Brasa Rotisserie

A tasty rotisserie located on Grand Avenue, the meats and sauces are excellent. Chicken is moist and flavorful and the pork is tender. Make sure you ask for some extra green sauce though, it is delicious on everything!
For side dishes, get the green plantains and the yams and Andouille dish. The fried yucca is ok, similar to steak fries I think but a little bland unless you dip in that delicious green sauce. If you’re looking for crispy when it comes to your fried foods, you may want to pass on those here though… kind of soggy.
Service was good, portions are small for the price.

We had the chicken, pork, coleslaw, mac & cheese and dessert. Nice to find a place where almost everything on the menu is gluten free. All our food was excellent, tender and juicy.
The service was poor, but that seemed to be the exception with out server who seemed in such a rush to turn our table that she was forgetting to take care of things (coffee, asking if we wanted dessert, picking up the credit card, etc). We were there midafternoon and it was busy but not packed.

A friend of mine in St Paul kept talking about this place. So, when I flew up there to visit her, I made her take me to Brasa for dinner. The only complaint I have is that there is not a Brasa Rotisserie in Denver.
First, I will mention that the restaurant was clean, the mood cheerful, and the entire staff is pleasant with impeccable customer service.
As we sat at the table waiting for the rest of our party, we were brought chips with guacamole and were offered drinks. Don’t expect name brand soulless soda here! They offered a choice of hand crafted sodas that are amazing! I had the pineapple ginger and with the first sip, my taste buds were enveloped in a sweet zingy hug that inspired true joy. And that was just the beginning. (I also recommend trying the grape soda with a shot of the pineapple ginger… *sigh* I want one now it was so good!)
Anytime I go to a new restaurant, I like to eat family style. So, with everyone’s permission, we had our resident expert order for us. It was great! Like Thanksgiving in April! The pulled chicken was tender, creamy, and flavorful. The sweet plantains and sweet potatoes were decadent. The curry was delicious as was their cilantro aioli and I despise cilantro normally. (Cilantro tastes like someone washed their feet in rancid dish soap and marinated a plant in it, yet somehow Brasa made even this detestable herb palatable.) But the crowning glory of the meal was the yuca fries. OMGWTFBBQ?! Never did I think yuca could be eaten, let alone taste incredible! The texture, the crispness, and when they started to get a bit cold, unlike potatoes, they stayed delicious instead of getting soggy.
Their parking would have been difficult had I been driving, but parking in the whole area seemed comparable so I don’t think it should affect the rating. Also, I read a review that claims it is trying to be a hipster joint… must have been a while ago since, with the eclectic variety of individuals I saw, it is too mainstream for hipsters. Trust me, I live in hipster hell… I am sure they are all at some place that is so new we all haven’t heard of it yet. The atmosphere is casual, but the suits I saw were not out of place.
Pricing was amazingly reasonable and five of us left feeling full for less than $ 80!
Over all, I regret not eating there again on my short trip, however, I plan on it being one of my first stops the next time I fly in to St Paul!

This is it. $ 10 for the most beautiful catfish filet this side of Texas? Seriously good! With my dad’s recipe of mayo and salsa as a garnish. Amaze! Get the creamed spinach and red beans and rice (not what I would normally order, but surprisingly wonderful). The brisket!!! I got the feeling that most everything is good here. My greens were bitter, is my only criticism

Location is great but hard to find parking most days and even weekends. Can get busy with waiting period up to 30 mins or so.
Service: promptness is appreciated.
Food: kind of food that I can eat on daily basis. My favorite is rotisserie, which they are famous for, I believe. Yuca fries and creamy spinach are excellent sides.
Highly recommend this place.

