Allen R.
Yelp
They have Fogo de Chao in LA so you can expect it to be fairly similar in Rio, but with some variations in the salad buffet section, the alcohol, and the dessert menu. I'm no meat connoisseur, but the meat tasted pretty similar to the meat in the LA Fogo de Chao from what I remember in the two times I've been. The difference is the service. I remember the Fogo in LA having fantastic, fun service, but I will say that this is the only restaurant in my time in Brazil that was a disappointment in service. Every other restaurant we went to was top-notch service.
We actually got recommendations from two people--one born and raised in Rio and the other who recently went to Rio--to actually go to a place called Churrascaria Palace for our indulgent churrasco meat fest dinner. But it seemed further from our hotel and the location of Fogo fit perfectly with our schedule as it is located at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain (Pao de Acucar, the other popular tourist spot 2nd to the Christ statue).
Don't get me wrong, the food was fantastic. The meats were delicious and the buffet salad bar items were great, but, again, if you've been to the one in LA, it won't be any revelation. The caipirinha I had was okay, but TBH it kinda tasted better from the street kiosks along Copacabana Beach. The dessert was amazing though--I had this molten cake filled with dulce de leche instead of the normal chocolate you get here. Orgasmic!!
My problem was that the meat guys kept avoiding our two-person table! All the servers actually avoided us, except at the very beginning when we ordered our drinks. And yes, they ALL spoke English, and yes my hubs also can speak Portuguese. And no it wasn't because we are Americans that want fast service vs. the South American relaxed, slower service standards--we got used to that by this point and were willing to chill there all night! We didn't try some of the meats because we could never get them to come over. I kept moving the green card around different parts of the table to get their attention!! I WAS DESPERATE, don't judge. One time, we caught one of the meat guys and told him what we wanted with no results. We kept getting the same 4 guys with the same meats, but we saw and knew there were so much more. At some point, ALL the meat guys stopped coming to us COMPLETELY despite us wanting more. Even from the interaction with the host at the beginning who led us to our table, I was immediately off-put by the demeanor and inattentive, unwilling vibe. That overall vibe kinda continued through the night. We kept coming up with theories. At first it was like, we prolly didn't order enough alcohol or they like bigger groups. Then it turned dark like, is it coz we're gay and all these male servers are homophobes? And then we were like, is it coz they're all white Brazilians and they think I'm from a favela? But then we eventually settled on the deduction that since we have big appetites and we kept finishing our meats and wanting more, they were trying to cut us off coz they were losing money LMAO. THE THINGS THAT GO THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU WANT ATTENTION, my gah.
We spent about $131.61 for two people (3ish real: 1 us dollar exchange rate), both getting the full churrasco experience on a Saturday, adding on two alcoholic drinks and two desserts, which I know is a bit cheaper than would be in LA, but still, improve ya dang service for that cost!!
Clientele-wise, I would say Fogo de Chao in Rio seemed filled ONLY with tourists, especially older and whiter ones. The folks who recommended Churrascaria Palace both gave me the impression that Churrascaria Palace was a bit younger (they're both my age--30s) and more diversified with locals. Of course I haven't been, but that's the sense I got from the folks recommending to me. Choose which suits you best, no guarantees!!
Last thing, you do not need to dress up for this place even though it looks like it and even if you would dress up for Fogo de Chao in LA. We thought we had to do like casual LA style, that is, relaxed chino pants, loafers, and short-sleeve collar shirts, so we dressed up a tiny bit even though that meant wearing those clothes on Sugarloaf Mountain for the sunset (and of course sticking out). Even in those casual clothes, I felt we were a bit overdressed LMAO. Since it's mostly tourists, they come in shorts and t-shirts--and not the nice type of shorts and shirts. But, if you wanna put effort into it, go for it, it makes for nice photos. My recommendation is to go up to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain in nice clothes to watch the sunset and get some great sunset photos and then go straight to your churrascaria dinner--wherever you decide to go. Even though we stuck out a bit on the Mountain and in the restaurant, we didn't regret it one bit because we got beautifully romantic sunset pics that looked like engagement photos followed up with great date-night photos in front of the restaurant!!