Bem Brasil

Bem Brazil is definitely one the most striking restaurants in Manchester, and one of the top event places to go with a group or for a special occasion. And in a sense I feel harsh giving it just 3 stars. But I can’t shake the feeling it trades on its impact, and it doesn’t live up to the hype.
Bem Brazil is a ‘rodizio’ restaurant, which apparently means ‘Brazilian meat buffet’ or something. Anyway, people come with skewers of meat (like much much fancier kebab skewers) and slice some onto your plate. In theory they do so on a Red Light, Green Light method whereby you have a coloured card to indicate if you want food. In reality they always ask you, after introducing the meat on hand, so the cards are a bit superfluous. I’m glad they ask, because people’s tastes are more complex than ‘Likes all meat’ or ‘Likes no meat’, but they should just ditch the cards.
And the meat is very tasty, and it is indeed infinite. But after two visits I still find it underwhelming. The quality of meat just doesn’t seem to be there, and as the very heart of Bem Brazil is the meat (there is also a decent salad buffet) this is a major problem. It isn’t bad meat, just a bit so-​so. Lots of the stuff is very heavily salted, including the choicest cuts of steak which should really be bringing enough flavour not to need covering with lots of flavouring.
Finally, the prices are just steep, often upwards of £20 for the food and £3 for a soft drink. You get a lot of meat, but at the end of the day I left on both occasions feeling I’d had a decent but not spectacular meal — and I couldn’t call it good value.

Oh My God ! What a restaurant ! If you are a meat lover, there is no hesitation to have !
The restaurant is stylish and beautiful and the food is really good, well especially the meat !
It’s the kind of restaurant wherer they bring over meat on sticks and cut onto your plate: sausages, pork, chicken, steak, spicy, garlicky and the best the brasilian steak.
You have the buffet for sides with pasta, rice, potatoes and salads. All really good quality.
Also, the wine selection is varied. I advice a Malbec to go with the meat.
Service is really good, they come very often with a new stick of meat.
For desert they have a pinaple with cointreau which is delicious !

Friendly staff!
Lots of meat!
Many meat varieties and yummy looking buffet!
Venue: Nothing special but it had a good vibe when I was there ;)
I had a good time but since I didn’t pay for my meal I think I won’t come here again — it’s quite pricey.

This was my second trip to the meat emporium that is Bem Brasil (Northern Quarter) and I have to say, it was distinctly average.
The restaurant itself was rather cold in temperature, but then we were sat next to a fridge containing some random, cling-​filmed cakes (not the best thing to be sat next to). The restaurant exterior looked in need of a makeover and was a little tatty around the edges.
The food itself was good, with plenty of meaty treats on offer, each of which is brought directly to the table and carved right in front of you. The beef was a standout for me and probably the highlight of the meal. We also ate lamb, chicken, sausage and steak (my inner-​cavewoman was delighted!).
Alongside the meat, we helped ourselves to a buffet containing a wide variety of side dishes including rice, roasted veg, potatoes and salad. The garlic mushrooms were notably tasty (I ate way too many, much to my boyfriend’s dismay!) but the rest was well, pretty average and most of the things I tried were very salty. Some of the items were also a little cold in temperature, and we never saw the buffet being topped up during our two hour visit.
The meal (as much meat and buffet as you can eat) came to an expensive, £26 a head (not including drinks, which were also on the pricey side) which seemed very extortionate and I can’t say I’ll be visiting again in a hurry.
On the plus side, the staff were brilliant and very attentive throughout our meal.

My third visit to this restaurant was an absolute disaster. We went for my hen party meal with 10 of my friends and family, booked a table for 8.30 on a sat night, we didn’t sit down at our table until 9.15pm we had no apology or explanation as to why it took so long, and only after endless complaints were we offered a free bottle of wine which was put on the bill at the end of the night anyway along with £60 worth of drinks we never had, and having to argue with staff to get it removed all we were offered was 10% off the bill for all we dealt with. The food wasn’t up to scratch either with a lot of the meat being chewy, fatty and overcooked.
I’ve had great food here in the past and maybe its just a lesson not to go on a sat night but i was extremely dissappointed.