My favorite restaurant in the Twin Cities hands down!
I am in food heaven at this place everything is delicious! I suggest going here in a group. Make reservations or you will have to patiently wait to experience all their deliciousness. Since I have had my share of their menu, here are my faves:
Rotisserie Chicken (3.5 lb avg.). I order the
Roasted Whole w/​Creole Style Dry Rub for $ 18.95 perfect for sharing for a group of four. It is so delectable and well seasoned you will want another order to take home with you.
You gotta have the Vegetarian Black Beans w/​Yellow Rice! It’s a must to compliment the chicken.
Now the sides are equally divine. I suggest the
Fried Plantains which are sweet and ripe to perfection. If you like savory definitely try the
Crispy Yuca w/​Citrus & Garlic. That citrus and garlic sauce is super addictive! Both work out just fine too.
A southern style restaurant usually has their own rendition of cornbread. Brasa’s Sweet Corn-​Cornbread with Honey Butter is quite yummy so try it if you have space after all I have just put on your plate ;-)

We went there on a Saturday noon and the place was quite busy. It had industrial, casual and hip look. Menu was limited and we wanted to try as much we can and ordered small portions of every things. Pulled chicken, pulled pork, yellow curry bowl, yuka fries collared green with smoked chicken, mass cake. Both pulled pork and pulled chicken was tender as it can be and juicy as well. Gravy along with chicken was yummy. Pork had some pepper added to it and the flavours were just too good. Yellow curry with chicken had little bit of briyani resemblance but had good flavours, rice was little dry. Yuka fries was on thing that was bad, not crispy at all. I am quite not sure how the collared green must taste like, but it tasted ok to me. Red bean with yellow rice along with pulled pork was probably one of the best red bean rice I have had. Portions are on the smaller side, so if you are hungry you might want to order couple of smaller plates Service was good.
So if you want grab couple of beers in a relaxing atmosphere with some really good rotisserie \ pulled chicken and pulled pork, this is a must try.

One of the best places for a workday lunch pick-​me-​up if you work in downtown St. Paul like me. We’ve never had to wait long even with a bigger group during a weekday. I love the pork and over easy egg bowl especially, but you’ll want to try everyone else’s good too!

Pics attached. 5-​star food! Wonderful ambiance, young hip vibe. Love the lighting! Smells like finger-​Licken’ warm spicey love. Lots of take-​out goodies offered — plates, forks etc– but not your Colonel Saunders! (Meant that in a great way!)

Great place, great food and great owners

5 stars hands down, this place makes everything delicious. We tried almost all the dishes that they offer and they were all spot on, the flavor is awesome in every bite. Please if you do go, try several items to get the full experience Their items will win you over and you may want more.
Best to share everything, sharing is caring.
This location is a little bigger than the other one. There can be a wait just like the other one has.
This is my official go to spot when I visit the Twin cities. One of the best around.

I really like Ecuadorean food and get the same type of food whenever I go (pulled pork, yuca fries, rice) so rating this food based on other restaurant experiences.
Overall: good place to go if you really have a craving for South American food but very expensive for the quantity served and service. Menu is also confusing with ability to order individual plates or family style. There’s enough parking for 20 cars in the front of the restaurant.
When you’re here, get:
++ Yuca fries — these are amazing and the sauce is a great addition
++ Beef — really good flavor and sauce
++ Cornbread and flat bread — two distinct flavors
++ Rice with peas — very good side to balance flavors of meat
++ Ginger ale soda
Don’t get:
++ Pork — tasted like Chipotle’s carnitas
++ Creamed spinach — very bland, no jalepeno taste
++ Rotisserie chicken — similar to what you would get at Kowalski’s
++ Guava lime soda — too sour
Service was very slow and waiters/​waitresses seem untrained at taking orders and clearing plates. Also, when they were putting plates on the table, I was pretty sure they were going to drop them on the floor as the table was running out of space. The portions are hard to decipher. Medium for one side can be a lot smaller than medium for another.

I was hesitant to try this place as a vegetarian, but we got a gift card as a wedding present, so that essentially made up my mind. I am so glad it did, wow! The food is amazing and there are many non-​carnivore options! The corn cake is heavenly! We had to wait quite a while, but it was totally worth it. Definitely recommended for carnivores and vegetarians alike!
1 star knocked down because service was just ok and there is no waiting area so tables near the front looked incredibly uncomfortable with hungry people leering so close (I being one of the said hungry leerers for the 25 minute wait!). This is probably not an issue in the summer when people can be outside, but winter is long here!

