I want to thank the wonderful team at Chima Brazilian Steakhouse for inviting me to join them for their all-you-can eat Rodizio buffet dinner. If you haven’t ever heard of Rodizio, it is an experience unlike any I’ve had before. In this blog post, I’ll give you an overview, what to expect and my favorite highlights from our dinner.

About Chima Brazilian Steakhouse

Chima is a Brazilian barbecue restaurant that specializes in all-you-can-eat meats, gourmet salads and Brazilian specialties. The restaurant offers a couple of flexible options based on your dietary needs. For meat-lovers, Chima offers the traditional Rodizio and salad bar buffet for $55 dollars. As for vegetarians and pescatarians, there is an option of just the salad bar buffet for $36 dollars, which also includes unlimited vegetable skewers, grilled pineapple and salmon. If you’re looking to save, be sure to lookout for specials and deals online as Chima does offer some savings throughout the year, such as their summer special for $35 dollars.

Dining at Chima

When we first arrived, we were seated and given some delicious appetizers. These included some delicious Brazilian cheese rolls, plantains, yucca, mashed potatoes and some other delicacies. After we were given a run down of how the Rodizio buffet worked from our attentive waiter, we were free to explore the salad bar.

This salad bar is unlike your typical build-your-own deal. There are various hand-crafted, gourmet salads, cheese, and veggies to choose from. The best part of this salad bar is that everything is customizable to a degree and full of healthy vegetables and add-ons. For my vegetarian and pescatarian friends, this in itself is worth filling up on. The salad bar also has a variety of dressings, sauces and rice to choose from to accompany the main meal, including their signature passionfruit dressing.

Before you go overboard with fixings from the salad bar, be sure to save room for the main event. Once you’re ready, flip your table chip to “Yes, Please” and the Gauchos will come to you with a variety of meat selections, salmon and even their special grilled pineapple. Choose from expertly grilled and seasoned top sirloin picanha, baby top sirloin with garlic, filet mignon, bacon-wrapped filet mignon, ribeye, flank steak, leg of lamb, lamb chops, beef ribs, chicken wrapped in bacon, boneless chicken, parmesan pork loin, Brazilian-style sausage, salmon with a side of passionfruit sauce, vegetable skewers and grilled pineapple coated in cinnamon. Using the tongs provided, you will be able to pick up the cuts after the Gauchos expertly slice off the selection based on your preference (i.e. rare, medium, etc).

If you feel overwhelmed, need to pace yourself or got over-zealous, then you can just turn your chip to “No, thank you.” The food will stop coming for a little while until you turn the chip back the other way. This is great if you need to slow down or work on finishing your plate if things get crowded.

After you are satisfied with your buffet and if you have more room, the dessert menu is worth looking at. There are a couple of Brazilian specialty desserts worth trying such as their key lime pie served with passionfruit sauce and pomegranate. In addition there is even a Brazilian trio that I must try on my next visit.

My Favorites

There were tons of great morsels and selections that I still think about to this day. As a disclaimer, I am not a big fan of red meat or any meat for starters so my favorites will be more vegetarian and pescatarian friendly. However, I did try a number of the meat selections and absolutely loved the Rodizio. Personally, I enjoyed the peach pomegranate frisee salad with a passionfruit dressing drizzled on top. This salad was so refreshing and absolutely fantastic. I also enjoyed a kale salad that included some sweet potatoes in it. The salmon was also cooked well and paired wonderfully with the passionfruit dressing. There is also an option of pairing the salmon with a chimichurri sauce which is absolutely delicious. The cheesy rolls and mashed potatoes were also fantastic and it was hard to stop eating them in lieu of the main course. To top it all off, I absolutely loved the grilled pineapple. The caramelization of the pineapple and cinnamon hit the spot and I could honestly eat a ton of it. Overall, there were so many salads and meats that were absolutely wonderful. The buffet is so filling and depending on your choices, a healthy meal is totally doable.

If you’re curious and need more visuals of what the buffet is like, check out my vlog here. Let me know if you have any questions and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

xo,

Christine Celine