Cleo's Brazilian Steakhouse

I was in town on business and looking for something new. I decided to try a Brazilian Steak House. I was not idssapointed. I went with a group of 5 and we all were in agreement about the food.

Pro's: Lots of meats! Never ending Meats! Clean atmosphere. Average Decor. Pricing was reasonable for the amount of food you get. Decent buffet offerings.

Con's: Cocktails were a little off in taste. While the buffet was overall good, somehow the rice was not. (This is the best I could do on cons so you know the place is good)

This place was suggested by a friend of mine as an authentic Brazilian steakhouse recommended by actual Brazilians. The menu is a bit modular - you can choose to either just do the buffet or do the buffet plus the table side skewers of meat. Of course, we opted for the full experience.

The buffet includes meat dishes, veggies, rice, beans and pasta. The meat skewers include lamb, pork, chicken and beef. My favorite is the lamb and the top sirloin. The meats here are excellent and are the same quality as what you would get at a place like Fogo. I've been to a lot of Brazilian steakhouses and the cuts here are a bit smaller, which allowed me to leave here comfortably full while being able to taste all of what they had to offer. Fried bananas and roasted pineapple were the dessert items. I wish they had beef ribs (my favorite item at Espetus).

Including tax and tip, this was $50 per person which is an excellent deal. Service was OK and it's the perfect neighborhood restaurant for a large group outing.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to deduct a couple stars because after today's visit- it seems the quality and service has definitely gone down from a couple years ago to my first (memorable) visit.

Tonight our party of 16, celebrated my 31st birthday. When we arrived our table didn't have enough seats/table settings. Thought that was weird. So they had to separate my group with 8 at one table here and 8 at another party here. It felt very separate so the people from the different tables didn't get to really hold conversations nor really get to know each other. Our server (didn't even get his name), wasn't very helpful-where we had to ask bus boys and other severs to get us things like water refills and our alchie beverages. Our server didn't really check in on us. That didn't bug me too much.

So then here come the meat servers. The major of the meat that came out way too sirloin. Like 8 times. A few skewers were very well-done, one time a rare-medium rare set came out, then again all the times after that the meat was super well done! Not my cup of tea. I recall trying, tri-tip, round cut and chicken wings and that's it...oh wait more top sirloin! I was just over the lack of meat selection and lack of personable customer service from the servers. The restaurant was really dead, no music playing. We tried asking for the TVs to play the Eastern Conference, but they said "the TVs don't work"?! Weird.

Overall the vibe just wasn't here for us tonight. Even my mom had a comment in the car as we left stating, "this place has changed, maybe heir u see new management, but their not so good like before."

I will still to Espetus in San Mateo or Galeto here in the East Bay (Oakland). I can't believe we paid $71 per person for dinner tonight. Wayyyyyy over priced for the quality and service received.

My buddy and I decided to have lunch there after the gym. At first I wasn't sure I wanted to eat there but after thinking about it, I realized it was exactly what I wanted.

This time around I didn't fill up on the buffet table of sides and waited for the meat. I simply loaded up my plate with sauteed vegetables kept my eye out for the guys with the skewers. As I mentioned in my previous review, they keeping coming out with different meats and it doesn't stop. I also chose to take only one slice of each (you can get two if you want) and pace myself. Then for the next hour my buddy and I took full advantage of their menu and it was awesome. Every single one was tender and flavorful. I was so glad that I decided to go there.

The service was just as good as the last time. Our waters refilled whenever we asked. Our waiter even gave us a small plate for fried bananas for dessert. I'm not a huge fan of fried bananas, but it was much better than I expected, and a good ending to our meal.

This is a great place for lunch or dinner.

AYCE juicy hot meats? Yes to that!

A group of us visited for lunch. They gladly sat us 40 mins before the end of lunch service.

The buffet allowed us to start eating right away which was a great timesaver. We enjoyed salads, soup, hot entrees and garlic rice.

The desserts were sad. They looked picked over and well - we didn't eat any.

The various freshly cooked meats kept everyone pretty happy. At one point a couple of pork items came out that no one at my table wanted so the gentleman asked what we would like to make up for those pork rounds we declined. Like I said - efficient friendly service!

Service was friendly and efficient, the meats kept coming at a good pace, we didn't feel rushed, and street parking half a block away made this a lunchtime winner for this group of ladies!

I'd come again - for dinner. That way I'm not making myself feel so rushy rushy to enjoy as much juicy hot meats as my heart desires!

My sister found a GROUPON deal for this restaurant and decided we try it out. This place is located nearby the airport. It is across the street from HIRO SUSHI.

Doors were open and it was barely people in there on a Friday night and knew that was a sign.

We proceeded the lady by allowing us to seat towards the salad bar. The salad bar was okay. The had options of lasagna, variety of salads such as potato salad, pasta and quinoa just to mention a few.

