I can’t get enough of Brazilian food. As a family, we’ve been to quite a few Brazilian restaurants, but every experience has been unique, as it was here at Bonfire Brazil! After being on the road for quite a few hours, we decided to stop in for a full meal experience; however, we got there past 9, and their buffet closes at 8 p.m. Julia was our server, and she proceeded to explain the restaurant’s dynamic after 8 p.m. You can order individual or party-size portions from their menu. Julia was very thorough in explaining the different choices. We ordered the half-portion combination of Rump, Picanha, and sausage. The sides we chose were the Brazilian rice, cooked cassava, mayonnaise salad, pinto beans, and the vinaigrette (similar to pico de gallo, but slightly different and very delicious). The picanha just melts in your mouth, the rump is a bit tougher but very delicious, and the sausage is crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside and it packs so much flavor. This meal didn’t fall short of their buffet menu! Super delicious! Will definitely be back when back in town! Just Yum! 😋
We recently visited Bonfire Brazilian Steakhouse for the first time to celebrate a family high school graduation. I have to give the staff an A+ because the customer service was wonderful and very attentive.
The food, unfortunately, was a bit hit or miss for us. There was plenty of meat to choose from, but we would have loved to see a larger variety of sides to round out the meal. My top sirloin was too fatty and undercooked for my liking. At roughly $26 a person, we felt we didn't quite get the full value out of the experience.
I really appreciate the excellent service, and hope they consider expanding the food choices.
Had my mom’s birthday dinner here, it was extremely easy to reserve a table we had the buffet & ordered foods from the menu. Everything was soo good, I loved the dessert !! The authentic Brazilian vibes were the best, they had karaoke night on Friday and our party loved it. Drinks/Beer were very good & always cold. Staff was extremely friendly & welcoming. It’s very hard to find restaurants that accommodate a party of 30 & bonfire was more than accommodating to our party, the kids area was perfect for the children. Very clean establishment. We will definitely be back. Thank you guys 10/10!!
Overall The food was good on the meat side and the buffet was ok but almost empty and not refilled, and half items cold/luke warm or dried out.
I do want to state that any information I list below referring to laws and standards is my personal understanding and feelings on this matter and I cannot guarantee that it is correct or interpreted correctly . I recommend researching the laws yourself to validate or dismiss my view point on what I felt was not following the law correctly by restaurant.
We Arrived at 7:15. 8 people all got buffet, server said it would be available till 8:30. The buffet portion was half empty , aged and Luke warm. I figure this is to maintain cost by not refilling before ending the buffet service. I can understand the reasoning but to me not the best business decision in my opinion. ( for my experience,I worked 15 years in restaurants and family owned restaurants. )We stayed till 9:30. I Was charged $7.28 for a singer (music individual as they called it )that showed up and started around 9 pm. No one said anything before or during our dinner until after we received the bill and asked why the charge. As we were leaving we saw a sign they placed at entrance , this was placed sometime after we had arrived , saying there was a cover charge for the singer. Had I known while at the table we would have left before he started since we had no interest in entertainment like that at our dinner. The meat side was good and the server was very nice. I do not agree with the 18% gratuity but that’s there right to do that. I prefer tipping on my own, especially when it’s a buffet where the amount of service and responsibilities of the server is considerably less than a full service restaurant.
My dislikes and what i consider bad busines
From my understanding ( I could be wrong) but by law any fee for using a credit card must be listed separately on the receipt. In this restaurant they up charge every item by an undisclosed % amount. The restaurant lists all items with a cash fee and card fee. By law it should be a separate line on receipt since they are only allowed to charge the same % they are charged by the credit company to process the card. This keeps company from charging more than the processing fee and profiteering off the extra amount. Average card fee by contract is between 2% and 4%. This would be a violation of the contract with companies like Mastercard and visa that the restraunt has. As i said before i could be wrong in this understanding. I am not a lawyer. If this is correct they could be in breach of said contract and loose the ability to process credit cards.
Also , this is by my understanding so I could be wrong. But, 2 people in my party paid with a debit card and were charged the processing fee for a card. From my understanding This is illegal. By law a debit card and a gift card , no matter if it is processed as debit or credit is exempt from a fee and must be treated as cash. This process the restaurant uses makes me uneasy and I distrust companies that say the are transparent but do not fully disclose the fees.
In conclusion I will not be back for a few reasons.
1-The cost for dinner and drinks was far beyond the value and quality of the food. Based on the final bill for 2 people - 2 buffet,2 beers 1 margarita our total was with the set tip , upcharge for using card and the singer charge per person our bill was $141.90. I have gone to a high end Brazilian , high end restraunts , the large Korean all you can eat , or even the wagu house for around price. So for me the compared cost verses the service, quality , buffet ending with limited options that were cold and the atmosphere it is frankly not worth it. For me a 2 star buffet should not cost the same as a 3 to 4 star restaurant or high end buffet.
2-The last reason is the issues I have on their transparency on billing , the feeling of being overcharged and the forced gratuity I would not recommend or ever go back myself. I personally left feeling ripped off and extremely disappointed, as did my Brazilian wife.
Customer service was amazing, Malu was one of our waitresses, she’s wonderful and very kind! The barbecue guys were super friendly and helpful as well. The food was great and fresh! Love the fresh orange juice as well. Place was clean and overall experience was great.