What do you do when you have a man who needs to eat a lot of meat to consider it a good restaurant? Take him to Bem Brasil! Now I have known of this Northern Quarter delight for some time now (since it was Pau Brasil) and I have not once been disappointed. Now, I like a restaurant with a bit of hustle and bustle, and Bem has it in bucket loads. So it’s not the best place for a quiet romantic meal if you are the quiet relationship type… I’m not like that so a noisy restaurant to be loud together in is just perfect!!!
Now, my tip to you would be not to be fooled by the first few rounds of meat offering, nor stock up on salad bar items… this is simply a trick to fill you up before the good stuff comes out! Yes that’s right… the food to wait for is the red meat of wonder! The steak cuts, and lamb simply melt in your mouth and I don’t know what the marinade is but I would kill for the recipe. I would also highly recommend the pineapple — looks like an odd choice but it really is phenomenal; sadly they don’t always have it on so grab it if it’s there when you visit.
My final tip is to grab the caipirinha’s are amazing — all the flavours and they just keep them coming!!!
So…if you have a group of burly men needing a good feed, a group of girls looking for good meat to soak up cocktails, some clients to impress, or a fun meal with that special person… get yourself down to Bem Brasil and put your disk to green!

Having been to a proper middle-​upper echelon churrasco in Brazil, I’d say that this restaurant gets the idea, but is drastically different in execution. Rather than being an opulent, nearly-​sombre space for the well-​to-​do, Bem Brasil is a raucous, packed, house of protein pleasure.
Having experienced many an all-​you-​can-​meat restaurant previously, this was my strategy to the evening:
— drink only enough water to ensure that I can still swallow
— turn down seconds of any meat that’s been processed
— get seconds and thirds of any beef that appears to still be bleeding
— finish up with a single trip to the salad bar to top up on some roughage to ease all that protein down the pipes
I think the farofa here pretty much says it all about Bem Brasil: tasty, but has chunky inedible bits that you just have to spit out.

I would probably rate Bem Brazil as a 2.5 While I think this branch of the popular all-​you-​can eat establishment has more charm than it’s bigger brother off of Deansgate, I would agree with James K. that if you’re going for an authentic experience, you won’t find it here. It’s quite expensive for what you get. But if your goal is to eat lots and lots of okay-​tasting food then this is the place for you– but you’ll have to eat A LOT to get your money’s worth… which is challenging because after a certain amount of time you’ll notice that the plethora of servers wielding swords of meat that descend on your table when you sit down starts to slow to a literal crawl about 30 minutes in. So slow in fact that my friend had to start asking for specific dishes because he hadn’t yet gotten his fill.
If you’re not a meat eater, you can go for just the salad bar (which has a decent variety of veggies and salads– though many are coated in mayonnaise) which at £12GBP for all you can eat isn’t terrible. They also have a seafood option which you can choose with our without the salad bar for £12 which is what I got (I don’t eat a ton of meat, and since I’ve been to the Deansgate location and wasn’t overly impressed, I decided to try the seafood). It’s definitely not the place to go to for seafood, which was extremely overcooked (I couldn’t even eat the salmon) and completely flavorless. Even the chiles sprinkled on the plate had no flavor.
We went with a group of friends, and it’s a good place for groups– everyone seemed to be satisfied with their meals and pleased with the all you can eat. Though, the general consensus was they had to make it all you can eat because most of the meat was so fatty that you really were only eating half of what you thought you were. In all I would rate the experience as «mixed» (though for me, I won’t be rushing back…).

I’m not sure how everyone rates this place a 4 unless they are too ashamed that they were ripped off. I give them only in that it has decent ambiance, if not for that, they’d get a 1.
Bem Brazil doesn’t know real Brazilian BBQ, and seems mostly a scam. True Brazilian BBQ uses marinated meats that are complimented with sauces using seasonings such as mint and jerk. The meats I were served were tasteless, tough, overcooked and dripping in fat. They say they meats are marinated but I’m 90% sure the only seasoning used was salt, which does nothing but run up an overpriced bar tab. Then when it comes to the sides, which are served buffet style at what is marketed as a dressy place, the only Brazilian sides I could identify were some Black beans with pork, the rest of the buffet was completely British fare — they even tried serving me chips!
These guys are more or less providing a carvery of overcooked meats at your table for a £25 premium to a community that doesn’t know any better. I’d recommend spending your quid elsewhere. You’d certainly find a better meal at a Pub with Carvery for less than half the cost. And I believe you could probably find a more formal place with a better meal elsewhere for the same cost.

