Twitter Summary Review:
Unlimited meat feast with salad buffet. Great for groups. Buzzing atmosphere. Ideal for blood thirsty carnivores!
Full review:
I needed cheering up.
The trip to Rodizio was planned as a celebratory meal to toast Everton's F.A. Cup success, but sadly it wasn't to be. Instead, I turned to Plan B: drown my sorrows and eat until I couldn't move. After a couple of hours and half a cow later I'd succeeded.
We had a table for six booked for 9.00pm and were sat near the window. The menus don't really need looking at as there are only really two options: meat (£20.50) or vegetarian (£15.50). Everyone went for the meat.
Whilst we waited for our drinks order to be taken, the sense of anticipation was rising as my mouth salivated at the skewers of meat the waiters were carving and giving out to each diner.
After 20 minutes, I couldn't wait any longer and so I went up to the buffet and helped myself to a plate. The buffet looked pretty good with a decent selection of items, but to be honest, i'd come for the meat and didn't want to stuff my plate with salad and so I (like the rest of the lads) opted for only a couple of token bits. The girls were a bit more sensible and went for a plate full of salad and reported that it was good.
Back in our seats we waited. The first two waiters ran out of meat before reaching us, but it didn't take long before a variety of meat was being presented to us.
The list of meat was impressive:
- Fillet, ribs and sirloin of beef
- Pork fillet and ribs
- Chicken Wings
- Lamb
- Sausage (a Toulouse style one and a smoked louzna-like one)
Most of the beef and lamb was served rare (some maybe a little too rare bordering on raw at times), but it was juicy, succulent and decent quality.
My favourite was a fantastic piece of pork fillet, that was beautifully moist and full of flavour. The beef fillet was equally good.
The only disappointment were the ribs. I thought the marinade was bland and the rib meat was tough. That said it was a minor blip and the rest of the meal made up for it.
The place was packed and it made for a lively atmosphere. The waiters serving the meat were friendly and chatty and we never had to wait too long for the next skewer to come along. They had to come regularly as it's fair to say that the four lads in the party all had healthy, bordering on gluttonous, appetites!
Rodizio Rico will never be haute-cuisine and it's nothing more than a conveyor belt of meat, but that said sometimes simple is good. As an unabashed carnivore I really liked the place. It's got an informal and lively atmosphere and it's ideal for groups and celebrations. Overall i'd recommend it - just leave the vegetarians at home...
How i'd improve it
- We weren't sure what meats were available and due to be coming. A chalk board listing the evening's selections or even a simple list on the table that you could keep track of what you've had so far would have been good.
- A better introduction to how it works - we weren't sure if we were meant to just go and help ourselves to the buffet or wait to be brought plates.
