Quite an interesting experience. You walk into this place and it appears as though its an old-school, five-star establishment except we were in flip flops covered and sand and they let us in The economy in Rio isn't great so maybe that's why they were a little more forgiving.
Sadly we came hunting for feijoada, which they weren't serving that day. So we ordered the Greek style octopus which sadly came as a cheesey potato stew. It was ok; I prefer my seafood fresh and citrusy vs. buttered and stewed but that's just my preference.
Servings here are huge by the way, and beware.. and they take the plates to another table to cut up before they serve you (so if you're a food-picture-taker-obsessor like me, pay attention and be sure to ask before they portion).
My friend ordered the chicken milanese which I learned is very popular in South America and it was very delicious. It's like a fried/thinned cutlet with mashed potatoes and gravy. The gravy may have double for the octopus stew now that I think about it.
I literally LOLd when my hearts of palm salad came out. It had no dressing (not abnormal in SA) and was it was just literally 10 giant hearts of palm sticking up off the plate. After I dressed it myself I enjoyed it, I've never eaten palms of this size but definitely one noted , Would have loved to see it paired with some butter lettuce, onions, tomatoes, corn maybe - anything?
The Pao de Queijo/Cheese empanada thing was good, nothing mind blowing.
The servers were very friendly and kind. Just so bummed I couldn't try the feijoada. Overall, I was pretty surprised at the experience given their 5-star rating, but its just a fresh humble reminder expectations are a little different in Rio compared to SF- and that is totally ok:) read more