Chima Restaurant Review: All You Can Meat

Various appetizers at Chima. Photo/ Tricia Bangit

Once you step into Chima, the buzzed-about Brazilian steakhouse on South Tryon Street, the ambience is warm and inviting, yet modern and sophisticated. There are two dining areas: stairs that lead to the basement’s dining area, and a staircase that leads to an upper level that includes a bar, lounge, restrooms, and another dining area.

The Brazilian steakhouse experience is definitely one that every omnivore and carnivore should try at least once. Be warned though that this is an all-you-can-eat affair, which is not for everyone. And because it was Charlotte Restaurant Week, where the price for a 3 course meal is cheaper than usual, this seemed like a great opportunity to seize.

Even though I barely ate all day, I probably should have known better than to fill up too quickly on the first course.

Here are other things you should expect as well: 1), for your server to ask you at least three times what bottle of wine you’d like even though you never expressed interest in ordering one in the first place and 2), to have your servers routinely re-fold your dinner napkin every time you get up to leave the table, and if you try to fold your own napkin yourself, they’ll just fix it because you don’t know how to do it right.

To be fair, the servers were more than polite and very attentive. It’s just a little hard to get used to that form of dining out if you’re not used to it. When you’re a student, it’s easy to get used to waiters treating you poorly.

Vegetarians who are being tagged along to this restaurant can be assured that the complimentary appetizers and salad bar offer more than enough options, though the sight of slabs of meat on sticks traveling throughout the dining area might make your stomach uneasy. The complimentary appetizers offered included fried bananas and mashed potatoes.

My favorite appetizer was the bread. These little warm rolls had a soft, chewy, and cheesy consistency. I couldn’t resist the offer of second helpings of this bread, which inevitably filled me up quicker than I would have hoped.

Next stop was the salad bar, which comes with an array of salads, dressing, and cheeses. While my date loved the rice and beans and smoked salmon, my favorites included the prosciutto and gorgonzola cheese mousse. Later on in the meal I returned to the salad bar to help myself to a bowl of creamy vegetable soup.

By the time we got to the meats, we were already pretty full. Here’s how it works: each table is provided with a coaster for each guest. One side of the coaster is red. If you flip over your coaster to red you better expect a flock of waiters with meat on skewers to hover around your table. Top sirloin, lamb, sausages, and bacon-wrapped chicken were a few of the selections presented.

While the sausages were great, everything else seemed less memorable. The medium rare cut of lamb I wanted was not as pink and soft as I expected it to be, and the steak wasn’t as tender as I would have hoped.

In spite of my slight disappointment with the meat, $30 for a three course buffet meal was a decent deal. Considering that I never order a full meal when I eat out, the dinner was more for the rare experience than the price.

That being said, here are two things I wish I’d known beforehand: 1), that Chima has free valet parking, and that 2), you get a $20 coupon if you visit their website and become a preferred diner.

Chima is open from Mondays to Thursdays from 5:30 to 9:30 pm, on Fridays from 5:30 to 10pm, on Saturdays from 4 to 10pm, and on Sundays from 4 to 9pm. For more information visit chimasteakhouse.com.