How’s that for a title?
Either the Critic was too distracted or never did find out the name of this “Brazilian” rodizio-style meat restaurant located in the City Center mall (Merida not Vegas) , just off the periferico and at the entrance to Walmart. UPDATE: Thanks to the Critics good friend, the intrepid Juanita, the name of this restaurant is ASADO BRASIL.
In any case, he accompanied the always better-looking and better-humored Better Half and another couple there for lunch. As usual, the restaurant was packed with hungry and motivated Yucatecan meat lovers, out to get their money’s worth of the all you can eat menu.
The overall impression is that the place is decent enough, although it is extremely noisy due to an excess of hard surfaces and two televisions (one with sappy telenovelas, the other with a raucous futbol game) and is somewhat charm-challenged. This doesn’t seem to be deterring anyone from having a grand old time however.
The salad bar, a term optimistic at best in this case, is a sparse arrangement of very basic items like lettuce, tomatoes and peppers arranged along one wall with a minimum of grace and fanfare. Just a 12 inch protruding shelf with the smallest of home-made glass acting – not very successfully – as a sneeze guard. The Critic stood in front of this rather sad display for some time before deciding that nothing appealed to him at all, except maybe for a few slices of tomato to offset the meat to come.
The meat, brought out on skewers and carved with a sharp knife in front of your face, is excellent. Everything from chicken and arrachera to pork to sirloin to a truly succulent slice of picaña; and you can eat and repeat as much and as many times as you want. Apparently, the price hovers in the $180 per person range, which is not unreasonable given the amount and quality of meat.
The service was a little lackadaisical at first, but the meat carving specialist, from Argentina apparently, was a joker as was his assistant and made the meal quite entertaining.
For desserts, there is ice cream and some bananas on the salad bar display thing with thick, sweetened Nestle milk to pour over them if you need a real sugar fix after your protein overload.
Would the Critic go back? Sure. Just don’t expect fine dining.
Ha! I knew you would go there sooner or later! 🙂 Now I am really baffled by your salad bar experience…when we were there, there were lots of fresh, unusual, and tasty salad items…keep in mind, this salad bar is not meant to be a meal in itself, it is meant to provide some cool nibbles alongside all that meat. The meat, after all, is the main event. I also felt that the simple decor was a good thing, easy to keep clean, and also lets the skewers of meat take center stage; it’s quite a show, really. My only suggestion would be for the grilling area to be visible to the diners, as there is clearly some fantastic logistics going on in there…everything I tasted was piping hot, right off the grill. Amazing, actually!
It’s called Asado Brasil and the system is called Rodizio. They are open every day at 1 pm, not sure of closing time. Phone 913 8989.
Asado Brasil. There you go. Thanks for that info!
Well, for those of us who have been around long enough to have had the pleasure of eating at Rodizio (now a Pizzza Hut on Montejo – the sacrilege) remember the fabulous salad bar they had – real, prepared salads from Caesar to Pinto Bean salad to Potato Salad – the salad bar was a huge area in the middle of the restaurant where they also displayed their varied desserts. Their skewered meats were also delicious, but they really had it together in the decor and presentation department AND you could see the grilling going on as you mention, Juanita. Don’t get me wrong, the meat is fabulous but the rest of it, take it or leave it.
The owners were from Tabasco (where they have a pair of restaurants in the Parque de la Choca in Villahermosa – one is Rodizio and the other is amazing seafood buffet style) and the scuttlebutt is that the owners of the property saw they were having great success and jacked up the rent which is an unfortunately all-too common occurrence in Yucatecan real estate rental enterprises. End result? The restaurant people left and the restaurant remained tentant-less for the longest time until Pizza Hut or Dominos or whatever crappy pizza place that is took over the location. A special shout-out to all the owners of real estate who rent out their properties and then jack up the rent just because they are a bunch of greedy a******s.
Thanks for stopping by Juanita!
I am sorry I missed the original Rodizio, qué lástima. Yes, greed can be so shortsighted, and too often is.
The food was good and hot but the salad bar was very sparse. They have a special from 7-9 pm when the buffet is supposed to be $100 pesos for a lighter version (less meat). There are no menus so this is not explained to you and when you get your bill it is $179 pesos and then you have to argue that the sign says $100 pesos. That is when they tell you that it was not including some of the meat that they came and put on your plate. It is your job to know this and refuse the meat they bring you. We were there and ordered 2 soft drinks (how much can they charge for a coke, right?) Wrong! With no menu it is your responsibility to ask what every drink costs, which we did not know. 2 cokes cost us $150 pesos (it did come with ice and they left the can). I feel $150 pesos for 2 cans of coke is outrageous! I for one do not plan on going back but do not plan on them being there long anyway. You can only gouge people so long before you run out of suckers.
NOW ESPANOL
El alimento estaba bien y caliente pero la barra de ensalada era muy escasa. Ellos tienen un tren especial de 7-9 p.m. cuando se supone que el bufete es pesos de 100 dólares para una versión ligera (menos carne). No hay ningunos menús entonces este no le es explicado y cuando usted consigue su cuenta esto es pesos de 179 dólares y luego usted tiene que sostener que el signo dice pesos de 100 dólares. Es cuando ellos le dicen que esto no incluía un poco de la carne que ellos vinieron y pusieron su plato. Esto es su trabajo para saber este y rechazar la carne que ellos le traen. ¿Estábamos allí y pedimos 2 refrescos (cuánto pueden ellos culpar para un coque, verdad? ¡) Incorrecto! Sin el menú esto es su responsabilidad de preguntar a lo que cada bebida cuesta, que no sabíamos. 2 coques nos cuestan pesos de 150 dólares (esto vino realmente con el hielo y ellos dejaron poder). ¡Siento que los pesos de 150 dólares para 2 latas del coque son escandalosos! Por su parte no planeo volver, pero no planearlos estando allí largo de todos modos. Usted sólo puede excavar a la gente tan mucho antes de que usted se quede sin imbéciles.
ASADO BRASIL , a great place were my fmily and friends enjoyed the ” Rodizio” excellent meat, from beaf to chiken served with incredible tasty flavors!
Really fresh salad bar as there were lots of fresh, unusual, and tasty salad items…keeping in mind, that the point here is to provide cool nibbles alongside all that delicious meat is the show !. I agree that the simple decor was a good touch and the friendly atmosphere and clean place invited us to come back again and again! Everything we tasted was well done, and hot right off the grill. Fantastic, actually!
We really enjoyed the food , the drinks and the friendly service. The new management is taking good care of all details which makes of this restaurant one to be in the “excellent list”. I invite you all to go try it!
It is one of the places were my family really enjoys!
Do not forget to try their Brazilian drinks too!