Yayá Comidaria Pop Brasileira

The service, the food, the staff and the ambiance...👌🏿. Everything was pretty tasty. We had the Acaraje and the seafood moqueca (for 2-3 persons) with coconut rice. While the coconut 🥥 rice was delicious, I felt that it slightly overpowered the flavors of the stew. We had regular rice and coconut rice and noticed the difference. I would love to return here to try more of their dishes. Enjoy!

The food and beverages were delicious. The food and alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages tasted clean, like the restaurant clearly uses natural and fresh ingredients. I didn’t feel guilty about overeating, lol! The acaraje was flavorful and seasoned well. If you want more spice, then the restaurant provides hot pepper sauce. The moqueta de camarao was a generous portion and it was full of complex harmonious flavors. My partner and I ordered the coconut rice to accompany this dish but we wish we hadn’t because the rice was delicious on its own and we felt the two meals competed against each other. The food is filling and flavorful. The service is attentive and professional. The prices are reasonable. The bathroom was clean. The playlist was a vibe and the environment was welcoming, chill, mature, artistic and sophisticated. You could dine here with a date, friends, or a business partner. The only complaint I have is the limited space between some of the tables. A clumsy and full bodied patron kept knocking into my table when he got up to go to the bathroom. In addition, the customer sat so close to us that when he swung his hair it caused us concern that his hair and or sand would fall into our food. (He had clearly just come from the beach.) The customers’ inconsideration wasn’t the fault of the restaurant but I recommend they either provide more space between tables or make the restaurant more formal. Overall, I would return but I would choose a table away from the wall.

Brazilian cuisine is actually so yummy! We are trying local cuisine during our whole stay, but this place blew our minds. You gotta try this! The fusion of tastes is indescribable. We had Pork Rumpsteak in cachaça, Roasted meat with Yayá potato salad and we tried for appetizer one piece of Banana dumpling with dried meat. The portions were good, and each part of the dishes was so well combined! For drinks we had a Tangerine Ginger Caipirina and Coconut Lemonade (omg that one was fantastic - I will try to make it at home). The food came quickly, it was nicely presented, they have English menu, the waitresses were kind, smiling and tried to speak some English, you can pay with card and in the end they even give you a small survey to fill in on a tablet (admittedly in Portuguese but ok). The only thing is that the place looks like seating indoors but it has ACs to cool it down and all the doors were open when we were there. If it is cold outside, then it's not ideal, because you feel like sitting outside, but just so you know to come prepared. They allow you to switch tables if you feel chilly.

Hands down the best dining experience I’ve had in Brazil so far. The food is incredibly delicious, while not being too pretentious. I especially loved the okra and chicken dish & the kale salad. The staff are very helpful and it’s easy to tell that they generate a good vibe in the place with their general positive attitude and smiles. Not just your standard Brazilian attitude. It’s also a good place to come solo, they have a japanese style dining at the bar table. All that for a very reasonable price. Totally recommend

We had dinner here and we really enjoyed the atmosphere and the food was delicious! I had a Moqueca with fish and the most delicious coconut rice, the cocktails were also very good and they accommodate for our kids food preferences. Would visit again!

LOVED this little local restaurant, a block off the beach, serving up amazing drinks and Brazilian/ African themed dishes. In fact, our group decided at the end of our week in Brazil, that THIS place had our favorite meal and favorite drinks of the trip. It is small so only room for 5-10 tables, but when we arrived around 5PM there was plenty of room and multiple smiling faces came forward to welcome us and offer English menus and spoke a little bit of English. You can see the kitchen from most the tables, which is nice, and they are fast with service but do not rush you through your meals or drinks. The prices were very reasonable, and we all enjoyed all our dishes immensely. No views from the restaurant as on a busy street, but they have nice relaxed vibe on the inside, which is open to the street so you get fresh air. Highly recommended!!

The food was excellent — I ordered the fish, and the sauce was incredibly creamy and flavorful. Everything was perfect. If I had to be picky, I did have to ask twice for the bill, but aside from that, it was a fantastic experience. Highly recommend!

If you are a Black foreigner, please don’t bother to eat here. We stood waiting for a table while white diners were seated immediately. We were ignored. I was so excited to try this place with my mother, but decided to leave after we noticed this. All the Black diners were standing around waiting. Very shocking for an Afro-Brazilian restaurant.