Somewhere as I write this review there is a vegetarian sobbing…
As the reviews below attest to a visit to Bem Brasil is for those with a hankering for meat, vast quantities of meat.
It’s not a cheap option, when the waiter said it was fixed price of £32 per person (as of December 2010) I was cynical that this represented value for money from what is essentially a glorified buffet.
A basket of chips appeared at the beginning, a cunning, salty plan to fill you up and also whet your appetite for a drink. The buffet items were varied in quality, a black bean and chorizo stew was a delight, other items such as pasta were relatively pedestrian.
However, never underestimate the power of meat to challenge a cynical but hungry man. After flipping our table markers to green an array of skewered meats were brought to the table, where they are carved by hand from what resembles a sword.
The beef stands out, as it’s the rich, deeply-​flavoured sort that the Brazlians do so well. We had both rump steak and beef rib, each meltingly tender, pink and succulent. The gammon was salty but savoury, chicken wrapped in bacon much the same. The surprise of the evening was chicken hearts (yes, I know — bear with me) which resembled small sausages but proved gamey and intense.
It’s not a cheap option, once the salty meat begins it’s far too easy to reach for the Caipirinhas. But, if you want a dinner that offers a new way of eating and have a fondness for well-​cooked, good quality meat it’s worth a visit.

I used to love this place but after a recent visit i was left very disappointed. The room was cold and drafty which wasn’t helped by the frosty waiting staff. It would have been nice to get a genuine smile or acknowledgement. It was a week night and it wasn’t overly busy so there was no excuse, let alone entertainment. However I was mostly let down by the food, at a whopping£25 per person the meat was poor. Mostly fatty cuts that i couldn’t chew let alone swallow, which took an age to arrive. A real shame.

As a meat lover, I adore going here.
Its absolutely fabulous, meat is served on skewers with waiters coming round and offering you slices. If your belly is full or you dont want to be disturbed you can flip a coin on the table from green to red, which means they wont ask you if you want some meat.
The food here is fabulous, and while the lunch menu is great I would reccomend going after 4pm for their dinner menu which features a wider variety of meats.
We also went at Christmas last year where they served extra special meats.
If you’re a veggie then this isnt the place for you, but if you love meat then get yourself a table ASAP!

An all you can eat set-​up, not one for the veggies :)
They do it quite well, service is good and the place is nice enough. The meats are quite salty though, so be prepared for your bill to be a bit higher because of all the drinks you’ll be ordering!

This was originially called Pau Brasil, and was the only one in the city. It’s popularity was more word of mouth than anything else, through their awesome reputation they got to open a second restaurant on Deansgate where the shell of toy superstore Daisy and Tom once was.
After trying both locations, nothing beats the original. This place is wonderful, wonderful! I understand that manchester is over inflated with all you can eat buffets but trust me when I say that this one is incredible. You won’t find any MSG doused chow mein here.
A meat lovers’ paradise, it’s a Brazilian Charcuterie of sorts. When you arrive you’re presented with a two sided button, coloured Green on one side and Red on the other. If you want the waiters to keep dishing out the meat, keep the button Green side up — if you fancy giving your belly a break (which we did a few times), put it red side up.
The 15 varieties of meat range from simple sausages, through to gorgeous S. American style steak and even chicken hearts which I tried, Unilocal!). As part of the all you can eat deal, you can also help yourself to as much of the salad bar as you wish. The salad bar comes freshly stocked with couscous, mozarella salad, feta cheeses, bread and many other wonderful side dishes for your meaty feasting.
The only downside is that some of the meat is overly salted but it doesn’t spoil anything about the experience. Wonderful staff, great atmosphere and tasty food. Winner all round.

