Blue Charcoal

I was extremely worried about going here. I normally go to the high end Brazilian Steakhouses but since I was taking little kids I did not want to waste money. The food was really good the taste was comparable to the high end Brazilian restaurants, and the price was great… my kids really loved it… good place for family dinner

Love this place! My DH loves Brazillian Steakhouses so we had to try this one. Blue Charcoal did not disappoint! The staff was friendly, professional, and the food was great! In the words of my 8 year old. .“the chicken is good good good I want more”. Enough said! ! :)

Husband and I really enjoyed this place, we found a deal on living social and we will definitely be back. The food is delicious, the price for 2 dinners 2 drinks and 2 desserts around $ 40 bucks and I think that’s pretty damn good considering it’s all you can eat. The buffet was lacking abit but I still found it pretty good, and the flan… omg the flan, hands down it was amazing.
If your craving fogo/​Texas de Brazil but don’t want to spend $ 100+ blue charcoal is definitely a way cheaper alternative, and I find it just as good :)

Nancy G should read my dam review before putting in her three cents. This is from my review
«I found a lady that said she was the owner and told her about the problems, she went to the back and we never saw her again»
Nancy G needs to read the entire review or don’t comment.

Excellent meat, and the buffet bar is perfect! I enjoyed bringing my family for the Thanksgiving Brunch.

We went for lunch and it was pretty good. Keep in mind when you go that this is casual dinning so compared to some fine dinning Brazilian steakhouses it doesn’t hold up, but for a casual Brazilian steakhouse it’s really good.
The flan was to die for and the service was great. I find this place much better than say going to Golden Coral, which is of the same class of restaurant. It was about $ 15 a person for lunch and we had salad, steak, sides and dessert so not bad at all.

Another year rolls by and I see the same deal on living social and this restaurant is still as great as it was before.
For the living social deal you get two drinks, two AYCE Brazilian meats, and two desserts. the salad bar had a nice selection of food, the main things I look for are yucca and fried plantains and they had both. Their cheese bread came out fresh and is one of my favorite parts of going to a Brazilian steak house. The meats were very tender and juicy. Meats that came out included; garlic beef, spicy beef, lamb, chicken wrapped in back, flank steak, and the house special pichana. They only had one gaucho walker around and cutting the meats but he came out fast and it set a nice pace to dinner.
There’s only one option for dessert and it’s a brownie sundae topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.
Overall service is great, you get good value for your money as you get access to the buffet, AYCE meat, dessert and two non-​alcoholic drinks. Can’t wait till next time!

