Andie E.
Yelp
Rio Bonito, an AYCE Brazilian Churrascaria, has only been open for 3 weeks, and is already a hit because of their heavy social media presence. The restaurant is actually slightly smaller in real life but still a good size.
Note: NO RESERVATIONS!!
I would recommend that you come with parties of 4 ppl or less. Large groups will have to wait a much longer time for a table, as most of their seating is set for parties of 2 or 4. My party of 6 arrived at 5:30pm, and waited around an hour for a table; while smaller parties were seated much faster. If you do have a larger group, best come at 5pm or earlier, when they open.
Price list:
AYCE Adult: $35 (meats, salad bar & hot buffet)
AYCE Child: $20 (ditto)
AYCE Salad Bar & Hot Buffet only (no meat): $20
** Time limit for AYCE is 90 minutes**
Note that they do have other a la cart items on their menu, if you prefer NOT to have AYCE. (See my photos for their entire menu).
Salad Bar and Hot Buffet: although there weren't an enormous amount of selections, there were certainly enough to choose from! Don't fill up here and save some room for the meats! The rice and black beans are a Must!
Brazilian Cheese Bread and French Fries (part of AYCE): definitely order the Cheese Bread! They came fresh & hot, and were delicious. Don't let these sit on your table for too long though. They are best eaten hot or warm. The French Fries were fine. (Nothing much to say about it lol).
Ok, let's get to it! They've got THE MEATS!! You're given cards that say Yes, Bring the Meats (green card) or No Thanks (red card). This lets the servers know if you want the meats to keep coming! The servers will bring endless skewers of meat to your table until you flip the card to the red side that says No Thanks.
Below are all the BBQ Meats that we tried during this visit. The consensus was that most of their meats were overcooked and too salty. They were still good but they would have been outstanding if the meats weren't all well-done. And again, a little less salt would have made a huge difference! We were all guzzling cups of water throughout dinner.
These were the meats we tried:
-- Sausages: these were good but extremely salty.
-- Chicken Wings & Drumsticks: these were nicely charred and delicious.
-- Bacon-Wrapped Chicken: inedible. The chicken was so overcooked and dry that I couldn't even taste any bacon. Just terrible.
-- Garlic Beef: This was garlic goodness but also one of the meats that actually didn't have any salt! Hahaha How strange, since all the other meats were over salted. Still pretty good but the piece of meat was HUGE! Smaller pieces would have been better.
-- Skirt Steak: this is usually one of my fave cuts of steak, but it was so well-done that it wasn't so enjoyable.
-- Top Sirloin: Hands down, this was the BEST of the bunch! The meat was cooked medium-rare, and sliced thin. Perfection! Tasty, tender and just delish!
-- Beef Ribs: This was good but again, overcooked and too salty. (You get the theme, right?!)
-- Chicken Hearts: well, this was a shocker! We weren't expecting to have chicken hearts! Apparently, this is a Brazilian Specialty! I have to say, these were pretty good. What a nice surprise!
-- Lamb: I usually love lamb but again, this was too overcooked and salty. And for some strange reason, this lamb was extra gamey tasting.
-- Pork Loin: there was absolutely no pork served all evening (except for the sausage). Where's the pork?!?!
I ended up trying one piece of each meat and that was more than enough! No seconds for me! For $35, this was a great deal and an enjoyable meal (despite the meats being overcooked and salty). Again, Rio Bonito has the potential to be OUTSTANDING if they'd just fix those two problems.
Customer service and hospitality were wonderful! Besides the hour wait for a table, service was great.
Street parking is hit or miss. I was lucky and got a metered spot right across the street! Note that the metered parking is free after 7pm.
Recommended! I would definitely return with a smaller group.