Texas de Brazil - Albany — Restaurant in Town of Guilderland

I want to preface this review with a few things. 1) I went as a very grateful invited guest with friends and, as such, I did not pay for my own meal. 2) I went the weekend before Valentine's day. 3) I went during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020-2021 (or at least 2021 is the current year) when restaurant capacity is limited to somewhere between 25% and 50% - I truly do not know the exact figures so please do not take this number as fact.

We arrived about 15 minutes early on a cold February evening. The reservation was in our friends name but we were thankful to check-in so they knew we were there and that the other two in our party were not that far behind. About five minutes later, they arrived and we were seated almost right away, maybe a two minute wait once they arrived.

Unfortunately, the salad bar was closed due to the pandemic, but this makes total sense and we were still offered options from the salad bar. The options were presented on a little slip of paper where we could either choose a standard salad, think Caesar salad or the like, or there was a list of ingredients to choose from and we could create our own. I chose the easiest method of selecting one of the standard salads because I did not really care to reinvent the wheel by creating my own salad; a salad is salad in my opinion and I'm there for the meat, not the greens.

After a little waiting, our salads were served. My review of the salad: it was a salad. There was some lettuce, a few veggies, and some other salad things of which I cannot remember at this time. Just before we were finished with the salad, we flipped the indicator slip over to show we were ready for the meat - and boy did they swarm FAST!

In under a minute, servers began coming to our table with swards of meat. Most of the time, I could not understand what was said, as I was across the table and I'm hard of hearing. Add the mask they were all wearing and forget about it! When they came over to my side of the table I just said "yes, please" because, again, I'm there for the meat.

Time and time again, we had a server with a sward of meat asking us if we wanted any of whatever they were dishing out. We couldn't even finish what was on our plates before being asked if we wanted something else. I quickly forgot what everything on my plate was because of the sheer amount of meat being stacked. While in my head this sounds like meat nirvana, in reality it was total and utter confusion as to what I was eating.

Now, that's not to say the meats were not delicious and I did not like every single thing I had. But it would have been nice to actually have been able to enjoy the meat; to take a few minutes and savor the deliciousness that is perfectly cooked meat being served from a sward that I can have unlimited amounts of. Even when we tried to flip the meat indicator over to "hold off" on the meat, they did not pay any attention to it and just continued to barrage the table with swards of meat - "Would you like....?"

And then there was dessert. I know I did not need dessert - who really does? But it was offered (by those who paid) and, again, I wasn't paying so why the heck not? Oh mu gosh, the crème brûlée was très délicieux! The sugar on the top could have been a little more crisp, but, in the words of the late Mr. Food chef, Art Ginsburg, "Ooh! It's so good!"

Overall, I cannot wait to go back. I do not care if I do not know what I am eating, it was all good so it really did not matter. Again, I am very thankful for having been invited...

Today was my first time at this restaurant and honestly, I found it totally confusing. We weren’t offered a food menu at all and had no idea what there was to eat or how much the food costs. The waitress apparently signed us up for the all you can eat dinner (we weren’t sure if that included the dessert or soup, so we skipped those). We also didn’t realize we could’ve gone back for more salad because we weren’t told it was an all you can eat menu. The salad bar was included per our waitress, and it was undoubtedly the best salad bar I’ve ever had. Wish I’d tried the lobster bisque and dessert. I had to look the place up online after the fact to find out what had just happened. We were told to flip over these cardboard circles when we were ready for meat, to signal the chefs when to serve us our meat. There weren’t any plates to put the meat on at our table, so they just added it to our salad plates when they did serve us. Not a big deal, but some people don’t like all the food squashed together. We had no idea what the meat would be. We could see chefs in these really cute gauchos serving meats on skewers to other tables, so we figured they’d tell us when they served us, and they did. We had no idea how much meat we were supposed to eat or how they were charging us for the meat. They offered us more meat than I’ve eaten in all of 2024 combined, and it was very good meat, but if I’d known that I could order just the salad bar, which I later read online is possible, I would’ve skipped the meat entirely. My husband was really annoyed by the entire experience, which entailed multiple servers offering tons of meats continuously after we’d finished our salads. We couldn’t talk or enjoy a relaxing meal at all because of the continuous activity at our table and all of the other tables in the vicinity. The food was delicious, but food is also delicious at a lot of high priced restaurants that offer quiet ambiance to diners. Food is also pretty delicious at low end brew pubs. We ordered two glasses of Chardonnay at $15 per glass and one $4 coffee so that added $34 to the bill. So all told, we got out of there for $159.82 plus 20% tip for the two of us. Kind of pricey for a confusing, chaotic, albeit delicious experience. It WAS an experience, though, and I’m really glad I went. I wish I’d known what I was doing before I went though, which is why I’m writing this review. I gave the service a mediocre rating, because I think we should have been offered a menu at the very least with some prices and options! If I ever go again (which is doubtful). I’d order only the salad bar and skip the pricey wine. One other thing I thought I’d mention was the lighting in the restroom. I had to use my iPhone flashlight to see myself in the...

Mixed opinion on this establishment. Some days, everything is EXCELLENT. Cooked perfectly, and everything is in stock and available abundantly. On these days I would undoubtedly rate this location a 5/5. Other days however, the good meats are more scarcely offered, and if they do come around they tend to be overcooked and smaller in comparison. Unfortunately, there is no outside indicator on whether or not it will be a good day here or not. I've been to this location (and no others) around 20 times in the past few years, and my experience is consistently inconsistent. On the good days, I leave here extremely satisfied. On that bad days, I feel cheated out of my money. On either day, you'll have the opportunity to stuff your face absolutely full of meats, though.

For example, my favorite cuts of meat here are the flank steak, filet mignon, spicy sirloin, picanha, and garlic varieties. On the "bad" days, these meats will be offered in lesser quantities, and the bacon-wrapped chicken, bacon-wrapped jalepenos, and Brazillian sausages will be served near endlessly. Even when the waiter comes around and asks if you'd specifically like a certain cut of meat, it might take 15-20 before the meat even comes around, if at all. And the server seems to be in a rush to get your party out of the restaurant. On the good days however, you won't be feeling rushed or pressured by the staff, they will take their time, and ask about special dishes and desserts and such. These days have no rhyme or reason that I can tell either. I could understand if they were more busy, and therefore rushing guests on Weekends or something (when I'd imagine they tend to be more busy), but I've felt rushed even on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. And had good days even on Fridays or Saturdays. I've come here with parties of as little as 3, and parties as large as 8, and had the same vastly inconsistent experiences. This is the reason I can't in good conscience rate it as an overall 5 stars. It's just so hit or miss. If your first experience is one of the "bad" days, I would highly recommend waiting a few weeks and trying again to experience the good days, though. It is worth it. But I can't recommend it to everyone who is just looking to have a consistently great experience.

Again, I'd like to specify that I have not been to any location besides the Crossgates Mall spot. So your experience may vary in other locations. But unfortunately this has been my experience at this place. I love it and hate it. Give it a shot to judge for...