Was pretty excited to try this place out as they have pretty great reviews on Google but this was one of the poorer Brazilian Steakhouses I have had in terms of the food. Vibes and service were absolutely wonderful though including the price so it was a pretty conflicting experience. Pros First: - I think it's genuinely hard to find another Brazilian Steakhouse buffet with vibes like this anywhere else in the UK or the States. £25 for AYCE is quite a good deal especially with the variety of meats they do have. - Cinnamon Pineapple - I could not stop eating this and definitely the best item of the night as the juice of the pineapple was crystalized within the cinnamon. Hot tip: Use this as "sauce" for the dryer meats like pork and chicken. - Picanha Com Alho - This was the best meat item by far for the night. The fat was perfectly well incorporated into the meat which was extremely juicy and flavorful. - Service was great as our waiter was extremely friendly and attentive. Seems like they were very busy though. - Gnocchi with Prosciutto and Asparagus - This was surprisingly delicious and I would actually order this at a restaurant. It was a little greasy though. Cons: - Most of the sides were very mediocre to bad. Steamed broccoli literally means that they just steamed the broccoli. - The rest of the meats also lacked flavor and were a bit tough to chew on at the end. When I asked for sauces to go alongside the meats, the special ones all were an additional charge and so I asked for BBQ sauce and it was exactly that, very American BBQ sauce. Overall, very okay Brazilian steakhouse. As long as you focus on the three items listed above you will not be disappointed but everything else was very okay. Come early as the place does pack up for later lunch. read more

Fail. Do t even bother. Slow service, uninspired and Boeing. Grrat company though. Perhaps another time.

We were charged for 14 meats instead of 7 and they did not ask what we wanted, so service was not as accommodating. You could eat this kind of food else where for a cheaper price. The meat was mediocre. Most meats were rare and the buffet food was nothing spectacular. Honestly, worst restaurant we had been to. I would not recommend this restaurant for the price and service. People probably loves this place after having pints from near pubs. read more

Great service! We enjoyed the environment and of course the various/variety cuts of meat.

Viva Viva Brazil! Definitely the best restaurant I've been to in South Wales thus far. What an absolute treat and I'm looking forward to visiting in the future. NOTES: ~ You *must* book in advance for this place because it's in such high demand. You can book online on the website or call up. ~ I came here during lunch time, which was cheaper but fewer options. Atmosphere: Viva Brazil has a really classy atmosphere, but you don't have to be posh to visit. Dress nicely, but you don't have to dress to the nines. Although the restaurant isn't super large, they made an effort to create a very spacious setting. Customer Service: Viva Brazil is essentially a buffet. How it works.... 1) You're received and get shown to your table. 2) After ordering drinks, head over to their buffet table that has a few selections of sides such as potatoes, rice, and fried polenta. There's also a few meat options such as chicken thighs and a pork belly stew. 3) You have cards at your table that have 2 sides - red and green. When you flip it over to the green side, men walking around with huge skewers of meat come to your table. The staff were really welcoming and efficient. After flipping your card to green, you don't have to wait long until meat-man comes by. Food: Why this restaurant is 5 stars. Everything I tried at this place was absolutely delicious. I fully expected the freshly cooked meats to be fantastic, but the buffet options were heavenly as well which came as a huge surprise (buffet food normally ends up being stale from sitting on a hot plate for so long). My recommendations? ----- FROM THE BUFFET ------ + Pork and Black Bean Stew (from the buffet). At first glance it looks very unappetising, but the pork was slow cooked to perfection and packed full of flavour. + Fried Polenta. I loooove polenta and I'm happy to report that even though it's fried, the inside was still soft and creamy. Incredible! + Roast Potatoes and Roast Sweet Potatoes. Classic side dish accompaniments to the meat mains, cooked perfectly. At the buffet table they also have a cold salad/veggies section. ---- FROM THE MEATS ----- + Absolutely EVERYTHING! As you can see, I can't stop ranting and raving about this place's food. Surprisingly top quality for all-you-can-eat, better than most sit down restaurants with food cooked-to-order. I would recommend Viva Brail to anyone! read more

