Minas was picked on a suggestion of a friend. My friend and I looked it up, and it looked like a pretty good place to celebrate. This place had a very cozy feeling upon entering. There were 10 of us altogether, and we were seated in a little private section by the hot and cold sides bar. I made reservations on Saturday at 6pm. About half of the restaurant was full when I arrived. Once everyone arrived, we were giving the run down of how everything worked by the very nice server that will be tending to us, and we were free to grab our sides before the meat started coming around. The server and service here is very good. Our water glasses were constantly re-filled and bottles of water were left on our table. Once we were slowing down, a couple of the Passadores, the carvers, asked what type of meat we still want and was right back at the table as soon as the requested meats were done.
Minas Caipirinha $9
So, I have fulfilled my alcohol quota for the year. Caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail. It is made from fresh lime muddled with sugar and Cachaça rum and topped with crushed ice. This is a pretty good drink. I couldn't taste the alcohol in it which is the best. I could probably drink many of these and get drunk without even knowing it. I like how refreshing this drink is. I can taste the lime, and the sugar helped to make the drink neither sweet or sour.
All-you-can-eat Dinner $42.99
Once again, I forgot to take pictures of the meat and dessert from the bar. I tried not to eat a lot of food all day in preparation for this. So once all the food started coming, it was eat, eat, eat. I like the Iguarias hot and cold gourmet dishes here compared to the other Brazilian places I've been to. I think they have a more traditional spread. They had fried pork belly, coconut shrimp, rice, fried polenta, cassava, Feijoada (black bean stew), beef stew, mussels, mashed potatoes and much more. They also have some traditional salads, regular salads, vegetables, and cheese and ham. Further, they have yummy cheese bread balls that were dense and cheesy. The picture above showed some of the sides they had. Minas has a well-rounded sides bar. I would be satisfy just eating the side bar food, but I came for the meat.
There were 13 different types of meat circulating the room. I think we tried all of them. Some of us wished that there were cards or something on the table so we can check off what we had eaten thus far. From what I can remember, there were 2 types of sausages (spicy and non-spicy), 2 types of chicken drumsticks (BBQ and house special), chicken heart, Picanha, Parmesan pork, beef ribs, top sirloin, lamb, bacon wrapped chicken, 2 types of steak. We were there for a while and only some of the offerings only came around once, like the lamb, chicken heart, and beef ribs. Overall, everything was well-spiced and all the beef came with the right amount of fat. I don't think I have a favourite meat but the top choices for me were the Parmesan pork, Picanha, and one of their steaks.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the only Brazilian BBQ place that offers dessert at their bar. We were all satisfied with the dessert there that we didn't really need to see their actual dessert menu. There were mini donuts with caramel, chocolate, pineapple toppings, rice pudding, cookies, carrot cake, pound cake, fruits, and warm caramel bananas. The caramel banana was my favourite.
Overall, I think this is my favourite place out of the four Brazilian BBQs. Minas is a good place to celebrate occasions. They have the extra touches like the birthday greetings on the table. I was also surprise that they gave me a free piece of wonderful colourful cake. I would just come here for the sides bar alone. They have a good variety of dishes, and I like how they showcase, and have available, some authentic Brazilian dishes. The service was excellent. The server tending to us even asked if the 18% gratuity was okay on the bill. One of my friend said no jokingly, and he said that he will take it off - jokingly. We knew big groups already have gratuity added to the bill. All the workers there even said good bye with a smile on their faces when we were leaving (and it wasn't closing time yet). I wholeheartedly recommend this place to everyone. This was a good birthday celebration, and I was sad that my co-birthday friend missed it. I was also sad that I forgot to photograph more of the food.
Minas Brazilian Steakhouse
136 2nd St SW
403-454-2550
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