Rodizio reigns at Chima Steakhouse | Review
“Wait, did you just say the gauchos cook the meat, as well?” I query, interrupting the flow. “I didn’t know that!”
I am discussing the operational ins and outs at Chima Steakhouse, which opened amid the opulent offerings of Orlando’s Dr. Phillips neighborhood not long ago, with its general manager, Awuyale Lopez.
“I didn’t know that, either,” Lopez tells me. “Not ’til I started working here.”
“I didn’t know that either!” pipes in a member of Chima’s public relations team.
Neither did my dining companion, who visits Brazilian steakhouses far more often than I do.
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I’m used to not knowing things. And I’m used to being surprised by the things I learn with each story, but this one was a corker. Rodizio-style dining isn’t new ’round these parts; however, based on this informal and unintentional poll, which included three professionals embedded in the restaurant industry, I’m venturing a few folks reading this might be learning something new, too.
For the uninitiated, rodizio (Portuguese for “rotation”) features the culinary stylings of gauchos who rotate through the dining room, slicing all manner of meats upon the plates of the hungry.
At Chima, this might mean Blank Angus picanha. Or bacon-wrapped filet. Or Cajun ribeye. Or beef ribs, braised before grilling, that almost literally melt away in your mouth. There’s also whole, bone-in New Zealand lamb chops. And tender Aji chicken thighs. And cinnamon-infused grilled pineapple on which they’d make double the fortune if it came in a candle you could buy on the way out.
There’s more, too, all of it included in the $64.95 price, along with unlimited eats at a vast salad bar featuring many things that aren’t even salad. Sides of mashed potatoes, fried bananas and polenta fries, too, will vie for that tummy real estate, as well as house-made pao de queijo. Indeed, there are many tempting items on the road to your meat sweats, which you will blot with a cloth napkin in elegant, high-ceilinged surrounds that used to be a Bonefish Grill.
Lopez remembers it. He’s a neighborhood veteran, having spent 10 years at Roy’s Hawaiian, where he went from server to bar manager to assistant general manager during his tenure. Locals and former Roy’s regulars are thrilled to have him back at Chima, where they’re fast latching on. Covers, says Lopez, have been going up steadily, and the recent debut of lunch saw 200 people pack the joint.
“We have so many regulars already from King’s Point, Bay Hill, Isleworth, Dr. Phillips … When I was at Roy’s, Restaurant Row was almost brand-new. Now, it’s a flourishing, restaurant-packed environment, which is great. There’s something for everyone out here. We know we’re not going to be the only restaurant people visit, but we want to be the yardstick they measure by.”
That just may happen because our experiences were highly service driven.
Staffers here will fold that cloth napkin for you each time you return from the salad bar with another scoop of krab-laden kani salad or earthy eggplant salad or nutty kale salad, just a few of the goodies I sampled, along with charcuterie and rough hunks of Parmesan and boat-like endive leaves ladled with creamy and chunky gorgonzola and studded with walnuts. I wanted more of those. Especially after a heady house caipirinha ($14). But the meatstravaganza was still ahead.
You can’t have the rodizio experience at the bar, but there are offerings exclusive to this room, too, including dishes like the sliders, plus a Sunday-through-Thursday happy hour where you can enjoy those stellar, lime-laden cocktails at half price (a deal you won’t get in the dining room). You can also sample a few tastes from the grill and salad bar in limited portions and perhaps whet your appetite for the whole shebang upon return, which means sampling the meats those gauchos prep, cook and serve.
“In the beginning, when they’re just learning, they start with chicken and shrimp (the latter is a rarity in the realm of rodizio, by the way), but as they move along the line, they’ll learn how to butcher and prep and skewer correctly, how to cook the meat to different temperatures and maneuver things on a grill that gets up to 1800 degrees,” Lopez explains. “They have to know when it’s ready to be taken off … then present it tableside.”
You’ll want more than you can eat, which I’m only telling you because the post-food orgy amnesia hasn’t kicked in just yet. Soon, I’ll be back to thinking I can consume my weight in medium-rare picanha.
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$65 per person isn’t inexpensive, but the fact is, you might pay the same for a single steak at another venue, likely with a la carte sides. It’s not out of hand for rodizio here in town, either. Chima’s prices (with complimentary valet every day and live music on select nights) are just one caipirinha higher than I-Drive entity Rodizio Grill and barely $2 more than Fogo de Chao. For fans of either, a little culinary recon visit just makes sense.
Sunday lunch won’t offer quite the date-night vibes of dinner, but it will net you the same exact selections for $45.90. Make sure you try the lamb, the ribs, the picanha. Those less meat-enthused can opt for a full salad bar experience that comes with one protein (choice of picanha, salmon or chicken), a vegetable skewer and a pineapple cinnamon skewer; $48 at dinner, $40 at lunch).
As for how many things you’ll be able to try before tapping out? Like everything else, it’s a learning experience. A tasty one.
If you go
Chima Steakhouse: 7830 W. Sand Lake Road in Orlando, 321-404-6001; chimasteakhouse.com/orlando-steakhouse
Want to reach out? Find me on Twitter, TikTok or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. Join the conversation at the Orlando Sentinel’s Facebook food group, Let’s Eat, Orlando.