Ok, before I go on, let me explain something. I have seen the rating for this place and it did make me wary about going in. But after reading the bulk of the reviews, I had to laugh in dismay. If you DO NOT like seasoned meat medium rare, then just don’t come here. But the truth is, that’s how good quality meat SHOULD be served, and is commonly eaten medium rare in both Europe and Latin America. Where do you think the term «the bloody French» comes from? :) Even their steak frites are medium rare and they even go rare with their steak tartare. And to think that a lot of Texans in this beef-​loving state are averse to red meat… it’s just strange.
Anyways, enough about the Texas and French. This is Brazilian. And I’m from a neighboring country of Venezuela. We share a lot of similarities in our steakhouse cuisine — not everything but maybe 80% of everything, including the venerable picanha that we call «punta trasera». Just add the arepitas with nata, guasacaca sauce for the meat, some Venezuelan cheese and tequeños to the menu, and it’s Venezuelan. What’s VERY Brazilian here is the standard fried bananas, pão de queijo (cheese bread), roasted pineapple, and feijoada — and they have them as well, and they are good. I even found the feijoada, the roasted pineapple, and even their desserts to be better than Villa’s near the Galleria. And pretty much everything they brought out of here at Blue Charcoal was perfect.
On top of that, they have an appetizer menu filled with more authentic Brazilian offerings such as the coxinhas de frango (chicken pastries), and pastel de carne/​frango/​queijo (beef/​chicken/​cheese empanadas). I have not seen this being offered in the other Brazilian places, especially the coxinhas. And for dessert, they even have the brigadeiros (chocolate truffles) and passion fruit mousse that’s commonly offered in Brazil.
And the picanha, the great and bloody picanha (alright, it was medium rare, and not as bloody as I make it sound) was EXCELLENT. Perfectly cooked on the outside, and perfectly medium rare in the inside, and with a good amount of fat on the outside ring to insulate and hydrate the inside during cooking. Now, another thing about the fat — if you hate fat, just cut it off. But there’s a little guilty pleasure in eating a little bit of the fat with the meat (not a lot, of course). This is also how it’s traditionally done — just think of it as part of the marbling of the steak.
The salad bar was also nice — they have a good flan, hearts of palms, fried yuca and as well as a good assortment of salads, such as the typical Russian salad that’s eaten all over South America. They also have chimichurri (which is more Argentine), and chopped pico de gallo (or molho à campanha) and farina (both of which is more Brazilian) that you can put on top of the meats. The salad bar is by no means huge — but it satisfied my expectation of a Brazilian restaurant. And it seems that I am not alone since this place packs in the area’s Brazilians. I even bumped into a Brazilian lady who had driven all the way from Allen to eat here because of its authenticity.
Now, another thing I should mention — this is not a top-​tier churrascaria on the level of Fogo de Chao, Texas de Brazil, or anything of the like. Nor should it ever be — this is comfort food at its best and no one should have to pay $ 40 per person for comfort food. But even though it’s not a fancy restaurant, I found the surroundings to be nice. Comfortable, laid back, and country-​style. With their great food and even affordable pricing ($ 15 for weekday lunch, $ 40 for 2 for weekday dinners), I have nothing but praise for this place. The level of authenticity is bar none — they don’t mix it up with Mexican, Indian, or even American cuisine. Obrigado for that!
NOTE: Lunch churrascaria menu is limited to beef, chicken and sausage — no game meats. Dinner options are larger and you may even find the moqueca, the famous Brazilian fish/​shrimp dish.

Purchased a groupon to try this place out. This place is definitely not texas de brazil or fogo de chao. The salad bar was very lack luster. Service was horrible. They barely checked on us and we had to wait forever to find someone so we could get the check.
Most of the meats were very salty and they didn’t have a big selection. Honestly the only thing good were the bananas and pineapple, the bread was good as well but we had to ask for that.
We will not be back!

My husband and I went to blue charcoal after buying the coupon from Groupon. Let’s begin with the location. If your in pursuit of a lugorious restaurant this is not the place for you. Its the same caliber as IHOP. There is a domino’s as well as to auto zone in the same Plaza. Not a 5 star location.
We love eating out, and know how to distinguish good quality meat vs not. The young man who was serving my husband and I food had a bad habit of offering my husband first. Was I just painted there? We know for a fact this establishment only serves cheap cuts of meat. As to our waitress never asked us how our experience in the restaurant was going, as well as we had to ALWAYS ask for a new plate. Their salad bar was mediocre, just salad and COLD hot items. We complained to management and it seem nothing was done.
our experience here was terrible. NEVER AGAIN.

Had a great meal here on Mother’s day with the family. Not sure about he service issues of the past, but they were fixed on this day. Our server was attentive, without being overbearing at a restaurant where service is not a priority (salad bar is DIY and they bring the main course around). In other words the drinks were always full and the plates were cleared quickly.
Breaking down the food course at a time:
SALAD: Quality. The option are not what you can find at some of the other Brazilian steak houses, but what is there is fresh and tasty. I really like that the sides (plantains, yucca, black and red beans, etc) are on the salad bar too.
MEATS: Good. Steaks came out medium rare and well seasoned. Some of the smaller cuts were fatty, but by cutting that away, you get the flavor passed on to the meat. To touch on the speed of the meats, once I moved on from the salad, not once did I not have multiple pieces of meat on my plate.
ATMOSPHERE: Nice, not fancy but nice. My wife liked it for Mother’s Day and my kids enjoyed the food as well.
Each course is a half step behind what you can find at some other of the Brazilian steakhouses in the area; however, the price is almost half of what you pay there, making Blue Charcoal a great value for a meal that you will leave you full and happy before you even look at the bill.

