Cafe Brazil - University Park — Restaurant in University Park

OMG!! I have been a loyal customer for over 30 years. Today, we were meeting our dear friend who recently lost her husband...this was "our place" for countless lunches. We got there first from Arlington...she told us their (she was with another friend) eta was 7 minutes. We decided to see if we could get a corner table, like we always did. Our favorite server was there and gave us hugs. She seated us, but she was leaving, so we got another server...who proceeded to inform us that we shouldn't have been seated because they don't seat incomplete parties and we can't do it again (we didn't do it in the first place)...there was no line and plenty of empty tables (oh and I am handicapped, with a cane and can't stand long...our fav server knew that)...our friend arrived within moments...we had not seen her since he passed. Then after 1hr and 25 minutes, we were informed we'd have to leave, because they were busy...WHAT???!! Since when does a 24hr restaurant with bottomless coffee have a time limit? And why weren't we informed upfront? Also, there were still 6 empty tables and only a few people waiting. We were very embarrassed and angry. Yes, the food was very good as usual. I hate that I suggested our old favorite place...that I guess now is not our old favorite place and a place that thinks they're now upscale enough to kick out 4 old women who were quietly reminiscing...we sat on the patio for a bit to finish our conversation...but it was too hot and we hugged eachother, hoping to see eachother again soon...wishing there was somewhere else we could have gone...and to be clear...whenever we stay more than 1 1/2hr...we always drop an extra 20 or so extra for the time...to thank the server...even when the place is empty. Not this time...maybe never again to return to our old haunt...please stop doing this and return to the casual, fun, easy going 24hr restaurant we loved...we did not deserve to be asked to leave, nor scolded for being seated as an incomplete party...this was always a great place where college students came...what a mess! Whos bad advice are you...

If someone drives 50 miles round trip, with gas @ $5 a gallon, the least you could do show some care in how you prepare their food. When you hand someone an inedible plate of food, it is disrespectful. You are saying, "I don't care about your travel, gas, time is traffic, thought of coming here as paying customer, just eat, tip a lot and get out." That's how I feel after what I just experienced. I would never prepare a plate of food for someone that I would not be completely proud of. I would feel terrible if someone didn't eat the food I prepared for them, because the time and effort into making sure it is proper is done out of respect that they trust me to make their food. It's not just your restaurant, this is pretty much everywhere you go these days. It's the low quality and attention to detail of the employees today. They don't care about the customer, they only want to go home. Complacency sets in and the quality suffers. This is exactly what is happening. Eating out these days is a 50/50 chance at receiving any clean properly prepared food at best. I saw the cook sneeze into his hand and not go immediately wash it. 0 out of 5 stars. (potatoes were hard as rocks, empanada was impervious to a knife.) You should be terribly embarrassed, the drive home...

Upon arriving the outside of the building was clearly unkept and pigeons all around eating food. As soon as we walked in the door we were sat right away, however the host did look annoyed and brought out a dirty high chair for our daughter. It took eight minutes to be even acknowledged by our waitress.

Our waitress was very short with us, she was not personable at all and wanted the whole order in one go and didn’t bother to ask if we wanted to course out the meals, and brought the apps and entrees all at once, she seemed as if she wanted us in and out. As soon as the food hit the table she asked if all was good and left right away. She did check up on us after a few minutes, but did not come back up to the table until she was ready to drop off the bill. The food was pretty mediocre, we got a poblano pepper crepe, the migas and the eggrolls, out of everything the egg rolls were the best so I do recommend those.

My husband and I wait tables for a living so we know what is expected and we also have grace for people that have bad days, however I will say everything can come out HORRIBLE but if your waitress is personable and sweet, most people will forgive it. Just a heads up to everyone else, $50 lunch for Cracker Barrel service...