Yemanja Brasil Restaurant — Restaurant in St. Louis

I was so glad to see that they still do a solid dinner service since I hadn't been in quite a while. Small and intimate but they do well with giving each table space and great attention. Lots of regulars, the owners greeting and embracing many customers gave me the warm fuzzies. Of course the warm fuzziness could have come from the Caipirinhas...I traded my usual glass of wine for 3 of this Brazilian staple and shhheeesh! They are DELICIOUS! I'm ashamed to say half my bill was because of that amazing drink! NO REGRETS. Ordered the Empanadas de Camarao as an app. The pastry alone could hold its own. The filling inside was runny but sweet yet savory and spiced nicely with medium sized shrimp and I was dying for a glass of white with these but stuck with my caipirinha! Again, the pastry itself could sell out in a bakery. 🤌 Our table decided on 3 different entrees. The Pescado Miranda, the Xin Xim de Galinha and the Bife Acebolado. If you're a fan of seafood pasta, tutto mare, and whitefish in general, the Pescado Miranda should be right up your alley. The sauce definitely is strong on the coconut, being that it's a coconut cream sauce, not just a hint of coconut here and there. It's something you can very easily imagine having for dinner in Brazil. The ribeye (Bife Acebolado) was huge and perfectly cooked at medium rare. A bit of a flavorful chimichurri on top but not overkill. The potato side dish was delectable with golden wedges blended with cheese and baked to bubbling. The Xin Xim de Galinha is their signature chicken dish. The sauce was more red and peppery than I've had before and probably hotter than I expected- but I like heat! Not sure that the shrimp that topped the chicken were rock shrimp as menu implied since they gave the chicken dish an overall fishy flavor rather than the sweet succulent taste I was hoping for. It was a good dish, but not enough for me to want to take the leftover home, you know? Flan for dessert was very refined, not overly sweet. Really nice. It was an enjoyable dinner experience for sure. We'll be back for that patio vibe and those caipirinhas!...

Okay, I must preface that I’ve never left a negative review in my life…but I’ve also never been so disappointed.

So first of all, I found a big blue piece of rubberband in my soup. The bus boy (who was generally wonderful, I might add!) immediately took it from me when I mentioned it, and brought me a new one (which I of course didn’t want if it was coming from the same pot, but that’s not his fault). When our waitress finally came back about 20 minutes later, we told her and she brought the manager who comped our drinks and even gave us new ones, which we were very grateful for. In fact, had the rubberband been the only issue, all would probably have been forgiven.

But even after this incident, it took the kitchen another 45 minutes to give us our entree. In total, we waited an hour and a half for our entrees. In that time, no one came to tell us there was a hold up, or even touch up our water. Once the food came, the server and manager came to check on us once each, but were very cursory and even avoided eye contact.

I’m a former waitress, which makes me more hesitant to leave these types of reviews. I don’t believe this was our server’s fault at all - while a little absent, I believe the restaurant was understaffed and she was otherwise lovely. I understand restaurants get busy and it’s hard to keep everyone happy. But the manager seemed to have lots of time to chat with lots of other tables throughout our long, grueling 2 hours there for sometimes 5 minutes at a time. I don’t know if I’m being too sensitive, but we both felt slighted for being a little on the younger side or something? We’re both excellent tippers (again…former waitress), so I don’t feel we deserved to be written off with poor service.

The food was fair.

Thanks for the extra drinks. We wouldn’t come back though, and won’t recommend it. The bus boy should maybe take over - he...

I had the worst restaurant experience here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My server was super nice but that was where the good vibe ended. We sat at table in the the side dining room. There must be a club above the restaurant because loud obnoxious music rattled through the walls and it sounded like elephants trampling around above our heads. And that was before we even began to try to eat. I ordered a chicken and shrimp entree, when it arrived, I took a bite to find that it was EXTREMELY spicy. No where on the menu does it say that it is spicy. It says seasoned with sweet pepers and garlic. No warning of spice. I asked my server if I could get a different entree, and he helped me choose the cheesy chicken with rice. When it arrived, i took a bite and it was very good...until I bit something hard IN MY FIRST BITE it was a BONE I went to scoop a different bite, afterall, this is clearly fresh chicken. There was a 2 inch long bone in the next bite!!!!! I sent it back and asked to speak to the manager/owner who declined to speak with me! I asked for my check and the server asked if I wanted to take home the rest of this meal....I said politely NO thank you. The bill came and it had the $21 entree still on the bill! I asked if they could remove it, clearly I had not eaten even 2 bites. The owner said NO and then proceeded to say it was because I ate more than half of BOTH of this disgusting entrees!!!!!!!!!! I was SO SO MAD. The most awful service I have ever had in my life at this place!! What if I had choked on the bones? Would he still have told me to pay for it?! Outrageous!!! I will never go back...