Botequim

Food was ok, but not worth the high price in my opinion! Overpriced… money better well spent in dozens of other restaurants in NYC!

Botequim has a beautiful ambience. When I first arrived I had a seat at the bar. This is definitely a relaxed lovely environment. After having a drink at the bar «el diablo» to be exact we were seated downstairs for dinner. Again downstairs has a perfectly dim beautiful ambience. I actually really like the feel of this spot.
Onto the food. The bartender downstairs was nice but nowhere near as knowledgable as the bartender upstairs. The bartender came to our table twice to answer questions that the waiter could not answer but I felt like he didn’t really know the answers either. Not really a big deal but I did not like the first drink that he made me at all. For an appetizer we ordered the grilled shrimp which tasted very good but there were only two pieces, good thing there was only two of us! For entrees we ordered the Skirt steak and the Suckling pork. I thought that the steak was cooked at a good temperature but it was pretty bland. I wasn’t impressed with my steak at all. The steak was accompanied with an egg sunny side up, a salad, and some type of grain underneath the salad which I have no idea what that was. I didn’t care for the egg it came out a bit crispy and the grain was a terrible twist on the dish. I just didn’t like my food much at all. The suckling pig was much better, it was a bit dry but the flavors were on point. The side that it came with was a collard green mixed salad which I did like. Overall this was somewhat of a hit and miss. I really wouldn’t care to come back here but wouldn’t be opposed to it either. They need to step the dishes up to match the beautiful ambience and the prices they are charging.

Usually I don’t write reviews, but the circumstances my girlfriend and I experienced last night were beyond ridiculous.
Though it’s important to cut slack for any restaurant on New Years, there are no excuses for what happened.
It took over 3.5 hours for the food (from a prix fixe menu) to arrive at our table. Even after all that time, they served us the wrong meal at a more expensive rate. Our server claimed it was his first night, and after badgering the manager, we finally got our food.
Though the wrong meal was good, the service was so bad I wouldn’t ever go back or recommend it to anyone.

The meal was fantastic. Our waiter Silvio was so attentive and the food was delicious. Suckling pork and the striped bass in curry were delicious. Raphael was a terrific MC.

What a hidden gem!
My friend and I were staying at the Hyatt for work, and do frequently but had never been here, so we decided to try it. It was so good!
We tried the caipirinhas (I had the passion fruit and she had the pineapple). It was a little too sweet for me but I did like the flavor.
We started with the salt cod fritters which were crispy and fresh. They were very salty (duh salt cod) which I didn’t mind, but I could see others being turned off by this. We tried the hot sauce that was served on the table — whoo! Very spicy, but tasty!
I ordered the flank steak with a sunny side up egg. The steak was perfectly medium rare and very flavorful. My friend had the chicken which was really tender and the polenta was tasty.
We finished with the honey cake which tasted very much like molasses or gingerbread. There was honeycomb on the top and a delicious raspberry sorbet on the side.
Service was really good!!! We had two lovely gentlemen serving us and they were very thorough when explaining the wines and let us taste a few before we decided. They also checked on us enough to make sure everything was going well but not too much.
I’d definitely recommend Botequim for anyone in the area!

This was my second visit to Botequim. The first time was earlier in the evening.
Both times, the food was very good. It’s fun to watch the cooks in the open kitchen. My problem with our 2^nd visit this past Friday is that the room is all hard surfaces. There were 2 parties in the restaurant when we were there — one next to us and a large party in the front. With the restaurant pretty at capacity, it is ear bleedingly loud.

We got a deal off gilt city and decided to come here.
Came in on a week night. the place was surprisingly unpacked. Lots of space so we were able to pick where we want to get seated. Overall the ambience is nice, crowd is more on the older age range so its pretty quiet and pleasant for dining. Great for a dinner party also, since the space is huge. I also like the fact that they have an open kitchen.
The food was pretty good. 4.5 out of a 5 for me. Great presentation + decent portions too. We got an appetizer codfish fritters. Came with 5 pieces and some dip. It was a bit too salty for my liking but my friend really liked it.
As for the main course. obviously we had to get meat since that’s what brazilian food is known for. My friend got the ribs. omg so good!!! super tender and juicy. Just about right. I absolutely loved it
For mine I had the skirt steak medium rare. This was okay. A bit chewy but again I am not a huge steak person. It came with a runny egg
Both dishes came with their special powder-​ish sides + watercress salad. The portions were generous. We liked it.
Drinks were good too. We had the acai cachaca mix.
Ended with a coconut cake + pineapple sorbet to share with
My only complaint would be that the service is a tiny bit slow. But that I don’t mind. they are all really nice and friendly. Would def come back.

