Churrascaria Plataforma
In 2018, I wrote that I liked this place more than Fogo De Chão, which is a global AYCE Brazilian BBQ chain. After our recent trip to Brazil, particularly Sal e Brasa, I wanted to visit this NYC restaurant again to do a comparison. This restaurant is the only location that exists. We had a reservation for 5 PM on a Friday, and there was hardly anyone in the restaurant.
Ambiance & Service
The ambiance is similar to a large banquet hall with very tall ceilings and warm lighting.
When we sat down, there were definitely more servers than diners. They brought the skewers pretty quickly, but unfortunately much of the meat quality was very miss. They were either too raw or too well done.
Food
They had caju juice and passion fruit juice, but they were from concentrate. We thought it was pretty good.
They bring complimentary snacks if you’d like. They have cheese balls (pão de queijo), fried yucca, fried bananas, and french fries. Only the cheese balls came without asking.
The salad bar had a variety of cold and hot things, but it had much less options than Fogo De Chão and Sal e Brasa.
Some of the highlights for me were:
- sushi
- cocktail shrimp
- olives
- pepperoncini
- different vinaigrettes
- minced codfish
- cheese with tomato slices
Here are some pictures of the meat: picanha, bacon wrapped filet mignon, rib eye, and chicken hearts.
The chicken hearts were too overcooked for my partner. The picanha was pretty much still alive, and the filet mignon was cooked solid all the way through. Towards the end of our meal, my partner had a slice of picanha that had a very odd soap-like taste.
The seasoning they applied to the steak was not very good. It didn’t really add any flavors.
Unlike our first visit, I did not see any grilled cheese or octopus, but they did bring some flank braised steak that was grilled. It was tender, but cooked very thoroughly.
They have a dessert cart with the usual dessert suspects. Unfortunately, they do not have grilled pineapples with cinnamon.
Final Verdict
Compared to 2018, this restaurant has definitely scaled back in offerings and qualities significantly such that we can’t recommend going to this restaurant at all. If you want Brazilian BBQ in an all-you-can-eat format, the best (unfortunately?) is going to be Fogo De Chão.
Yelp Jabs
Live music available after 6 PM daily.
This Elitist is wrong. There was no live music when we were there on a Friday. When we left at 7 PM, the restaurant was about 80% empty.
First off, major red flag that should’ve signaled me not to come was the fact that they serve sushi at the salad bar. There’s nothing wrong with fusion food but having sushi rolls at a Brazilian steakhouse is so strange I don’t even know what kind of clientele it caters to besides people with no taste.
Once upon a time when I was naive and very uncultured about Brazil, I thought like this Yelper. But this is a normal thing in Brazilian BBQ places in Brazil.
Revisions
- Jul 12, 2024 - Added photos and updated review.
- Dec 26, 2018 - Initial revision.