Braza Lena Brazilian Steakhouse

Among the countless disappointments of restaurants in Key West, Braza Lena is NOT one of them. This Brazilian steakhouse is the real deal and comparable to your mainland Fogo de Chao, or Chima, etc. We dined at Braza Lena after walking out of Half Shell. We were craving anything palatable after our terrible experience at Half Shell, and thankfully Braza Lena more than filled the void.
The salad bar at Braza Lena is un-​parallel by any other Brazilian steakhouse. There’s the usual array of cured meats, cheese and salad, but then you see items like beat cured salmon, tuna poke (excellent), seafood chowder, and so much more. My fiancé was so impressed with the salad bar that she opted for just that instead of the steak as well ($ 29.95). Also notable is how tasty the plantains and miniature popovers are, which come standard with the meal.
The steak is also pretty excellent. I will say though that the steak is not quite as good as Chima, but still great. The house top sirloin is the best cut of meat offered. It’s not the most luxurious cut, but its seasoning is spot on, perfect fat content and always very tender. The lamb chops, filet, ribeye and flank were also all very tasty, nicely cooked and all tender — even the chicken and shrimp were good.
All in all, Braza Lena was a gem amongst a slew of mediocrity. The staff was very friendly throughout the meal and accommodated any of our special requests for certain meats or whatever else. Per the company’s website however, it claims this restaurant is now temporarily closed. Never a good sign, but hopefully this place comes back — it’s a winner.

Best burger ever? Happened upon this place four years ago when visiting Key West. We’re told to go to the bar and order the burger, which we did and loved. My husband couldn’t wait to go back so it was our first dinner on this trip. I’m happy to say his burger did not disappoint. In fact he was comparing to other amazing burgers (Minetta!!!) and still concluded this was the best. I’m a side note I got the meat platter which is the sampler basically of the full Brazilian restaurant — all I can say is amazing. Perfectly cooked, awesome chimchurri sauce. All in alll
: Awesome.

You will learn real quick that Braza Lena is a FEAST of HUGE proportions… I need to emphasized it’s «A LOT OF FOOD». And unless you have a kangaroo pouch you better come prepare; perhaps by fasting for a week or so…
Until now I’ve never been to a brazilian style steakhouse but the concept is simple… you don’t read over a menu and pick your cut of meat… nope, you get them all and then some…
Basically here’s how it works… you take a seat in the dining room, order a drink (non-​alcoholic beverages are included), step up to salad bar (which is so much more than just a salad bar, but I’ll cover that shortly), make yourself up a starter plate, by the time you sit down with your buffet plate your drinks will arrive and so will your «Meat Token»… the main dish is of course the meats. All this, including the meat-​weilding gauchos, is a lump sum cost per person.
The meats are served by Gauchos that come around with various cuts of meat on skewers that have been slow roasted with a perfect blend of seasonings. You place your «Meat Token» upright for the Gauchos to stop by and offer you the meat that server happens to be handling. If you are looking for something specific you just let the Gaucho know and they will make sure that meat gets to you shortly.
As far as taste goes… the meats are delicious.
As far as the cuts go… flank steak, alcatra (sirloin), pork loin, pork ribs, beef ribs, beef tenderloin, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, leg of lamb, chicken drums, lamb chops, picanha (top sirloin), sausage and more.
As far as the salad bar goes… it’s almost an insult to call this a «salad bar». True, it does have salad with traditional toppings and dressings but that makes up only a portion of the salad bar. There is so much stuff on this «buffet-​style salad bar» that customers can opt to pay for salad bar only and pass on the meat portion of the dinner.