I don't go to Cardiff very often so this was a nice change, when you go into Viva Brazil the waiting staff come to your table and ask if anyone is a vegitarian - there is a good reason for this - Viva Brazil is literally a meat feast. You are advised to go and hep yourself to salad, the salads were delicious, beetroot, celeriac, fennel, coleslaw, potato salad and much more, there is also a warm buffet you can help yourslef to but I didn't go for much of that. Once you are sitting down with your salad out the meat starts to come, there are 15 different meats and the waiting staff bring them out one at a time and carve the meat at the table. It really is a huge feat to try and eat all 15, I managed 12 including chicken hearts!! you pay a flat fee of about £15 at lunchtime and you can eat as much or as little as you want. read more

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Negative Experience at Viva Brazil Cardiff. We were seated right next to the cash register which was annoying to start as there was constant noise during our meal. We ordered the full rodizio for 2 adults with drinks and the children's meals were free as they were 6 and 9 years old. Quality of the meats? Mixed. Rump steak, Sirloin steak, Pork chops, Gammon, were all either very tough, chewy, bland or super salty. The cinnamon Pineapple was popular with the children. I liked the chicken hearts, wings, beef ribs, and the leg of lamb. Service? Very poor by the end. It was like a fast food experience. The meat came around very quickly at first and then after all dishes were stamped it just stopped despite the round card is on the green side. We were waiting for many minutes and when we called for the waiter and he immediately asked if we would like the bill. We said we wanted more meats and checked if this was an unlimited buffet. How does it work? Doesn't the meats keep coming?? Crazy misleading advertisement. I was contacted by Nora Nagyova (Manager?) after complaining via the website but she was not able to resolve issue or provide any promise of change or training for staff. It was not a good experience during or post visit. I wouldn't recommend the full rodizio at dinner - not worth the money. read more

We came in here straight after getting off the train from London (it's literally around the corner from Cardiff Central) and as we had heard good things, we had high expectations. We were seated right away and went to help ourselves from the buffet, which offers a wide range of things from salad items to cajun fries to soups. Once we were sitting back down, the meat began to arrive. Most of it was pretty spectacular- melt in your mouth brilliance. There were a few kinds that were not up to scratch, however. We found that the lamb was unbearably salty, and the cap rump was near impossible to cut up. Our only other complaint is that there isn't much in the way of service outside of the "meat men". We were unable to get the attention of the wait staff in order to get a drink and so had to go up to the bar ourselves. I have no major issue with this- it's just kind of annoying when you're trying to eat. read more

Three of us had a good eating experience here. It is "all you can eat" style for 90 minutes. The meat we had was fine, some would have been tastier with better-marinated. Wine and beer collection were good! Service was excellent, we didn't have to wait too long although we didn't make any reservation, probably because we came on weekdays evening. read more

It's ok. There are better restaurants on the same theme, just not in Cardiff, so I guess if you want the experience then this is the place to go to. On the down side the place can be noisy (more so in the evenings), the service a bit patchy and, your conversation will be interrupted by metal skewers full of meat being waved at you. Some of the meat can be a little salty or over cooked but in the whole it is good and there are some real gems in there. The chicken hearts are particularly yummy! Drinks wise, they do a mean Caipirinha and half decent red wine. Top tip ... don't fill up in the endless salad bar to make sure you have enough space for all the meat!! read more

Pretty grim. Although I'm tempted to mark it down to one star, I can't because the waitress who served us was great - attentive and friendly. For those who haven't been to Brazilian churasscarias, there's usually a salad bar and in this case, it's a very meagre selection but the nice options are the fried bananas, beetroot salad, garlic mushrooms and butternut squash - skip everything else. Here's the big problem. It's supposed to be all about the meat. Here, they cooked almost everything to a bone dry, tough slab of leather. The only meat that was juicy was the chili chicken. It didn't help that the choice of lean meats missed out on the great flavour that fat produces. Also, anyone who's been to a decent churrascaria knows how much salt is used to flavour the meat (a lot), whereas here it was barely noticeable. Amendment: thinking back, I decided to mark it down to one star because when you consider the cost, the cooking can't be as bad as that. read more