I’m always suspicious of ‘all you can eat’ deals, mainly because actually getting your money’s worth can be a task worthy of Hercules himself. It’s like in Pizza Hut, where I believe to actually put them out of pocket on the buffet meal you have to eat something like eight whole pizzas. It seems that we see it as a personal challenge, an affront to our nature, and we must try to prove the pricing system wrong.
Bem Brazil is another Brazilian place similar to Tropeiro in that it serves all kinds of cuts of meat, lovingly prepared for your mouth. Pay £22 and you can eat all you can, using their little chip system to designate whether you are ready for me (green side up), or having a rest (red side up). Simple, but it works very well. The food is delicious and the service excellent.
Of course, you are still paying £22 for your meal, and adding drinks on top of that can make things fairly expensive. Sure, I imagine if you can eat a whole pig maybe you’re getting the money back, but if you’re like me and tend to overestimate how much you can eat in one sitting, you may want to go somewhere cheaper. But don’t let that deter you gluttons out there.

After such joy at Tropeiro, me and the boyf decided we’d try out another all-​you-​can-​eat Brazilian place. Yeah, it’s good. Not as good as the Trop, but still mighty good.
For the price of £22/​head, you get all the succulent meat, fresh salads and rice and pasta dishes you can handle. And it is all tasty. A few complaints, such as the dryness of some of the meat, and a slight lack of flavour in the pasta salads, are more than made up for by the general ambience, the great service and the tasty food. As well as the carnivores’ delight of the various cuts of beef and the chargrilled chicken, there’s BBQ pineapple which is weird, but tasty, worth a try at least.
On the subject of service, I love their innovative chip system, green for ‘feed me’, red for ‘I’m on food hiatus come back later’
The boyf very much enjoyed his caipirinha, but I think it’s a bit of a ‘nothing’ drink, so had a mojito instead, which was tres tasty. The beers are well priced, cold, and a good choice to quench the fire of some of the spicy items (few, but tasty)
All in all a nice place. I probably won’t go back, but that’s only because the Trop is marginally better and sooo close to my house. Still, a worthy contender, and I urge you to try at least one of the city’s Brazilian meat feats.

If I could sum up Bem Brasil in one word it would be ‘MEATARIFIC’.
Not one for the veggies, Bem Brasil is a Brazilian Churrascaria that offers 15 different cuts of meat and seafood (carved at your table) plus a gorgeous buffet filled with salads, vegetables, cold meats, cheeses, stews, rice and potatoes prepared in various ways.
Oh, and the best bit? It’s all you can eat. You have a token by the side of your plate. If the green side is face up then the meat keeps coming. If the red side is face down, they’ll leave you alone.
The atmosphere is lively and the staff are attentive and efficient. The bar staff are skilled and entertaining (and they make a mean Caipirinha).
Loved it.

Well worth a visit. It really is all you can eat and the quality is amazing. For £12 per head you can have the ‘salad bar’ which includes several meat and fish dishes cooked in the traditional Brazilian way as well as various delicious rices and pastas, and salads. The real thing to do though, is the full BBQ, for £22 per person.
They give you a small disk, green on one side and red on the other. If your disk is green side up, every five minutes the waiters, who are specially trained in the cooking style and are called ‘passadores’, will bring you a different piece of amazing, perfectly cooked meat. The beef selection alone includes fillet steak, sirloin, rump, rib-​eye and more. There is also chicken, pork and lamb, as well as barbequed pinapple.
They also do superb Caipirinhas and other cocktails. The place itself is a great setting, very spacious and full of character. I certainly can’t imagine anyone being disappointed.

This place is an all you can eat restaurant like no other! For one set price you can enjoy an extensive choice of different cuts of meat from a traditional Brazilian BBQ, carved at your table by waiters. You can try as much as you can eat of Beef, Lamb, Chicken, and Pork, all marinated in the traditional Brazilian way, fire roasted on a traditional charcoal BBQ. Not only that but there is a good selection of hot dishes, salads, and breads all freshly made in house that you can help yourself to. The set prices are great and you walk away feeling you definitely got your monies worth.
This place is probably one of my favourites and is defiantly worth the few minutes walk out of the Northern Quarter!