We enjoy dining at Texas De Brazil in Addison for nice evenings and special events, but May 19th, 2010 we encountered a very different experience.
We were showed to our table where we sat for about 5 minutes waiting for someone to come greet us. There was 1 female and 3 male waiters walking around the floor divided among approximately 6 tables. it was 7:45 p.m. when we arrived.
We finally just assumed we start the process ourselves so we went to the salad bar. We love the Lobster bisque but this evening it was cold. We returned to the table and were given glasses of water.
Then began the carvers coming around to serve the meat. Excellent meat and I have a few favorites (Picanha!), so I started looking at the kitchen door to see if a new skewer was coming out. As I watched the first carver return to the kitchen, he stopped at the door, carved off a nice big piece with his knife and then ate it with his fingers. He then walked over to the rack and put the meat on to continue cooking.
Out came another waiter. Walked around to each table, then walked back to the kitchen, stopped at the door, carved off two pieces, one for himself, and another for a carver walking out the door. I watched this happen over and over and was becoming frustrated that I was now obviously paying for THEIR dinner.
All the while while I'm getting annoyed at seeing this, my wife is getting upset watching the female waiter walk to each table and then leave the floor, with us sitting there with nothing to drink. We had to flag down someone 3 times to get our water glasses filled.
After about 10 minutes of watching the carvers feast in the kitchen, one of them noticed me staring at them. So the new game was for one carver to stand at the doorway with his back to me, blocking the counter where they were still carving meat.
I now wanted to speak to a manager, but could not figure out who our waiter was or even have them come to our table. Then I notice the man who greeted us at the host stand in the suit (is that the manager?) walk to the salad bar, fill up a plate of food and then stop at the kitchen entrance and have the carvers cut him a nice plate of food as well. I guess telling the manager would be out of the question.
That must be the reason why you pay $40+ per person. You are buying all the staff their dinner. If I ate at another restaurant and watched the waiters graze off the plates of food that they were bringing to the tables, I would be disgusted and never eat there again. I feel that this was not much different.
The food is great, but this evening, my Birthday celebration, was not so stellar. Unfriendly gauchos, inattentive wait staff, and prices set to cover dinner for the crew made Texas De Brazil a turn off for us.
Pros: Delicious meat, amazing lobster bisque and fried bananas
Cons: Unfriendly servers who hurry back to the kitchen to eat
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