Samba Brazilian/Prime

[Vital Information]

Any feedback on Samba Brazilian Steakhouse in Bellagio. Will it compare to say, Churrascaria Platforma of Fogo de Chao?

Prime, is it worth the $$. Are we better off with another steakhouse?

rg

[misterb]

There are numerous terrific steak houses in LV. I have eaten at most of them, and found Prime to be at the top. Pricey, yes, but just about all top-line steak places are.
I thought Samba was at the Mirage, b/t/w.

[Vital Information]

Yes, Samba is in Mirage, my bad. So what's the word?

[misterb]

I have not eaten at Samba. You may want to try some of the various Las Vegas message boards out there....most have threads devoted to restaurants, although most are of the Circus Circus buffet level. Also - try the website for Las Vegas Review Journal (www.lvrj.com). It has a pretty good and well-respected restaurant critic, and there may be something about Samba in the archives.

[jogonoca]

I ate there Saturday night (3/8). My family and I were extremely disappointed. Of the ten or so meats, the chicken legs were overdone -skin was burnt. Other meats were hardly seasoned. The pork with pineapple was dried out - the pork was stringy and how you can dry out pineapple like they did is beyond me. My sister-in-law liked the sausage but of course it's probably made off-site and has a high fat content. I thought the flank steak with ginger marinade was actually pretty good but my brother didn't think so.

The service was so-so. There were two young female servers - one my sister-in-law made a comment to and the server seemed somewhat indifferent. The younger male server had an attitude. There was a more mature gentlemen who may have been a manager who did care and was attentive. He brought over another pork skewer which wasn't dry and stringy but it was still bland nonetheless. He did send over 3 complimentary desserts which were all excellent. All of the sides like the beans and rices and carrots were fine but that's not the highlight of this type of establishment.

This type of steakhouse usually doesn't have a chef like other high end restaurants because there's little cooking going on. Most of the main items are on skewers with preset marinades and rubs and are on timers. So it's hard to believe this place could be so bad. And I don't mean mediocre. It was a big disappointment.

If you ever happen to be in Durham, NC near Duke - there is an excellent BSH called Chamas (http://www.chamas.us/ ). Instead of the usual sides they have an enormous cold bar (think salad bar but only excellent). All kinds of produce that is roasted, marinated and presented so beautiful. They have 3 hot dishes next to the cold bar. And they also have a wonderful cheese and fruit selection. This is all included with the meal. You can go at lunch time and just order the cold bar if you want to eat light and healthy. Next door the same owners run a pastry shop which also does the desserts for the restaurant. So you can understand why I had expectations for Samba.