They also had fish, brazilian cheese bread and black beans, olives, array of cheeses and only fruit option was oranges.

The pace of the delivery of the fresh grilled meat was S L O W! There were times the wait was kinda long my sister and I would eat salad bar options to fill in hunger.

The meats were ok. Some tad salty and some had an weird aftertaste. Water service sucked. The service overall sucked because my sister kept waiving the servers for this and that.

The desserts were interesting they ran out of the papaya dessert - So we opted for the ice cream along with coconut flan and tiramisu.. Desserts are additional to the "dinner meal price".

My sister was annoyed with just service in general because the restaurant was not busy and the max diners in that place was about 20. So there was no excuse for the servers to "stand around chit chatting to other servers" .. and not servicing the diners!

When they gave us the bill - my sister informed them from the beginning that she had a GROUPON VOUCHER and when the bill came they did not place the $30 off coupon on her tab and she had to remind them about it.

That was a turn off to attention to detail.

Would we go back? Nope! You are better off going to the other brazilian steakhouse that STARTS WITH THE LETTER "E".

Excellent!

Hubby and I have only experienced dining in a Brazilian steakhouse one other time locally here in our hometown so we were looking forward to this dining experience at Cleo's. We parked in the rear parking area because San Mateo Ave has very limited parking spaces. Inside we walked all the way to the front so we can be seated. We were given a table in the lower section.

So if you've never been to a Brazilian restaurant before it is an all-you-can-eat style of restaurant service called rodízio. The servers (Gaucho chefs) come out with a succulent variety of grilled rotisserie meats or Churrascaria and carved table side directly on your plate. The meat will keep coming unless you give your meat servers a sign. On your table there is an indicator, if the color is GREEN this tells them to keep 'em coming. If you flip it on the RED side they will skip your table until you give them the green light again.

Meats we tried: round steak, beef with Parmesan cheese (OMG! keep 'em comin'!), brisket, pork ribs, sirloin garlic (GREEN! GREEN!), flat iron steak, bacon wrapped steak (MORE! please!), pot roast, chicken... there were more grilled and rotisserie meats served but we just had to surrender and say no... we were stuffed! Oh, the fried bananas and warm pineapple were also delicious. Aside from the meats there is a salad bar section where cold items including fresh fruits and vegetables, salad, black beans, red beans, pasta and rice were served.

Great experience! From the host to the Gaucho chefs everything was great! Dinner price was $38.99

Review #0665

Awesome local Brazilian churrascaria. Now that Cleo's has increased their prices, I had to weigh out the price difference between having a Groupon with restrictions vs coming in midweek for lunch. Either way, the food is fresh and delicious.

The gauchos who serve the savory skewers are entertaining with a a great sense of humor, staff are very attentive, and the managers are accommodating with our special requests.

The dining areas are spacious and offer a wide range of seating, from booths to banquet tables.

Great place for a casual meal or a special occasion.

We've celebrated family birthdays at Cleo's with children and elders. I've also hosted a corporate Holiday dinner here. Their buffet had something for everyone in our party of 40 - pasta, fish, fresh salads, soups, and their crazy delicious Brazilian cheese bread (pão de queijo). All our guests always leave full and pleased.

Tips:
- Reserve a table for peak days/times cuz it gets crazy busy on weekends and during dinner;
- BYOWine! for a reasonable $10 corkage fee;
- If you're feeling adventurous, the chicken hearts are HELLA GOOD.

I had a pretty good experience here. The employees were all very nice. The drinks I had were amazing. That's probably what sold it for me, it was the way the drinks were prepared.

However, the food wasn't so impressive. Mainly the meat passed out wasn't amazing. A bit hard to chew at times, dry. I am a big fan of Brazilian steakhouses no matter the price. So I critique this place with a lot of experience in this theme.

I had a Groupon which made it better. The salad bar was okay. I wish I could give it 4 stars but the food was not great. I will come again in the future and hope to update this review

Stopped by here for a family dinner.
Rodozio: unlike every Brazilian grill house we visited before, this one does not showcase the grill area to the diners. Meats are carried out from the back (kitchen). Variety was good, quality and taste were mixed with some being OK and other horrible:
The chicken options, wings, bacon-wrapped chicken tasted and felt spoiled.
The fried plantain (bananas) were amazing, best we had compared to other Brazilian grill houses. The fried pineapple was nice.

The buffet was one of the worst we ever had, food was obviously aging there. Meats and side orders were dry, deformed.

Premises/ venue: signs of neglect are apparent in the bathrooms, where many of the fixtures are broken and mon-functional. Electrical outlets throughout the restaurant are exposed, with electrical wires sticking out.

Last note: half of our party complained about stomatch ache following the meal and needed frequent visits to the bathroom for the 24 hours following our dinner here. We are not returning to this restaurant ever.