If you like meat! This should be your spot. Honestly anything on their Protein menu is a 10, but my favorites are the Slow Roasted Pork which is pulled and seasoned with garlic & lime and the Smoked Beef which is served with a Sweet-​Spicy BBQ Sauce. Both of these are flavorful and tender.
If you go with a group I would suggest doing the market priced menu so you can all try all of the options!
The sides are also great! I always go for the Cornbread & Beans, Fried Plantains, and of course their Mac and Cheese.
It is a very relaxed atmosphere and it also has some outside seating available!
Parking: About 10 spots in the lot out front but are usually full unless you go there for lunch on a weekday. There is also metered street parking available in the area.

This is tough for me to write…
Brasa was one of my top restaurants up until they overhauled their menu. Since that pivotal moment its been hit or miss… and I don’t like going to a former favorite hoping it will maybe just be as good as it once was.
I’ve been back enough times to see that they aren’t holding the high standards they once were. I’ve picked bones out of my chicken, had lukewarm food, and have noticed that I never have to wait anymore (maybe because food is microwaved these days?) to be seated quickly is nice, but at the same time… anything good is worth waiting for and it makes me wonder if others feel the same about the quality taking a nosedive.
They are awesome for their soda and I do always feel I’m provided with awesome service.
Wow me again Brasa, and I’ll make this a 5 star review as I would have done 2 years ago.

It’s alright. What can I say a menu with an array of diverse items? Caribbean, Mexican, and Southern. My top 3 fav cuisines but there really isn’t anything that will make me say «you gotta get this!» Brasa is known for their fresh, organic ingredients and chicken. Their bland and dry chicken. Nothing spectacular there. The bowl of curried chicken is flavorful and filled with an abundance of starch, rice and potatoes. Everything in the bowl was good except for the chicken. Yuka fries were good but it’s accompanied citrus and garlic mojo is better left at home.
I had high expectations for the pineapple ginger ale but was disappointed by the lack of cohesiveness between the ale and pineapple. Sip one: diluted ale. Sip two: gunky pineapple syrup. Stir. Sip three: imitation of what’s supposed to be the best pineapple ginger ale ever but failed miserably.
To sum up the cons quickly: Few, tight parking spots. Drastic price differences between small ($ 3.15) and large ($ 11.75) on the same item. Mostly a la carte items and not enough bigger portioned plates.

We dined at brasa on grand Ave for lunch in Saturday, October 3, 2015. Our server was named emente. She was difficult to get to actually wait on us because she seemed off doing several other things.
Our party consisted of myself, my wife, and my 5 children. (3 between 14 – 19 and two that needed high chairs).
The service was painfully slow. We actually had other servers bringing us drinks, food, to go packages and even our bill because the waitress was never present to assist (for example, when a soda spilled — it was left to sit for 15 minutes till the waitress pushed the ice off onto a plate — not even wiping up the spilled soda.
When the waitress took our order, my daughter asked if there was dairy in the guacamole. The waitress replied I dunno. My daughter asked her to check, we didn’t see her again till after our food (missing several of the items that we had ordered) arrived.
We continued to not see the waitress and finally asked a different waitress for to go containers. They brought them. We boxes up our leftovers and then waited and waited — finally asking yet another waiter if we could get our bill. After he left to get it, the waitress stopped by and asked if we needed anything. We told her the other waiter was getting our check. She ran up to him and then brought us back our check.
On the check she had added an 18% gratuity calculated POST TAXES. I am not a cheap tipper, but I took a look at the menu, front desk and even in the doors. This was not disclosed anywhere. I signed it and left knowing that the info would be more valuable shared here, on Google, on tripadvisor and a number of other places.
The food was average, the service was zero and the audacity to slap a non disclosed gratuity for being a terrible waitress is beyond the pale.
Short review = AVOID — terrible service and average food with Mia waitstaff who then have the audacity to tip themselves 18% with your money with no notice REGARDLESS of how shitty the service.
Edit to ad: one of the two high chairs provided to us by Brasa tipped on its own dumping our three month old son headfirst to the floor. Several waitstaff witnessed this. Zero came forward to offer assistance.

