Fogo de Chao Restaurant Review

Alright meat lovers, welcome to paradise. Fogo de Chao is southern Brazilian churrascaria (steakhouse) with an all you can eat meat buffet where you don’t even have to get up.

Fogo de Chao is located on N. La Cienega Blvd and 3rd street. Its rotisserie showcases the delicious meat through the glass windows in front to lure in customers.

Upon entry, you will see wine racks that stretch from the floor to the ceiling, a full bar section on the right and a beautifully set dining room to the left. The warm colors, paintings and decor give Fogo de Chao a homey feel, especially with the exceptional service.

I have never had such amazing service in my life. The entire staff was friendly and accommodating, they were no strangers to the table. Even the manager went to every table to make sure everything was as the customer expected. Every dish was replaced before the last piece was experienced and drinks were never empty.

Story continues below advertisement

The restaurant has an exceptional variety of wine, especially from South America. The bartenders are also very gracious with the restaurant’s signature cocktails.

On the downside, Fogo de Chao is a bit of a wallet-buster: it’s $56.50 per person ($28.50 for salad bar only). But with the exceptional service and menu, you’ll be surprised you only spent that much.

The buffet includes unlimited meat, sides and salad bar.

The salad bar could have been more impressive, but everything was delicious.

The meal comes with traditional Brazillian side dishes, including: pao de queijo (warm cheese bread), crispy hot polenta, garlic mashed potatoes, caramelized bananas, rice and black beans.

There are 15 different varieties of mouth-watering meats including their popular lamb, sirloin and filet mignon. The chefs themselves wander around the building with freshly cooked meat on large skillets ready to slice you a piece per your request.

The chefs will bring you different varieties of irresistible mean all evening if you don’t give them a red card, literally. The restaurant places a card on the table for every guest, one side is red which tells the chefs you’re taking a “food break” and the other is green which means “bring it on.”

Now, I’m not the biggest meat fan but I ate twice over what I should have, that’s how delicious it was. The meat was so tender and full of flavor it literally melted in my mouth.

If you save room for desert, you won’t regret it. The South American flan was to die for and went perfectly with a cappuccino.

I would recommend Fogo de Chao for a birthday, anniversary or special date. It’s definitely worth every penny.

My Rating: 4 1/2 stars

About the Contributors

Vanessa Duffy, staff reporter

I’m a nerd. I like to read, write, and take long walks on the beach. My writing inspiration derived from the elementary school teachers that I despised, or so I thought I did at the time. I was instructed to re-write the same essays countless times until I got it right. “Back in my day,” we didn’t type and save documents on a computer for quick revisions. No, this play-time deprived 8-year-old had to re-write entire stories by hand.

The following year I was a writing perfectionist and critiqued my essays in a manner that may be classified as obsessive compulsive.

Over the years the basic stories teachers assigned bored me and I thrived for a challenge. My Pandora’s box of creativity was unleashed ranging from comedic-satire to the emotional “oh my god my puppy was run over.”

Writing is definitely my favorite hobby. I say hobby rather than career because I don’t want the stress of “story in exchange for food” to skew my passion. I have a passion for many things including law, environmental activism, and the ever popular world peace. I consider them the blood-pumping ventricles in my heart and I divide my time and talents to all of them.

I’ll conclude with… One day I will change the world.

Jane Pojawa, production assistant

Jane Pojawa is a Southern California-based print media editor/writer who also dabbles in web design. Her passion is historical research and has served as a secretary/archivist/historian for the Cabot’s Pueblo Museum board of directors 2008-2010), the communications director for the Friends of the Michael White Adobe (2009 – current) and the media and communications chair for the Morongo Basin Historical Society (2010-current). She writes a a blog for her husband, Raven Jake, and brews mead. She is a past editor-in-chief for El Vaquero 2005-2006, and Spring 2011 and served as the editor-in-chief for the Insider, GCC's student magazine, from 2008 - 2014.