I used the Gilt City deal which was $ 79 for a 5-​course tasting for two (they say retail is $ 136). The Gilt City deal was a bargain, the food was pretty good, and the staff was very polite and attentive. I wasn’t overly impressed with the food, but had a good experience and left super full and with a doggie bag. I would give the Gilt deal 4 stars, but the restaurant itself 3 stars.
If you can look past the fact that the restaurant is in a hotel, it actually has a cool vibe. It’s downstairs and the lighting is dim but not too dim. The artwork on the walls is fun and interesting, and they leave part of the kitchen open for the guests to see.
The pastelzinhos came out first, which are basically Brazilian empanadas. There was also a bolinho de bacalhou (cod croquette), and a pao de queijo (cheese bread puff). All three were pretty good but the fillings were a bit dry. The hearts of palm soup followed, which was silky smooth and refreshing, but decidedly bland. I love hot sauce, so I used some of the tableside hot sauce to compensate. The black sea bass and prawn moqueca came next, and both pieces of seafood were cooked perfectly and were very tender. Again, though, I felt like the dish was a little underseasoned.
The fourth course was the meat plate, which was actually enormous. The size of the plate almost justified the price of the meal in and of itself, and there was so much food that I’m giving it its own paragraph. The portion was so generous that we had to take some home so that we would be able to eat our dessert. The plate consisted of chorizo, skirt steak, picanha steak, and rib steak. In my opinion, the best bite on the plate was the skirt steak. Skirt steak is known to be a tougher cut, but they managed to make it juicy and tender and the marinade was really flavorful. The chorizo was also very good, and was relatively spicy, which I loved. It was juicy and the skin was crisp so that when you bit into it you got that nice snap. I admit I had never had picanha steak before, which Google tells me is the «rump cap,» and I thought that Botequim did a pretty good job. It’s a fattier cut and was spot-​on medium rare with a decent amount of flavor. The rib steak, though, was a complete disappointment. It was overcooked and extremely dry; this was the only part of the plate I disliked. If you’ve never been to a Brazilian restaurant before, don’t be scared to give the farofa a try. It’s a type of flour which in Brazilian cuisine is put on meat (in moderation) to give it an extra layer of texture. If you go to a churrascaria there will often be a small bowl of it on the table for you. Finally — even though I’m not typically excited by salad when there is an entire plate of meat in front of me — the accompanying watercress salad was fresh and a nice contrast/​complement to the otherwise heavy dish. The acid level was perfect for staving off the meat sweats.
The dessert, which was a coconut cake, was the best dish of the night. It was sweet but not too sweet, the coconut shone through magnificently, and frankly I could have eaten twelve more. Furthermore, the sorbet it was served with was perfect for breaking up the richness of the cake so that at no point was I overwhelmed. Lastly, they brought out brigadeiros which are little chocolate ball petit fours, almost like a truffle. These were also phenomenal. Again, dessert was the highlight.
All in all it was a pleasant dinner experience with a lovely staff and heaps of food, but the food itself wasn’t amazing, and I would return for some dishes, but not for others.

Excellent meal, beautifully presented. The flavors all went well together.
The meat on the suckling pig fell apart easily and was easy to eat. The skirt steak was tender and good.
My favorite was the rice pudding, it used whole grains
I gave an extra star for the excellent service. The staff really made an effort to be accommodating.

I have been wanting to try this plac ever since NYTimes gave it 2 stars and Gael Green included it in her 2014 bests. A Gilt City deal finally popped up and gave me the best excuse to finally do it.
I started with the Botequim cocktail which is a spin on the classic caipirinha with cracked pepper. It was light, balanced and refreshing. For appetizer my friend and I shared the pastelzinhos de carne. I enjoyed the flavor a lot but my friend had a terrible experience with this dish. After she swallowed her first bite she felt something painfully stuck in her throat and tried to go to the bathroom to «purge» it out. She couldn’t quite figure out what it was but said it felt like a fishbone. I think it went down eventually but this accident really affected her dining experience thereafter.
For main we got the mixed grill for 2 which includes sirloin, skirt steak, chorizo and ribs. (price is $ 76 but mistakenly listed as $ 42 on their website) The kitchen was kind enough to accommodate to my friend and I’s different temperature requests. I asked for medium rare and she wanted well done (trust me she’s a good person otherwise). My meat ended up more done than I had liked but oh em gee it was still one of the best bbq plates I’ve had in a while. The steaks were quite lean but extremely tender. Flavor of the ribs was clean and simple, but the meat was cooked to perfection without being oily. Chorizo was hot and spicy. I didn’t feel the need to use any hot sauce because the meat itself had tons of flavor. The dish is served under watercress salad and on top of a bed of farofa. I recommend coating the meat with farofa to add texture. We also got yucca fries on the side. They were dense, chewy but crispy on the outside. I was completely sold on them and would take them over French fries any day.
Aside from the incident that happened to my friend, I was really impressed with the food here and recommend Botequim over most steakhouses in midtown. But this restaurant is also a lot more than a steakhouse. I didn’t get to try the feijoada or the chicken pot roast, but hopefully I will be back in no time.