So many snacks… Suck little stomach space…
The a la carte side options are the way to go here! It’s such an awesome way to try a bunch of food with a bunch of friends. They have sizes ranging from medium to large, but I would highly recommend doing a bunch of small dishes. They say the small plates feed 1 person, which is a pretty good estimate if you are sharing. If you have 6 people, 6 small plates will be more than enough!
They also have beer and wine, which makes this place an all around wonderful incubator of companionship :).
A great way to split everything up is to have each person buy a small to medium side and share everything. This keeps the price low and the tasting opportunity at a maximum!
The ONLY downside was that the server took longer than expected to take our drink order. However, I can’t blame them too much because it was really busy, which is exactly what I would expect on a Weekday night at a great restaurant.

I have had the opportunity to eat here three times — twice in Minneapolis and once in St. Paul — and have been thoroughly impressed each time. To begin with, as it pertains to traditional southern cooking like Candied Yams, Turnip Greens, Collard Greens, etc., they do it as well as any place from here to Baton Rouge.
The roasted meats — which are more of their focal point — are tasty, but they are not smoked like BBQ and therefore cannot be graded in comparison. Nonetheless, each variety — pulled pork, shredded beef, and chicken — are all perfectly cooked (as in, not over cooked to become dry).
The last two times I have been I made the discovery that their rice bowls are kick-ass…combined with one of those southern sides… it’s mouthwateringly good.

Ohhhh Brasa, I love you. There, I said it – I actually love something. Decided to stop here for a quick lunch after a work meeting and I must say the St. Paul location did not disappoint. Unless I am mistaken, I am pretty sure the St. Paul location has a slightly different menu, so I’m glad I tried it out because there is a good chance I had the best catfish I have ever had in Minnesota. In addition to the catfish, my friend and I also ordered the pulled pork, red beans and rice, cornbread, garlic toast, potato salad, and chips and guac. Per usual the pulled pork, red beans and rice, cornbread, potato salad, and chips and guac were delicious and the garlic toast exceeded my expectations (NE MPLS location PLZ put this on your menu!!!). The toast was crispy, buttery, and garlicky on the outside, and chewy on the inside… which equals carb heaven for me. The fried catfish had a light batter, was not overcooked, and did not have a «fishy» taste to it… in other words, it was perfect.
Our waitress was very sweet and helpful when going over the menu, however, the quick lunch was not quick and ended up being an hour and a half… they were slammed so I get it, but I would recommend calling ahead to place your order or not having any immediate appointments or meetings you have to get to afterward.
They have a tiny parking lot near the entrance but there is plenty of parking on Grand Ave so it shouldn’t be an issue! Make sure you go to Grand Olé Creamery for dessert.

Great place to eat-​ok ambience-​friendly servers but took them forever to get my food on the table.
Loved the rotisserie chicken, the beef, masa cakes, candied yams are to die for, yuca fries are nice but I prefer hola arepa, loved the rice and black bean sauce they give. Was not a fan of the chicken in creamy sauce though.

Lots of meats!
I’ve been to all locations. But this was first time at the grand ave. I like this setting the best.
Small but nice patio. cheap HH drinks.
Tacos are 2 star
Meats on the menu 4 star
Sides 3.5 stars
FAVORITE: beef, yuca fries (the green sauce that comes with it, lime garlic pork
I think the chicken plate is too rich, too much gravy. Odd choice for this South American style menu

Stopped in today for a to-​go over my lunch break. My coworker has been raving about this place for ages so I figured I’d try it. OH MY GOODNESS total foodgasm.
I couldn’t decide so I got more than I needed. I ordered the pulled pork, the collard greens, creamed spinach, yams with sausage, and masa cake. It was all SO GOOD but my favorite was the pork and the collard greens. AMAZING. Now I have enough for lunch tomorrow too, or dinner later.
The service was great too. I don’t remember his name but he gave me samples of a bunch of other stuff to try– the chicken and some homemade sodas. Best service. He was SO nice and enthusiastic when I told him I’d never been there, telling me all about the food. Clearly he was passionate about the food and it made me love the place even more. I will DEFINITELY be back!

This place is always a great experience. Between the food and service, it’s always a great meal at Brasa. The Pulled Chicken and Masa Cakes are what I usually get every time, but everything they have is phenomenal. The chips and guacamole, coleslaw, pulled pork, beans, and rice as always fantastic whenever we get those, too. I highly recommend this place if you are in the Grand Ave area