Rodizio Grill

Taking advantage of Arizona Restaurant Week, we went to the Rodizio Grill in Mesa. We were a few minutes early for a 6:00 reservation, so we sat outside on a bench while they got our table ready for us. Restaurant week is an opportunity to dine at reduced prices at local restaurants. While our price was $33 for each person, which is about the normal price for a meal, they added at no cost an alcoholic beverage or complimentary house special soft drink as well as dessert at no extra cost.

For those who have never had Rodizio, it is a Brazilian style dinner. It starts off with an unlimited very nice salad bar which was stocked with some very different salads as well as some hot dishes. Available were items like Beef Stroganoff, Feijoada (traditional Brazilian stew), Mozzarella salad, Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato salad, and lots more. However, if you fill up on the salad bar you will not have room left for the main attraction, the "Meats".

Among the meats served were - Picanha Top Sirloin (A lean, juicy cut of beef with a mild and sophisticated flavor), Bife Com Alho (Tender steak basted in garlic seasonings), Maminha Seasoned Tri Tip Sirloin, Miolo da Paleta (Beef Center Cut Skirt Steak), Whole Sirloin, Frango Com Bacon
(Lean, juicy chicken breast wrapped in bacon), Frango Agri-Doce (Sweet and spicy chicken), Sobre Coxa (Marinated & Seasoned Chicken), Coração (Grilled tender chicken hearts), Linguiça, (Brazilian sausage), Lombo Com Queijo (A tender cut of pork, served with parmesan cheese- and bacon, Presunto (Ham), Cordeiro (Boneless leg of Lamb), as well as others that I cannot recall.

On your table is a small rectangular block with one end painted green and the other end painted red. When the green end is up it mean you want more food, and gauchos will circulate in your area with food on long swords and large knives. They will cut off as much meat as you wish each time one of them comes by. There were so many of them in the area that we had to turn our block to red for a while until we could finish what was already on our plates. Then we turned the block back to green and the Gaucho's started coming around with more meat. Because of the way the meat is cooked, you can ask for any degree of doneness and it will usually be available.

The steak with garlic was particularly memorable as was the chicken wrapped in bacon, the ham, and the lamb. We all had seconds and or thirds of these meats, plus the regular portions of the other meats.

The only way to properly describe this restaurant is as a Carnivore's Delight. One of our party was a true carnivore and probably ate several pounds of meat.

When you lay your block sideways on the table it signifies that you are ready for dessert.

Dings - only one - there are two types of waiters and waitresses on the floor. The meat waiters, who did a terrific job of keeping our plates well stocked, and the service waitresses. Our service waitress was a disaster waiting to happen. She made our meal drag on because she could not be found and was so very slow.

Bathrooms were nice and clean and properly stocked.

3 stars for cleanliness and quality of food.