The steak is great! we took the most expensive one. It absolutely worth it !!!
People who doesn’t ear pork, make sure u informed waitress about it. They add something fried with bacon in to steak.

Verditc: The drinks are good at standard NYC price (…). The food was done well and the services was pretty good, too. However, we were one of 5 seatings on a Tuesday night.
We ordered the Calabrezza Acebolada; Leitão A Pururuca; Pão De Queijo; Churrasco Misto. Of these four dishes I recommend all but the Leitão A Pururuca because it simply wasn’t something that piqued my palate. Having said that, it’s still worth trying and it could be a better experience for others. If I had to pick my favorite dish, I would recommend the Churrasco Misto because all the meat was cooked perfectly and it’s a good way to experience multiple entrees in one shot, plus, it’s enough food for two. For a couple interested in the Churrasco Misto, I would order at most another app or light entrée if you’re concerned about not being satisfied.
The ambiance and décor of the place is typical of most restaurants at the $$$-$$$$ price level. The space can accommodate large groups and the staff is very attentive.
I hope ya’ll enjoy the experience.

While the food was excellent, it is difficult to forgive the fact that the server knocked over the bottle of wine and then disappeared like nothing happened.
We had to call the Manager over to ask for a napkin with seltzer water to get the three drops of wine off an expensive accessory (designer bag). While it looks like there may not be any permanent stains, how do you forgive somebody who just walks away like nothing happened.
How do you determine the gratuity in a situation like that? We all make mistakes. I make mistakes at work but it doesn’t impact my compensation. On the other hand, if I know what is good for my employment, I try to fix things and learn from my mistakes — I don’t walk away and pretend like nothing happened.
I just felt like the unfortunate experience ruined what otherwise was very good food and an otherwise very nice evening. Maybe better training for customer-​facing waitstaff in the restaurant is in order? Very unfortunate — food was very good and the wine we ordered impressed us. Until the server knocked it over and disappeared.

Found out they opened a legit place after being a successful pop up during the 2014 World Cup frenzy and I know why. The food food is authentic but elegant and service is extremely friendly. Excellent charcuterie platter, codfish fritters and beef rib entrée was ENORMOUS. Amazing mojitos — especially the passionfruit.
Only negatives:
1) A bit hard to find. Have to go into the Hyatt Hotel, through another restaurant and then downstairs. Worth the trip but may deter the less determined.
2) A bit too posh for this area. Hotel restaurants are popular but 1) the Hyatt doesn’t have the cool boutique vibe of the Ace or Nomad so Hyatt restaurants aren’t generally that cool and 2) this restaurant is so nice that it feels out of place for the grungy downtown crowd.

IN SHORT: A special addition to the New York restaurant scene that truly makes fine Brazilian food accessible to the tastebuds of the masses.
THE STORY: From its food to its ambiance, Botequim has clearly hit a sweet spot. Because it is still so new, reservations at this comfortably stylish restaurant are quite easy to come by with less than a week’s notice, making a first visit feel more like a lucky discovery by those in the know.
Though if there should come a time when reservations get trickier, the food offered at Botequim is phenomenal enough to wait for. Marco Moreira and chef de cuisine Jason Hall have brought vividly authentic Brazilian cuisine, just as densely flavorful and satisfyingly meaty as I remember from my own travels to São Paulo, straight to Union Square. Two of the best dishes are the Leitao a Pururuca, a massive cube of roasted suckling pig with traditional sides of collard greens and farofa (a toasted flour mixture that adds a nice texture to the bites of pork that pull apart with only a tug of the fork), and the tender Fraudinha, a marinated, slowly grilled skirt steak topped with an egg, also hugely portioned. Despite the plentiful size of the dishes, it’s really no challenge to finish it all.
While my Brazilian waitress could not understand my mispronunciation of Pao de Queijo (in English: «cheese bread,» although that description doesn’t begin to cover the springy and steamy delight that is this Brazilian classic), she was otherwise perfectly attentive, despite striking our party as a little new to the job. The same could be said for most of the other staff we encountered that night — all mean incredibly well, though could use a little more training.
All in all, this is a high-​quality Brazilian joint with an expertly authentic menu offering subtly innovative classics with incredible taste. Even if you’ve never traveled to Brazil yourself, after a meal at Botequim, you’ll leave wondering why Brazilian food hasn’t been your favorite cuisine all along.