Came here with a Groupon and didn’t experience the issues that others are complaining about. Meat came out every 1 – 2 minutes. The servers were nice. They serve a decent variety of meat, including beef, chicken, and lamb. The buffet is kind of interesting with some unique dishes.
The lower rating is due to the quality of the food. One third of my beef was fat or gristle. Quite a few of the buffet items were salty. The ceviche was a bit odd tasting — it was mostly spicy and tangy. And, there is no dessert buffet included.
I prefer Rafain and Texas de Brazil, but they are also higher priced. I’d recommend that you make a reservation for this place — people were waiting for a table after 8pm.

Food was good, salad bar could have more selection, but what was there was good. It seemed to take a while in between gauchos coming around but pace wasn’t terrible as it gave us time to talk with friends although overall service was a little slow.
I am giving this place a 3 out 5 mainly because of value. The bar in this restaurant genre is set by Texas de Brazil and if you’re going to charge the same prices then you should at least be able to offer the same level of service if not the complete décor, and variety that is offered there. I will not be going back unless they lower their prices as the value just isn’t there.

We’ve been here a couple times now, each time with a groupon. And each time was great, so I have no idea why all the complaints about those of us with coupons getting treated any different. This restaurant is NOT fast food, so don’t expect a quick meal. If you’re the kind of person who expects your waiter to be at your elbow every 5 minutes then you really don’t have a clue what pleasant dining is about. Maybe you should stick with Applebee’s or Olive Garden… or McD’s.
Anyhoo, we had a reservation (recommended!) and were seated immediately upon arrival. Our waiter was at our table within a couple minutes to take our drink orders and we then went to the salad bar, which is pretty decent for a smaller churrascaria. If you come to these places for the salad bar (why?) you would be more impressed with Texas De Brazil’s glorious one. The food is perfectly fresh with a decent variety. My favorite are the garlicky green beans, which I think make a perfect side for all the meats. I don’t eat much of anything else besides a salad because I’m paying for the meat, though I tried bites of most of everything else.
Now the meats… we LOVE their lamb more than anything else they serve. It had a gorgeous crust of something minty, but not overpowering mint. It’s gorgeous. But all the meats are good. Besides the lamb I personally think the best ones are the spicy picanha, regular picanha, garlic beef, and the sirloin. The sausage is nice and tastes house-​made, but probably isn’t. The chicken and pork are my least favorites, but that’s just me.
Even after all the gorging we still got some flan (it was part of the groupon anyway). It was one of the thick ones, almost like a cheesecake, but it was still silky in texture and I liked it a lot.
Bottom line: Service was good, but don’t expect doting like you’re the only one in the world. The food is great for the price and the place looks good.

To the waiter of my table: This was my 3^rd time at this restaurant. I know you’ve probably taken a hit from a customer with a groupon before, but I’m not that guy. I was planning on giving you at least a $ 20 tip, but since you scoffed when I said I had a groupon, I let you keep the $ 9 18% gratuity you automatically added on my check. You should probably get out of the service industry if you’re not going to treat customers with respect. If you’re unhappy about a groupon, get with your manager about not offering them anymore.
The service at this place is terrible. Waiting at least 10 minutes in between each meat, and when it finally comes around it’s either all fat or undercooked and bleeding. The other times I came I was in bigger groups, and the same waiter didn’t treat us too much better, but it was bearable because they at least brought the food out quicker since there was more of us.
Avoid this place and just pay the extra money it costs of one of the nicer places. There’s a reason why this place is cheaper than some of the higher end steakhouses.

This place was most certainly not a «bang for your buck». Beware Groupon customers and anyone else who expects quality service for their money.
For starters, the customer service is horrible, the food was sub par, and despite the fact that the wait staff asks for your preference … (NOTE: you will be served rare to slightly less bloody rare meat… If your lucky enough to be served any meat at all before 15 – 20 min increments).
I have been to Texas De Brazil (Loved it!) and this establishment isn’t worthy of being likened to that of a true Brazilian Steak House; Although the price difference between the two is not a very comparable difference.
If your not looking to be short changed out of your money, Don’t Dine at this facility!

