Viva Brazil

A group of us came here for a friend’s birthday on Saturday night, and we had a table booked for 9pm. By 9.40pm the table still wasn’t ready and we were getting very hungry. We were finally seated, but nobody explained how the meal worked, and that we were able to help ourselves from the salad bar. This had to be explained by the men serving the meat on skewers. Once one of the men came with one type of meat, they all came at once, almost as though we were being rushed through the meal. I had some food on my plate but didn’t realise they would come round again at a later stage if you asked, so I accepted too much food at once and then all of it went cold quickly.
The meat I found to be too salty, and lots of it was too well-​done for my liking. Most of it I found to taste very similar. The best part I found was the roasted cinnamon pineapple — that was delicious and I has second helpings of it!
We did not get drinks served during the meal, and was around the 9^th serving of meat that we actually managed to hail a waiter/​ess down to order some. They then forgot the table water, which was definitely needed due to the high salt in the meat!
All of the wine measurements were different — I ordered one large wine while sat in the bar area, and this was much larger than the large wine ordered at the table. My friends was also a different size.
The toilets were absolutely filthy, and I’m a student! There were only two toilets — one male and one female meaning there was a queue for the loos all night!
When we had finished our meal we waited for staff to come over so we could request the bill, but they were too busy having a water fight using the spray bottles for cleaning tables. One waiter, a young guy with glasses, was very attentive, but the others acted like they just wanted to be elsewhere.
When we received the bill, it was incorrect as they had charged our vegetarian friend the full rodizio price. This was amended but took ages to get the waiter/ess’s attention again.
Overall, the food was fine, lots of it which is what you pay for. I guess I’m quite picky. But for the price per head charged you expect better service and facilities.
Visited May 2015

A meat eaters paradise!
Once you get over the eye candy (waiters), this all you can eat brazillian barbeque means you will never go home hungry.
As well as a wide selection of salads, stews and curries, you are offered a selection of 15 different skewered meats — each one grilled to perfection. With everything from fillet steak to chicken hearts you wont be disappointed.
If you have room for more deliciousness, you simply turn your card to green. If you are full to the brim, turn it to red and you will be left alone!
Staff are exceptionally attentive and very friendly. Will definately be returning here.
P. S. Try their sangria — it is divine!

Full confession: I’m not an all-​you-​can-​eat person. The quality/​quantity ratio is never very good, the service often leaves much to be desired, and the business model survives on people like me subsidizing overeaters. So it’s a safe guess I’m probably not the target customer for Viva Brazil in the first place. But I digress.
The salad bar turned out to be the high point of the evening. Lots of veggies, a few fruits, cheeses, some lovely stews, and a selection of sauces got my meal off to an excellent start.
The meat, on the other hand, was hit-​and-​miss, but mostly miss. Being able to choose how I wanted my beef and lamb cooked was a nice touch, but almost all the selections we tried were surprisingly bland — a couple tasty glazes maybe, but nary a hint of marinade. Any Greek taverna will serve up better lamb, your local probably does a more flavorful roast, and a proper steakhouse will put the Viva Brazil equivalent utterly to shame. One of the chicken options was actually pretty good, but I wouldn’t say it was better than Nando’s. (They never brought the ribs, so I can’t comment on those). You get the idea.
The service didn’t really work for us either. The draught beer was reasonably priced, but mine stood empty for a long time while we tried to get the server’s attention.
In the unlikely event that I ever return to Viva Brazil, it will be for the buffet, which is a whopping half the price of the full Passador service, and which at least has the virtue of offering some flavor variety. If you’re in the mood for a carnivorous meat fest, however, do yourself a favor and (speaking of proper steakhouses) walk a block west to Meet Argentinian.

