Roots of Brasil — Restaurant in Sioux Falls Township

Wow… so much to talk about!

This is a hole in the wall, Diamond in the rough! The restaurant is in an old building downtown and it’s TINY but with some beautiful decor and creative use of space, they’ve really made it work and made this space their own. Even the bathrooms are beautiful and clean with modern sinks and faucets.

The first thing that catches your eye when you walk in is the beautiful wood burning oven. Since most of the seating is upstairs in a loft area they used a super shiny and clean looking chimney to vent out of the roof that only adds to the decor.

Drinks, I tried a couple. The Mango Tango was very delicious (pictured in tall glass). Very natural flavors, not overly sweet. If you do want something sweeter, I definitely recommend the Antarctica Guarana (pictured short barrel glass). The waitress described it perfectly, if I could only recall exactly how she said it but it is a sweeter version of a ginger ale with a little bit of a tang to it. Definitely a must try, super good!

On to the appetizers! We ordered 3 to try. My least favorite was the cheese bread. They were just bread balls with cheese in the middle. They were still good but the order is pretty small and they didn’t live up to the flavors of everything else.

Next we tried the Milho Verde Elote (corn on cob, pictured). The roasted flavor of the corn was very bold and natural. Not sure how they cook this exactly but you can see the burnt husk at the end of the cob… I’m not saying that as a bad thing, it actually added to the flavor giving the corn a unique smoky flavor on top of all the other flavors. Pretty amazing!

The third appetizer we got was the muscles. Again, amazing flavors with blends of citrus and garlic… even my 13 year old loved them.

Without making this a whole book, The stroganoff (pictured) flavors were spot, unique to have rice instead of pasta, but it works. Flavor was not as bold as their other dishes but pretty much what you’d expect except the steak in this dish was crazy tender! Compliments to the chef!

The Grãos (Grits) were amazing. BOLD BOLD BOLD! Busting with flavor! You’ve just got to try it, wow!

My son had to get a pizza from the wood oven. That would have been big enough to feed all of us but there were so many things on the menu we wanted to try so we took most of that home in a box but it was really good like everything else.

For desert we tried two. The coconut pineapple dish which was not only delicious but severed very uniquely in a half coconut (pictured) and wood/bamboo spoons stained the same color… very nice! The flan is good. What you’d expect from a flan (also pictured).

Service: It was BUSY! We were seated within 30 minutes and were there for 2 hours!! The crazy thing is that it didn’t feel like we were there for anywhere near that long. The whole experience just made time fly by. Waitress was great! She was working so hard and that has to be tough running up and down the stairs all day/night. She was very attentive and didn’t write anything down which I am always impressed by (as long as everything comes out correctly, which it did).

Whole staff was super friendly and wait staff shared an obvious camaraderie, helping each other out pick up plates and serve food. Overall great experience!!

We spent a fair amount for 3 people but we did order a couple specialty drinks, 3 appetizers, 3 entrees, and two deserts. Tab came out to $140 but I would have spent $200 on that meal so I gave the difference to the waitress.

Will definitely be going back. Can’t wait to try more of...

While searching Google Maps for an interesting place to eat for my birthday, Roots of Brasil popped up, which I had never heard of before. Looking over their menu and pictures, it looked very interesting and unique. It ended up being a toss up between this, and one other place, and I actually opted for the other place. I told my hubby, but at the very last moment, I changed my mind.

GREATEST DECISION EVER.

I was a little nervous when we pulled up because this restaurant is literally just a couple doors on the side of a warehouse looking building with a sign over it. I wasn't sure what kind of place we were walking into, but as soon as we walked in the doors, I was in love. The atmosphere of this place is absolutely amazing, it's so neat looking, cozy, and very welcoming. There is a short of kitchen prep area for pizza right there when you enter, and the staff immediately greet you. The waitress we had, and I'm so sad I can't remember her name, was one of the nicest waitress I've ever encountered. She knew everything about the dishes, made suggestions, and was amazingly friendly. On a side note, the main dining area is up a flight of stairs, so if you have trouble with stairs be aware of that. However there are a couple tables at floor level as well.

The menu is the perfect size to not be overwhelming, but also gives plenty of options. We had to Google some things (Feijão?), but the were plenty of things for those who are looking for the more familiar (specialty sandwiches). We ordered the gaucho fries (loaded yucca root fries). Yucca is very similar to potato, and the sauce on these, chipotle aoili, is amazing.

I ordered the Feijão Tropeiro, my husband ordered the Grãos with pork belly, and my son ordered the red snapper. On a side note, the red snapper is the most expensive thing on the menu at $33, but since it was a special occasion, we decided to go for it. All the food was absolutely amazing, and I truly cannot stress that enough. I will say that when my food came out, I was a bit skeptical because it didn't look very flavorful, and it was relatively dull in color (yes, Im aware of how weird that sounded) but the first bite I had blew me away. The spices and seasonings they use are amazing. My son's fish, hands down, the best fish I've had in a LONG time. I only got to try a small bite of my husband's, and the small bite I had was very good, but I can't testify to how great it was because he polished the whole thing off with much gusto, so I will surmise it was also delicious. :)

Even though we couldn't finish our main meals and got them boxed up, we still wanted to try a dessert. We went with a coconut, pineapple, chocolate item, of which name I cannot remember, and they do not have it on the menu. The other options were different kinds of cheesecake, and while I do absolutely love cheesecake, I wanted to try something a bit different, and lighter. This dessert was the perfect end to our meal.

Overall, I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. The price is a little bit on the higher side at about $10 to $20 per person (unless you order the red snapper), but it is truly an experience, and if you have the chance to stop in, do it. This is easily in my top five favorite restaurants in Sioux Falls now, and I cannot wait to go back and try...

I was excited at the idea of having a Brazilian restaurant in Sioux Falls and here was our experience. We entered and put in our name for a 20 minute wait. We were offered a 20% off coupon to a local bar while we wait. I declined since it was an early dinner for us and we didnt want to drink. We arrived around 6 pm on a Saturday. Our table came available around the anticipated wait. Our server came to the table with water. At this point, I ordered a Coke and we ordered the Queijo Assado for an appetizer. 10 minutes later the server came back to confirm my Coke and the appetizer since he apparently forgot and did not write it down. At this point we placed our entree order. I got the Caribbean Chicken since I'm a huge Jerk fan. My wife ordered the Minas Coconut Milk Rissoto. 15 minutes or so later our appetizer showed up with our entrees. Since this was our first time here, the appetizer looked incorrect, but we just figured we didn't know what to expect. Lookikg back, we were served Pao De Queijo (cheese bread) instead. My meal was flavorful, but I immediately noticed I was served one piece of chicken when the menu said two were to be provided. I've eaten A LOT of Caribbean food and can tell you this. When your chicken thigh is served wirh a steak knife, someone needs to go back and look at how they're cooking this chicken. It was very "steak like". Caribbean chicken should be tender and juicy. My wife's was over-salted but otherwise ok. She though she was getting Salmon but was served what I believe could have been Snapper. She didn't like the firmer consistency one would expect with Snapper and did not finish her meal. I'm glad we had our entrees because the Cheese Bread needed to be dipped or dunked for flavor. Our server was not very personable, would not make eye contact with us and got our appetizer and possibly my wife's entree order wrong. My wife believes she got the other Rissoto, after looking back at the ingredients that she was presented versus the menu. Overall, the atmosphere was good. I'm not sure that I'd rush back here anytime soon. I rated this as 2 stars due to the fact that other people seemed to be either returning customers and enjoying what...