Rio Grille

Rio Grille is a new Brazilian style restaurant located in Greenville, SC (www.riogrille.com). The other bloggers and I are known to wander and frequently cross the border to sample restaurants with our friends who live down there. So, although this blog is set up for dining in Western NC, you will sometimes find a few reviews from the Greenville area just in case you have a desire for a road trip too! Our SC dining companions this night were anxious to try Rio Grille. While on a recent trip to Texas, they went to a Brazilian style restaurant and absolutely loved it so wanted to see if this local effort measured up. Always game for an adventure, Fat Kat and I willingly went along. In short, this style of restaurant focuses on meat, meat, and more meat. There are several servers who wander around the room with giant skewers holding various forms of meat. Each diner is given a token that you display either green (for more meat, please) or red (I'm done for now - or for good - no more meat, please). If the server sees green, then he whacks you off a slice of whatever his skewer is offering. If he sees red, he passes on to the next person. To accompany the meat, there is a huge salad bar (with things more substantial than salad) and a few sides placed on the table. It is a fixed price, in this case $30 per person, for all you can eat, plus tax, tip, and any drinks or dessert. One of our dining companions is a rather robust sort and does not take the challenge of an "all you eat" lightly. He told the servers to "keep bringing me meat until I pass out!" They laughed, but he was serious!

Parking in Greenville can be tricky on the weekends, but thankfully, Rio Grille has a decent, albeit rustic, parking area in the back. We were a party of eight and had reservations, so were seated immediately, but it didn't look like any other patrons had to wait long. At this point, things did not start off well. We sat at the table for a good 15 minutes, completely ignored - no drinks, no water, no bread, no "hi, how are ya" - nothing. We got excited for a moment with a tray of fried bananas appeared, but they were whisked away almost as soon as they hit the tablecloth having been delivered to the wrong table. They could've been ours if we had been faster! After much mumbling, looking around, and speaking to the hostess twice (who, by the way, was stationed right next to our table), finally someone came by looking sheepish, concerned, and a bit harried, all at the same time. I suspect it was a case of "who has that table?" each thinking someone else did. Drinks were finally ordered and delivered and we were back on track. I thought that there could've been a little more instruction for those of us who had never been before. We had a vague idea of how it worked, but things like the small tongs on the table went unidentified or explained. Fortunately, we had the veterans at our table who guided us along.

It is a pretty simple process. As I mentioned, you have your token which signals the "meat guys" to deliver or not and the salad bar is available at any time. They delivered some fried bananas to the table (this time they stayed), some small, cheese bread rounds, and several bowls of mashed potatoes. All were very good. We learned from our friends that the small tongs were for holding your piece of meat as the guy was slicing it off - basically so it didn't drop onto the table. Ok. Got it. We all went to the salad bar and helped ourselves while waiting for the first "meat guy" to come by. Along with the usual salad fare, the bar had some hearty prepared foods, shrimp, and smoked salmon. Wanting to pace myself, I got some of the shrimp, salmon, and a few prepared dishes, but wanted to leave plenty of room for the main star, the meat.

First up, was some filet of beef wrapped in bacon. I love filet, but this was a bit tough. You should be able to cut filet with a fork. Next up, was some sausage (didn't catch what type) which had good flavor, but was a bit dry. Ok, the fork rating was taking a beating so far this evening! But, that was followed by some excellent ribs, chicken wrapped with bacon, top sirloin (great flavor), turkey (reported to be excellent), and a non-meat offering - grilled pineapple. I LOVED the pineapple! I'm not that big, so they make money off of me as far as the meat goes, but I happily ate my weight in pineapple. I think I waved that guy over no fewer than three times! As far as other meat options, I think some pork tenderloin also came by and maybe one other item, but I didn't get anything else. Several of our dinner companions felt the meats were overly seasoned. Mine tasted fine, but that may have been because I didn't get many outside slices. The meat choices vary each night. After about five or six meat samplings, 300 lbs. of pineapple, plus the other sides, I was dangerously close to exploding. As a result - a rare occurrence for Sweet Tooth - no dessert for me! I rationalized that the pineapple took care of that anyway.

We came to the 3.5 fork rating for a nice atmosphere (contemporary/industrial) with a very fun concept, decent but inconsistent quality food, inconsistent service, and a price tag that seemed a little high. So, was it great? No. Was it worth $30? For me, no. Was it fun? Absolutely! Would I go back again? Probably not. If I knew someone who had never been and wanted to try it, I would go back. But, otherwise, I think the Greenville area has many other, better quality, choices.