text: You want to talk all you can eat Brasilian BBQ Here is my qualifiernnOur family on my wifes side is Brasilian In Brazil it is spelled with an s Over the last years or so I have eaten at the most complete churracarias both in Brasil and here And I have eaten at the most modest including a churracaria in a gas station in Sul de Minas on the way to visit a coffee cooperative see my youtube video titled Coffee Cupping in Sul de Minas The definingqualifying points are the same quality and flavor of the meat completeness of the salad bar or bars Some restaurants have a full sushi bar with chef and quality of service So trying to remain both objective and relevant I will share my opinionnnIve been to the Fogos in Dallas Beverly Hills and now Las Vegas My best experience was in Dallas but understanding that I was there right after their opening and because Fogo corporate is in Dallas I think they worked at doing it all This was probably before they reviewed and revised their operations Dallas was the best Beverly Hills and now Las Vegas were both a disappointment but more because they do not reflect the best of what I expect in a high end churrascaria And I personally think they are making a mistake Here is what most nonBrasilians are missing but would not know it if they have never been to a more typical churrascaria in BrasilnnThe salad bar In Brasil and at churrascarias like Fogo in Sao Paulo Rio and the interior cities like Brasilia Goiania and Uberlandia there will be everything you see at Fogo in LV plus another full bar of hot entrees including fish and meat dishes stroganoff hot vegetables rice and black beans And yes the fried plantans too All this is available at the bar all you can eat not brought to your table like at Fogo You will also see that cheese bread called pao de queiju In some restaurants there will be either a small or very expanded sushi bar The salad bar by itself can easily support anyones craving for a full meal Fogos salad bar is amazingly small in my opinion and for Brasililans incomplete especially for the money Fogo offers the salad bar only for under but in my opinion it is not worth it If they had a traditionally full salad bar offering it would be great for nonred meat eaters as there would be a huge variety of fish shrimp etc nnThe meats Here Fogo does well as the quality of the meats is very good While some churrascarias buy low end meats my feeling is that what Fogo does not offer in the salad bar they make up for in the meat departmentnnIMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT GETTING WHAT YOU WANT If you want rare medium rare well done etc you should tell both the table waiter and the meat servers I will sometimes tell the servers that I only want the Picanha tritip the Filet and the Fraudinha flank steak You are paying tell them what you want and how you like it They appreciate your specifics and even at this Fogo I got what I wanted in meatsnnThe service For a highend churrascaria it was illtimed meat delivery and it was slow And when the gauchos meat servers did start coming to the table it was an onslaught The mark of a great churrascaria is consistency with an even rhythm We spoke to our waiter assigned to manage our table and I could see that he was struggling to maintain service level to us and other tables That issue alone erradic service would be a major complaint point And for this Fogo all I could think of was this would never fly in Sao Paulo or Rio or at any other of their Brasilian locations nnA major deal breaker for Brasilians and what told me this operation was tailored to NonBrasilians was the fact that they serve rice and black beans only after being asked Had I not asked our table may have been overlooked That is rediculous as the foundation for a plate in Brasil is your rice black beans vinegrette salsa and farofa or toasted corn meal that tops off the beans rice and salsa When you have to ask for those very basic items you know that Fogo has tailored or dumbed down their restaurant to non Brasilians And frankly most people love these items after being introduced and shown how to build their platennSo I gave Fogo a star just because they do serve great quality meat And knowing ignorance is bliss I figure that if what they do serve is good and the clientel like it who am I to complain because they do not mimic my preferred style of service although I do think you deserve better than what they offer at their salad bar setupnnBTW for a more traditional salad bar and certainly more complete visit Texas de Brazil at the Town Square Shopping Center off South Las Vegas Blvd I think you will better understand my comments about the salad bar and maybe agree that the tradeoff at Texas de Brazil may be in the quality of the meat