Wow, I finally took the time to write a review for this place, and it had me crave this place, so my boyfriend and I decided to go.
Previously the 3 times we had been here, were with large groups, on Sat and Sundays.
Yesterday was the first time we decided to go just the two of us. Boyfriend purchased a Groupon, and we made a reservation for 8:30pm. It was a Friday night, the restaurant didn’t seem to busy, many of the tables were already at the end of their meal by the time we arrived.
Service was incredibly, incredibly slow. Like, unbelievably laughably slow. We got a waiter that we have had at twice before, so we were expecting the same treatment as before, we were surprised he asked us up front how we heard about this place and for the Groupon details. Once we mentioned we had a Groupon, there was a paradigm shift in the service towards us.
For starters, my boyfriend order a soda and I ordered a caipirinha. The cocktail didn’t come until after we finished eating food at the salad bar, and were already waiting for meat. 30 minutes after we arrived my cocktail came, and it tasted awful. After a sip I didn’t want to drink it. It tasted only of water, and lime rind. Very bitter. Would have asked about the delay on my drink if the waiter ever came back, he visited both tables next to us, and behind us frequently, but never came to our table.
The meat, you waited a good 15 minutes between each meat option. I’m not even sure if I got to see all of them. The house special, the spicy&garlic Picanha, were the main ones we saw. (sausage came once, and chicken dishes came once, but I am one of those, that I go to a churrascaria for red meat, I won’t waste my time on chicken.) The meats were NOT of the same quality we have had before at all.
The garlic picanha, was disgusting, and they were my favorite. The beef tasted old, it had a bitter ironlike taste. The spicy picanha, was inconsistent, we got this twice, the first piece was all fat. literally, all fat. The 2^nd piece, was super overcooked, like jerky.
The house special, this came 2 times, and each time, the meat was super undercooked, bloody, and one of my pieces were still cold :|. majority of what I got this evening stayed on my plate. My boyfriend was grossed out by how much blood accumulated on my plate. The pineapple was our favorite, but we ended up waiting for it the entire time we were there for it, it came right when we were ready to get the check. And the pineapple was undercooked. surprise.
We didn’t get any bread until we were nearing the end of the meal, that is my favorite– next to the pineapple (, so irritating that i didn’t get to really enjoy any until I was already over what I was eating. We ate them though, and those were fresh, and we could have gotten more if service was existent.
The biggest problem though-​Service.
Throughout this entire ordeal, our waiter, was non existent to our table. He literally went to all 3 tables around us in his section several times, filled water glasses, and stopped to check on them, and never came to us.
The one time he did notice bc i had to raise my hand for my water he came and filled my glass. I asked for the bread and he said it was coming but it never came.
We were never brought fresh plates, which is a normal thing at these places, but I was so over the meal i didn’t care to ask.
All and all, we were treated extremely poor, for being returning customers, and it was because we purchased a Groupon.
When the check came, we realized the gratuity, was *automatically* added for our table.
No wonder the waiter didn’t give a crap about our table. No wonder.
Because of this experience, I will NOT be back.
Back to Rafain’s it is. Rafains is more expensive, but they at least shove meat in your face until you eat to capacity– and its all cooked.
Here you get lucky if you get to eat any because of how long you wait in between for meat.
Huge let down.

I went here with a groupon back last summer. The food was really good and well priced compared to other places in Dallas, however the service wasnt very good. The wait staff was all over the place, never checked in, and would often bypass my table with meat we were interested. After not asking if we wanted desert, then flagging down the waiter for the check, it took an additional 15 minutes for him to bring the card back.
Perhaps service has changed since my last visit.
At it’s pricepoint I would give it another shot and I would recommend you do to!

