Rodeio Grill Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in West Long Branch

We stayed at a nearby hotel over a long weekend to enjoy Asbury Park Beach. As we passed by this restaurant, my Brazilian spouse recognized the name of the restaurant "Rodeio" to be Portuguese-sounding. We stopped by for dinner and opted for the unlimited steak (churrasco). It was a huge, very pleasant surprise for us. We live in New York City, and we thought that this was the best "churrascaria" (Brazilian steakhouse) we've been to. The skirt(?) beef was the best. We don't remember having this in other churrascarias in the city. All the other beefs were excellent too. We also had the best caipirinhas (Brazilian cocktails) we've ever had. It was customized with strawberry, passion fruit and lime -- very refreshing cocktail. The coconut flan (showered with shredded coconut meat) was also the best we ever tasted as well as the fried plantain. I'm using superlatives not to exaggerate but to communicate how we felt. Regarding the service, we didn't have to wait for long after requesting for something. The ambiance is very homey, very pleasant and uplifting, and place is very clean. They have big flat-screen TV's all over. For us, even if we live in New York City, it is worth a frequent visit because we'll surely miss the foods/drinks and the place itself. I'm even researching now the best way to get there using public transportation, if we're not driving. Needless to say, this is very highly recommended. Oh, just to have a fair and balanced review, I have to include a con or something negative: it's not in New York City -- I wish we could more conveniently come here for every...

So.. the food was pretty good. The staff was great and very helpful. Here’s the bad part. The receipt was very dishonest. Something that I absolutely cannot stand. The rodizio was about $50 a person. I have no issues with that. They automatically added I think 15% gratuity. I also have no problem with that. But I needed to add more which I’m sure most people do. This is why it’s clever and deceptive to make it a low percent. My problem came when I looked at my total, and my suggested tip amount was calculated off of my total plus added gratuity plus tax. My total plus tax and tip was $202. They don’t give you a total of just the items which is what you would base your tip off of. I had to pull up the calculator to add my items myself. It was $172 or something like that. 25% of $202 is a lot more than 25% of $172. So now I’m mad about the deceptive nature of this receipt so Instead of tipping 25% like I normally do, I tipped 20% because you forced me to do math. Which is unfortunate because you, the owner will still get your money. The servers who were very nice, lives off of the tips, because in America, we’ve been tricked into paying the employees of the restaurant industry for the owners… But the...

Very under the radar kinda place. Decent looking place that's great if you have kids. Very casual. Not most expansive selection for rodizio and salad bar is a little sad. But what they do, they do it extremely well! This is a Brazilian restaurant. Not Portuguese. So for those who have been to Newark, you wont find the over portions of rice and fries (though there are rice and fries here) or the over expensive menu items. Post covid the prices have gone up. A lot. Used to be much more affordable...

With that said, if your looking for your fix of meat, this is the place to come to. This place for it's short comings is actually one of the best rodizio restaurants I've been to. The food is home style (like your grandmother would make) and all meats are well seasoned and cooked to your liking. If you want something other than meat, they have a good selection of fish, chicken and pasta dishes as well. All are great too. This is hands down one of my favorite places to come to. Seriously, this is a must try and a hidden gem in ALL of...