RIO MINAS STEAKHOUSE REVIEW

Tweet

Been the first 'new' restaurant I have been to in over a year as I have stuck to places I knew and, more important, knew were safe. Having gotten the vaccination shots I decided I was ready to let loose and having heard of a new Brazil restaurant we decided to try that for lunch. It was in the previous site of an Italian restaurant that had a long run there but didn't make it over the epidemic. The Pros: for lunch they have 3 offers with one just being the cold salad bar for $15.90, another the cold bar with 4 hot selections at $19.90 and the 3rd the all you can eat buffet with salad bar, hot bar and table service of chicken, sausage, flank steak, lamb, sirloin and turkey wrapped in bacon for $27.90. We selected the cold bar with 4 hot selections though definitely thought mashed potatoes and another of white rice being one of the 'hot' offerings was a little cheating! The remaining hot selections were excellent including one of black beans with sausage and pork chunks and the 4th a seafood medley of shrimp, mussels, fish and Littleneck clams that really was the highlight of all the selections. The rest of the offerings including a very tasty tuna fish salad, a potato salad, various greens, a cold seafood bowl, plenty of vegetables from asparagus to eggplant, platters of salami, ham and cheese. Another pro was the service but more about that later! The food tasted freshly made and even on the basic salad bar offer you have a good selection of foods. The Cons: Have to lead off with the 'hot' offerings of mashed potatoes and rice as main courses! While some may hesitate about going to a buffet they do have a box of gloves available and though we and the other two parties there were seated a distance away from each other that didn't take place at the buffet tables. I had suggested to the server (who it turned out to be the owner with her husband) that they have labels for the foods which it turned out they did but they are in black and a faint 'gold' , behind the plates, making them hard to read. The cheese on the salami and ham platter was as hard as a rock. The owner/hostess/server--the check says her name was Flavia and I wish I had checked that out--really was warm. welcoming and did everything she could to make the meal pleasant constantly removing dirty plates, refilling cola and water glasses and seeing that all of us were satisfied including the other two parties that were having the full menu selection. Our check, with tax and tip, came to about $27 each, which is a little bit above the norm for lunch though I have seen lunch bills going up to about $20 per person, and I am talking about general, 'family friendly' restaurants. I would suggest it more as the heavy meal of the day than thinking it as 'lunch'!