Don’t go to Blue Charcoal expecting Fogo de Chao or other upscale churrascarias. Everything about Blue Charcoal is downsized in comparison. — the salad bar, the number of gauchos serving meats, the overall seating capacity of the place, the selection of liquor at the bar, the wine list, the absence of side dishes with dinner, and the available selection of meats are all drastically smaller than the upscale places.
But, so is the base price: $ 28 at Blue Charcoal compared to $ 50 at Fogo, for example.
The food is generally very good here, and with the rest, you get what you pay for. We enjoyed the spicy beef, the lamb and the «house special steak» (top sirloin? the gaucho just kept calling it «house special»). The Parmesan pork was a bit over-​done and dry. The chicken part of the bacon wrapped chicken was done nicely but I would recommend heartier strips of bacon for the wrap to add more flavor. We tried three different red wines from the wine list and all were very good.
Unlike most other churrascarias, Blue Charcoal does not use the red/​green cards to signal the gauchos to either bring more meat or stay away. Other reviewers have said that the gauchos prematurely disappeared and left them wanting more, but we did not have that experience. That said, we wished there more gauchos on the job; the place was nearly full on a Friday night and as near as I could tell, there were only two very harried guys flinging meat about the place. Often, when one of them finally got to our table, he only had enough meat left on his skewer for two or three of the five of us, and the others would be left wondering if they would ever get a chance to sample what they just missed.
I polled our party of five for how many stars they would give Blue Charcoal and the consensus was four. But guess who’s writing this review? Three stars it is, but for only one reason: the televisions. There is a monstrous movie screen in the corner of the main dining room showing floor-​to-​ceiling video projection, and two or three flat screen TVs mounted elsewhere. They were a very annoying distraction to our conversation over dinner. Maybe there are people who like to watch sports TV while eating «endless meat on swords,» but that did not include anyone in our party. Please get rid of the TVs, especially the drive-​in-​movie sized screen. Or at least turn them off during dinner hours.
A side note re. the reviewer below who thinks people who use Groupons are «low pocket … scavengers:» Were it not for Groupon, we never would have heard of Blue Charcoal. Therefore we never would have driven an hour to Richardson to eat dinner there, nor would we have invited three friends from the area to join us. We used a party-​of-​four discount (from about $ 145 down to $ 95) and STILL put a total of $ 250 into Blue Charcoal’s cash register and tip jar before we were through. That’s $ 50 per person. And we will probably be back for more visits because we have friends who live nearby, and they enjoyed themselves very much. So if that makes me a «low pocket scavenger,» you can kiss my Groupon.
Overall, Blue Charcoal is a very affordable alternative to the upscale churrascarias. Check it out, but go there expecting to get what you pay for, and no more. You wouldn’t go to Chili’s for a steak and expect the Capital Grille, would you?

A churrascaria that isn’t a zillion dollars and doesn’t give you food poisoning? Yes, please!
We wanted to go to a steakhouse today and decided that an all-​you-​can-​eat Brazilian steakhouse was where it was at. We were thinking of going to a place that’s touted to be pretty cheap, but of the reviews I read before, we were dubious that we wouldn’t be leaving the place on a stretcher.
We searched around and found this place instead! We found it on Groupon, actually and bought the associated deal. $ 42 for 2 people that includes AYCE, two non-​alcoholic drinks and a dessert to share. Not bad, not bad at all.
So it’s a little hidden, but that’s no big deal. It’s also in a strip mall, if that matters to you. The décor is strange. It’s rustic because of all the knotted wood and the covered chairs don’t match the rustic tables. It could be a little more fancy, but I guess if you’re going to charge less, maybe fancy isn’t your thing. There’s a projection TV on the wall and another flat screen built into the bar. It makes it even less fancy feeling, but I guess I’m okay with that.
The service is actually pretty good. My drink was always refilled before it hit empty and I appreciate that. Now, it’s not like the other more fancy $ 40/​person places, but to be honest, I think this may be an advantage. I’ll mention that later. The salad bar selection is some of the same stuff, of course, there’s fewer selections than the high end places. Some salad, some beans, rice, canned fruit, potato salad, fried bananas and even eggplant parm (which was surprisingly good).
Tonight, as it may be every night, there’s only one gaucho. He’s bringing out everything and he was working hard. The meat selection isn’t as great as the other places. Tonight, we were served chicken, sausage, bacon wrapped chicken, sirloin, spicy picanha, garlic picanha, house special (also picanha). There are other selections but we didn’t have them tonight.
The meat itself is good. It comes out kinda slow because there’s just one gaucho, but as I said, this might be an advantage for some. For one, the meat comes out slower, so you have time to eat it before you get another piece. I always feel rushed to eat my food before it gets cold since it really loses its appeal. Not here, you get to take your time and enjoy the experience. Secondly, it allows your stomach to tell your head that you’re full so you don’t walk away overly stuffed. I normally am uncomfortably full after going to an AYCE place, but today, I was comfortably full and that was icing on the cake.
Overall, a great place and for a great price. Not sure why it’s called Blue Charcoal, but I don’t really care, because it’s the food and the price that makes this place a winner.
Two Bruce Stars: Worth a repeat visit.