Espada Brazilian Steak

I have been to Espada twice now. The first time was a random weeknight and we were there later in the night, probably 7:30 or 8. There was a live band and only a few other tables. From what I remember, we had a good experience and a great meal. The biggest «issue» is that this restaurant is definitely on the pricier side. The first time we visited, there were three tiers and we went with the middle of the road selection.
The second time we went was a visit with my parents who drove from Buffalo on a Saturday night. We lured them to Rochester with a gift card for Christmas. This time, they only had two options– just the salad bar or the option of all the meats your could ever desire for $ 55 ($ 45 during the week). Luckily, my parents picked up the tab. We made a reservation, which I would definitely recommend on a weekend. I don’t think there was an empty table that night while we were there. Everything I sampled from the salad bar was good. The feijoada (a Brazilian black bean stew) was great, although it definitely isn’t a great looking dish. All of the meats were delicious. My least favorite was probably the chicken wing. I’m glad their website lists all of the different types because, in the moment, it is a little overwhelming. Our service was very fast and almost overwhelmingly so. Although it is part of the rodizo (which tier or level of meat that you pay for), my boyfriend opted to skip everything from the salad bar in order to make the most room for all of the different types of meat that are offered and he still ended up with the «meat sweats,» as he charmingly put it. The grilled cinnamon pineapple is the stuff dreams are made of. I would happily go back, although I think this is more of a special occasion type restaurant, just given the price. My parents, who find little reason to leave their suburban Buffalo neighborhood said they would definitely be willing to drive ALL the way to Rochester to come back to Espada, which I think is the highest form of compliment.

My boyfriend and I came here for Valentine’s Day expecting a nice dinner. He had been here before and enjoyed it and I had been to a different Brazilian steak house and loved it. This was not the case for Espada.
We got the meat level which included the salad bar and all you can eat meat. I actually enjoyed the salad bar a lot and probably could have stuck with just that. When I was ready for the meat, it took a while for the servers to come around and when they did, the meat was either under or over cooked, cold, and lacked seasoning. I’m a huge fan of red meat so you can imagine my sadness when my favorite dish was actually the bacon wrapped scallops.
At the end, the server told us we got one «complementary» dessert per couple that we were allowed to take home. However, she failed to mention that instead of the normal $ 55 a person, it was $ 70 a person and they included a $ 31 gratuity without informing us. Then they left an additional line if we wanted to include a tip. The first we heard of this was when the bill came. You would think she would have told us that when he said that he had been here before.
My boyfriend was upset with the experience and sent an email to the owner who had failed to get back to him.
If you do go, don’t waste your money on the meat or the dessert, stick to the salad bar and make sure you ask if they changed the prices because they certainly won’t tell you!

Anyone that gives this place more than two stars has never been to a Brazilian steakhouse before.
This place is about as authentic as calling Golden Corral a steakhouse because they have steaks. Let’s start with the salad bar, total lack of quality selections like cured hams, cheeses, olives, mushrooms, really anything beyond a salad mix and various veggies in mayo dressings.
Next the meats, they were all bland, raw or overcooked, I enjoy the rareness of meats pulled off an open flame but these were just plain poorly cooked. The whole point of a place like this is to enjoy the atmosphere and cooking style of spit roasted meats. Bringing out chucks of meat already sliced in baskets like the sirloin and flank steak??? How about the leg of lamb that was pre cut into small chunks instead of as it should be, a whole leg. The Groucho’s lacked knowledge on the meats, would mix up what they had and we averaged 10minutes between them coming to our table. And no chimichurri sauce???
I’ve been to dozens of these type of places across the USA, Brazil and Argentina. I have never not enjoyed myself as much as I did here. No issues with the price, pretty standard but they are not delivering to their customers an honest experience. They need to step up their game.

This was a fun place to eat. I never been to a Brazilian Steak House before. I enjoyed my experience. I had wonderful service with the waiter and the person bringing out he food. It was pretty cool to try diffrent meat. It’s kind like a buffet that comes to you. They had a unique salad bar which was very tasty and some very good meal sides.
This is a place you don’t leave hungry. I’ve learned to pave yourself while you get the food other wise you will be stuffed in 5 minutes. That goes with the sides too. Take a small portion of them and if you like more you can always go back