Meats on sticks. Meats on sticks. MEATS ON STICKS! As Cameron Diaz notes in ‘There’s Something About Mary’, there really aren’t enough meats on sticks.
Well, there are plenty at Viva Brazil.
Similar to Bem Brazil, Viva Brazil is a gut-​busting meat fest and Brazilian buffet where the waiters bring you meat on large skewers. The dining style is fairly American, you serve yourself at a buffet/​salad bar, and then staff bring along selections of meat which are cut at the table. They offer everything from sizzled sausages to rump steaks and everything inbetween. I’ve never been to Brazil so I’m not sure how authentic the food is, but the atmosphere is warm and welcoming, and the food is plentiful.
The meat brought over to our table was very tasty, the rump steak was particularly tender and well seasoned. We tried seven different types of beef, pork and poultry over the course of our lunch, and if you visit in the evening you get to try much more. I wasn’t overwhelmed by the salad bar — there were some tasty Brazilian stews and veggies, but the rest of the offer was poor. A lot of the salads lacked bite, and it felt this end of the menu was an afterthought where it could have been much more complimentary to the rest of the meal.
The service was friendly and attentive, and the restaurant was nicely presented, if a little shabby. The bar seemed well stocked and I saw lots of people enjoying colourful cocktails. The bathrooms are stylish, with some nice added touches like luxury hand soap and lotion.
A good choice if you are very hungry and/​or looking for something flamboyant and fun without being too dressy. Viva Brazil is a great for large groups and a new (ish) dining experience which is certainly worth a try.

When Viva Brazil opened in Liverpool earlier this year, it didn’t exactly present itself as being the classiest of dining establishments. Indeed, judging from its opening night, it appeared to be more concerned with packing numerous topless women and Z-​list celebrities into its booths than the actual food — therefore (snob alert!) making it not exactly the kind of place which would be top of my list when I was thinking of a nice meal out.
But then, my birthday rolled around, and my boyfriend offered to take me out somewhere nice to celebrate this momentous occasion and I fancied trying somewhere new. Somewhere exciting. Somewhere where I could eat my own bodyweight in dead cow. It was time to shove my misconceptions to one side and try Viva Brazil.
Viva Brazil is a traditional Brazilian Churrascaria restaurant. This means that you for a set fee, you can gorge yourself until you have a heart attack on salads, stews, and — best of all — freshly grilled meat which has been marinated for 24 hours, stuck on a skewer and cooked over hot coals until it falls off the bone. This is offered up to you by men who come round to your table and will carve off great hunks of the stuff in front of you. If you fancy some of what they’ve got to offer, you flip over a coaster to green. If you’re stuffed to the gills, or just don’t fancy chowing down on some fresh chicken hearts, you turn your coaster to red. Well, it’s either that or demonstrating to them that you’ve got a bad case of the meat sweats. Whatever’s easiest.
The meat itself was delicious — each piece was grilled to perfection. For those who prefer their meats well done or rare a simple request sets the mark and you are brought pieces done to your liking. With thirteen (!) different types of meat on offer, there really is something for everyone. Whilst some would say that there’s just as much choice for vegetarians here as there is for carnivores, I’d baulk at that statement. This isn’t really a place I’d take someone who isn’t particularly partial to meat unless they were a) very tolerant or b) had a remarkably small appetite — although, saying that, there was quite a good selection of salads on offer.
Viva Brazil did fall down slightly for me on two areas though. Firstly, the drinks service was achingly slow. We had to go to the bar to order cocktails or glasses of wine, and the bartender took an absolute age to both notice myself and my partner and then serve us. Whilst the Mojito I drank was sublime, it was a bit annoying that I had to wait fifteen minutes for the thing to be made. It also didn’t appear to be too hot on desserts. Whilst these were included in the set price we paid during our visit, the only thing which was out on the tables was a rather manky looking jelly which looked as though it had been sitting there all day — a far cry from the flans and brigadieros listed on the menu.
I liked Viva Brazil a lot — if only because they allowed me to eat an entire cow without gawping at my insatiable appetite for beef. But it will have to iron out its few rough edges before I profess to love it. However, if you’re looking for all the meat you can eat at a reasonable price, you could do a lot worse.