Took 2 colleagues here for an early dinner and their first taste of churrascaria. Viva Brazil didn't disappoint. They only had their Xmas menu available, which was a the standard fare, plus a very weak and small caiprinha and a lovely lemony cheesecake desert. The sides were great (Although no cassava *sadface*) and frequently topped up. This meant no sad, cold rice like you often find, and the feijoada was especially good. You come to a churrascaria for the meat through, and this was great. Well cooked, very well served and with requests quickly catered for. The garlic flank steak was especially good. This is probably the best Brazilian place I've been to outside of London - just pipping Fogo Gaucho in Southampton for the quality of the sides and the much better staff. read more

Expensive for quite poor food small portions they slice off for you and 1 slice was just a slice of fat

If I was marking for myself i'd give it a 5 but this is a joint review between my wife and I and it needed to cater for both our tastes. The waiting staff were great, there was a good selection of beers and the food was fantastic. In my opinion all the meats were cooked to perfection and well seasoned but they were a little rare for my wife and son (who incidentally ate for free as he was under 5). The salad bar was ample and the price was fair. We will certainly eat there again read more

just home from my first time at the restrant and i will definatly be back an exelent selection bouth at the salad bar and the wandering meet severs means there is somthing there for everyone the severs where verry atentive and helpfull a little to price for casual dineing but a grate place to go for a celibration read more

I'm afraid this place was not for me. An eat as much as you like buffet is often a bad sign. Then all that's on the menu to accompany is 15 different types of meat so clearly not for the veggies. But even if you like meat, I'm still not convinced. Sounds a bit sexist but it's all a bit macho - how many pints and how much meat can you eat sort of thing! read more

Went here for my 18th with my bf. I'm normally a big fan of steak etc so thought id enjoy it here but wasn't really for me. Didn't find the meat that great but was okay.. Not worth £25 a head though. Cocktails were not very nice which ruined it for me as I love a good cocktail. Atmosphere wasn't the best. Served us food before we even got are drinks. Overall I Didn't leave thinking id want to go back there! On the other hand my bf enjoys it there so might just be my opinion. He also didn't like the cocktails but enjoyed the meat. read more

Where do I begin. I was utterly disappointed with my meal at Viva Brazil for a plethora of reasons. Firstly, the salad bar was disorderly with foods mixing with each other in their bowls, some of the foods that were supposed to be 'warm' were soggy and cold (such as the chips), some of the vegetables were nice enough but not great either. As for the meat, one should always be suspicious with an 'all you can eat' style of dining. It seemed as though they brought round the cheaper meats first and tried to fill up everyone with those, this entailed chicken wings, sausage and a 'pigs in blanket' style thing. Then they brought out other types of meats and when cutting slices off they barely cut enough and tried to give you all of the cheap cuts of meat. Finally the last thing that was brought to us was rump stake which was 'well done' and cooked bone dry, it was too tough to enjoy. That was just about everything that was offered to us. It is not worth the price at all and once they bring out the finer meats (which aren't even 'fine') they have attempted to fill you up on meats of a lower caliber. That said, someone on the table ordered the seafood option which seemed much nicer but again - not worth the money. Finally, I opted for the vegetarian option which was awful - the salad bar didn't do it for me and neither did the tiny platter of grilled vegetables. The bill came to over £100 for 5 of us, we would've been better off going to a steak house. The staff was rude and inattentive, other than the first lady who showed us to our table and explained the system. I would urge those of you contemplating the Viva Brazil experience to opt for a regular steak house, this place is frankly not worth one's time, nor money. read more

Would just like to say viva Brazil Cardiff gave us 5* service yesterday lunch time--- we had as many children as adults 12 of us in all-- and went above and beyond to entertain the children- food was out of this world and staff were so friendly patient and accommodating-- thank you so much to a great start to a great day! read more