us prior, even though in the direction of travel they had to pass us to get to them. So the meat finally came but i can tell you this was the first time I was offered the same cuts over and over again, and when I requested something it either never came or would take forever. The list is short so i can easily tell you what I had. Top sirloin, bottom sirloin, filet, lamb chop.This was all I was ever offered, I did request pork loin, pork belly, the parm crusted chicken, and the parm crusted pork. I did get both the pork and chicken which were both so dry that they crumbled apart in my mouth and had to be swallowed with water. floor manager would stop by and ask how things were and how the food was and i said three different times "food would be good i'm sure if i could please get some" they asked what i wanted and I said "anything at this point i'm just hungry" One of the managers brought over a glass of wine on the house for my wife(I don't drink) which was nice but it would have been better if they would have brought me food. After the 90 minute mark a server finally replaced the cheese buns and they were ICE COLD in the middle.They never once replaced a side so we only had one round of those.I had to get up and go get a clean plate for myself, as our servers were completely ignoring us at this point. I placed my dirty plate off to the side and watched people walk by make eye contact with both me and the plate and no one wanted to take it. The dirty plate remained until we were finally able to get out check around the 2.5 hour mark.this was the longest Ive ever been at a fogo. I'm usually in and out in 60 minutes, but since we were ignored the whole time it took forever. Directly across from our table they set up a large glorious staff meal where all the food I wasn't able to get was put out in dishes and we were lucky enough to be able to see a few staff sit down, enjoy a large glass of wine, and eat! Ive been going out a long time, and I have to tell you, i have not ever seen a staff meal started while there was still customers on the floor, let alone 10 feet away. Thats just sloppy and I cant believe that its part of the Fogo SOP. Anyway, two stars only because the salad bar was good as always and the second star because i do...

Buckle up because this is a very mixed review. First, great bartender. Best Negroni and specialty cocktails I’ve had in quite a while.

Staff—very mixed, but not quite the way I would have expected. Everyone pleasant who seats and waits on the table. Primary server and her assistant were personable and really trying. Zero complaints there.

Secondary bus person, very pleasant but boy if you need the fresh plate which is offered, I wish you luck in actually getting it. That wouldn’t be so bad except for he has taken yours - and isn’t coming back. Good luck waving him down. Go get your own but if you’re seated far from the salad bar, as you fight through the crowd, you’ll be gone for a while.

Meat service—as they call it. Well that’s a problem, particularly if you are seated in a corner as my party was. Oh you’ll see the meat guys—because they are serving tables adjoining yours. But they won’t be serving YOU until you are waving, gesticulating or shouting.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t go to a Brazilian steakhouse to fight for steak. The idea is that food comes to you—you don’t chase it down. It’s really unpleasant and truly ruins the overall experience when your tolerance is constantly being tested.

Look, if you’re in a cheap place, roll with it. What do you expect? And even an an expensive place, perfection doesn’t exist. Go in a good mood and stay that way.

I’m one of those people where if staff makes a mistake, my table is the place to make it because I’m an understanding person and do not expect perfection. But if I have to REPEATEDLY AND CONSTANTLY beg or fight for food throughout my entire visit I am going to lose the enjoyment—which you want and expect at such a place.

I couldn’t fault the staff we actually interacted with. They don’t run the meat guys. That’s a management issue which is where I assume the problem lies.

Now as for the food, there is no way to complain about it. I do believe the salad bar at Texas de Brazil is superior to the one at Fogo. However, what you really go for is the meat and the meat at Fogo (when you finally manage to get some) is noticeably better than at Texas.

If you love those little cheese breads, they are good at both places but the ones at Fogo are a full step better. At a Texas they are good. At Fogo they are addictive. And I would say Fogo also has the edge on better sides. Those come via your main server and there’s no problem there.

But I left with such mixed reactions.

I had plenty to eat and it was good.

But it is maddening to see the table one foot from yours served and then the servers walk away from you almost deliberately. Getting their attention is required every 5 or ten minutes and requires more theatrics than anyone would want to do in a restaurant. And yes, we had the green side up for those of you who are familiar with how you ask to be served. Not only did we have the green side up, but we pushed all of them to the edge of the table closest to where the servers were ignoring us, which made it harder for them to ignore us. But somehow they succeeded ignoring us anyway.

When main server inquired, we did speak up and she promised to “yell at those guys.” But I do understand that is not her role and that didn’t happen anyway.

Go hungry. If you don’t mind being pushy and loud then you’ll do fine. If you prefer to be laid back and attended to anyway—go to Texas. I never had to jump around for food no matter where I was seated.

I left full. I tipped 20%.

But I also left angry.

And that...

We got there on time for our 12:00 reservation and were seated quickly. The waitress came to our table and we looked at the menu before ordering drinks. Right after that another person came to the table and we told him we already ordered drinks. The iced tea I got was good, but the hot tea my mother got was way too strong. So my mom had to order some water to temper it.

After ordering the regular churrasco, we got up to go to the salad bar. It was pretty well stocked, and was pretty good.

Then came the meal time. They came by with a lot of top sirloin and bottom sirloin multiple times, but lacked different cuts that I had previously got well at their other establishment in Chicago. The meat we did get was often very salty and/or chewy. And even though I asked for medium, lots of the pieces I got were more close to well done. One time they came by with bacon-wrapped filet mignon, but it was so overdone that it was just horrible tasting.

After finishing my first iced tea I had to wait quite a while to get the second one. I had one waitress come by and asked if I wanted iced tea and she got me one but didn't have lemon in it, and then another waitress came by and gave me an iced tea that had a lemon in it. This multiple person/server seem to be the theme of the day. I understand good customer service, but it seemed very disjointed.

We had come to lunch to celebrate both my birthday and my mother's birthday, and they provided us both with complimentary desserts. Both my mother and I ordered creme brulee. It took what we both considered longer than expected to get the dessert. My mother thought it was too sweet, and I thought it was quite odd that they had used frozen strawberries on top when the salad bar area had fresh strawberries cut over there. It didn't make sense to me how they could have fresh strawberries over there, but used frozen strawberries. The serve from which was noticeable on top of the desserts.

When it came to pay for the bill it took over 15 minutes to get it. And when they did bring the bill, it was wrong, they had charged us for the desserts. We had come for both myself and my mother's birthday, and so the two desserts were complimentary. So I had to flag someone down to get them to fix the bill, and wait all over again.

As I was sitting there to wait for my bill to be fixed, I noticed they were more cuts of meat being served since it was closer to 2:00 and it was more busy. The guy sitting next to our table even seem to be getting meat served at the wellness he would like. I heard him ask for them to bring it so he could have a crust and I saw the cuts they were giving him had a crust on the outside but were medium on the inside, unlike mine. For my suggestion to anyone going there for lunch to go closer to 2:00 because that seems to be when they have the better selection of meat.

I'm honestly not sure if I will be going back to this establishment, for the price paid it wasn't very satisfactory unfortunately. I've been to Fogo de Chao in Chicago twice. The first time I went for lunch there I left completely full. And the second time was really good as well. This time, going to the one in Schaumburg, I didn't leave as full as I did when I left in Chicago. The food in Chicago was really good, while the Schaumburg location was just okay...