My parents were in town visiting, and my mom really wanted to go to a Brazilian steakhouse again. The last one we had been to was in New York City in 2004 and cost more than $50/person. We came to Rio on a Friday night around 5:30, so our server was very attentive since we were the only people in the restaurant. He periodically checked in with us to see if there was any cut of meat we wanted to see again. He even had the cooks shuck some more oysters for us since there were no more left on the salad bar. I personally enjoyed the cilantro on the mussels, but both the oysters and the slices of smoked salmon did not have any cilantro. The cinnamon pineapple was absolutely delicious. We even got to sample small pieces of alligator meat (though it wasn't my favorite). There were also chicken hearts, but we were too full to try them. There was such a variety to choose from, and you could always ask for your favorites to come back. It's true that the meats are usually very red in the middle, but I love my meat medium rare. I especially recommend the picanha, which is their house steak. Not all the cuts of meat were great - the lamb was a little dry and the garlic beef was not tasty. Overall, I thought that $26 for all-you-can-eat steak and a good salad bar was quite a bargain.
Pros: atmosphere, variety of food, attentive service
Cons: depending on preference, meats were usually medium rare to rare
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