Terra Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse Tampa Tampa

I wanted to try this place for a Christmas dinner as I drive by it once in a while. I made reservations 4 weeks in advance so that I can get the time I want. As I walked into the place, it was packed with people at 2:00 on Christmas Day. The place looks great and clean! We were immediately sat down even with a full house so I was impressed from the start. The salad bar had a lot of variety to choose from and it was all delicious and fresh. What is a sign of a good restaurant is that they take the salad bar dish back into the kitchen if they have to top the dish back up instead of bringing the food out and filling it at the salad bar. This is also the place that the people walk around with 6 kinds of proteins. You flip the little card over when you want the people to stop at your table to carve out the small piece of meat. Once you turn the card, give them about 5 - 7 mins for them to get to you. This was great because you are able to try everything. The bad part about this is you have to eat how it is cooked. My friend wanted her meat well done but it was not available. I was good because I like mine steaks medium rare. You can request as much as you want. Each and every little piece of meat that I had requested just melted in your mouth and the flavor was spot on delicious. The bad part is that dessert was not included and that is an extra charge. It is a shame as most buffet includes dessert. It really doesn’t cost them anything. The other negative is they have very limited parking so you will have to drive around to find a spot at prime time. Overall I would definitely come back and now I know what to expect.