KenScale: 7.5÷10
I haven’t had a lot of experiences with Latin American cuisine, and it seems that despite the culinary diversity in NYC and the growing attention to Latin America’s flavor, the region’s food has not quite caught up to the dining scene in the city. Last year, chef Marco Moreira, who owns both excellent restaurants Tocqueville and 15 East with his wife and business partner Jo-​Ann Makovitzky, opened Botequim on the basement of Hyatt Union Square hotel. Chef Moreira is from Brazil, and I had high hopes given his background and how much I liked his other restaurants. Unfortunately, my dining experience was a bit underwhelming.
The cheese bread was certainly a pleasant bite, and the heirloom tomatoes and hearts of palm salad that came with red wine vinaigrette was also refreshing. Things started to go downhill from there. While there was nothing wrong with braised sea bass and prawns that came in tomato-​coconut broth, the portion seemed a little off and the bass could’ve been cooked a little bit crispier. I was expecting a rich flavor of the country’s cuisine, but it somewhat felt flat. The Brazilian national dish, feijoada (which came with braised black beans and cured meats), fared better not as satisfying as I had hoped. Brazilian cuisine obviously features a lot of meat, so I went with the massive slow cooked, hearth roasted short rib. The outside of the meat was slightly burnt, and the inside could’ve been more tender. With many restaurants featuring awesome short ribs these days, I was expecting something a bit more special with a nod to Brazil’s taste, but it turned out to be more or less ordinary dish.
Getting a reservation at Botequim isn’t challenging as long as you book your table a couple of days in advance. I liked the trendy vibe of the dining room, but perhaps the puzzling entry to the restaurant threw me off a little bit. Botequim showcases the Brazilian rum cachaça in various forms (whether in cocktails or plain). Maybe it was an off night or I was having a bad day (it was a raining heavily and I was feeling under the water), but I wish I could’ve fully explored the versatility and richness of Brazilian cuisine a little bit more.

Food was pretty good. Pao de quiejo was decent but not as good as the ones at Coffee Shop in union square. The shrimp on black bass was very good.

From start to finish, everything was incredible.
We had the charcuterie and avocado salad to start, and both were outstanding. Then we split the meal for 2 (a mixture of chorizo, short rib, skirt steak and filet) and it was some of the best meat we have ever eaten.
The dessert (Brigadeiros) also left us speechless. The manager was great and recommended a wonderful Pinot Noir to accompany our meal. Our waitress was incredible, the food was incredible — I cannot recommend this place enough!
I will be coming back and have already sent 2 separate parties of friends there.

I stopped by with a friend one night for a late dinner. The space is warm and inviting, and the service was phenomenal. The large open kitchen is also a nice feature.
We shared the cheese bread as an appetizer, and I had the roast suckling pig as an entrée. He ordered Fraudinha with a side of collard greens and coconut-​cashew rice. The suckling pig was tender, flavorful and crispy on the outside. The acai caipirinhas were also very tasty!
I am definitely looking forward to coming back. Good Brazilian fare is hard to come by in this city!

This restaurant is new, and started off as an exclusive pop-​up for the World Cup. There was no information I could find on this restaurant originally, except for a few articles. I made a reservation here for 9 of us ladies, for a chic bachelorette dinner.
Ambiance — 10 stars, absolutely beautiful. The restaurant is located downstairs of the Hyatt Union Square in NYC. Décor is gorgeous, and the room is open-​floor, but craftily split in two areas: one area is low-​lit, amidst wooded lanterns to provide a nice intimate setting, the other area has a great view of the kitchen, and the walls are painted with a Keith Haring-​esque graffiti feel. You can have a better idea of how the restaurant looks based on the article published by New York Eater.
Service — 10 stars, 11 if possible. First let me say, our servers, rather all the servers, are incredibly good looking. They were attentive (not too overbearing) but were well-​prepared to handle our large party. It is quite rare for a new restaurant to have as much harmony and grace in serving large parties — Botequim passed with flying colors.
Food — 10 stars. We ordered the following, all of which were dynamite: Pao De Queijo (cheese bread), Pastelzinhos De Palmito (hearts of palm/​tomato empanada), Pastelzinhos de Queijo Minas (cheese empanada), Bolinho De Bacalhau (cod croquettes), Moqueca A Baiana (braised black sea bass & prawns), Picanha (aged prime top sirloin), Smoked Black Beans, Coconut-​Cashew Rice. I cant really list all of our cocktail, and wine orders — it was too many, but the restaurant did a lovely job of pairing!
Everyone had a great time and can’t stop raving about the service and food!