What is a Brazilian Rodizio Restaurant?

 

Don’t confuse a Brazilian rodizio service with the restaurant called Rodizio Grill. This is always a confusing thing for people as I’m working as a caterer of Brazilian BBQ. The restaurant took its name from this style of serving food so its understandable that people get it confused.
A Brazilian rodizio is frequently associated with a style of service where a server distributes meat “In-The-Round” at a Brazilian buffet called a Churrascaria. In a rodizio Service, a team of servers bring meat and other grilled foods on a skewer to your table and slice it fresh from the grill.
This is one of my favourite things when attending a Brazilian restaurant because you simply don’t have to wait for food, you get the meat in the freshest way possible and you don’t have to ever leave your chair during the process. Here are some other “Pro-Tips” which may be able to enhance your Brazilian rodizio Experience. https://www.belezarodizio.co.uk/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-my-brazilian-steakhouse-visit/
Rodizio Style Service Vs Rodizio Grill
Diving further into the concept of a rodizio style service, in many Brazilian Barbeque Resturants, the servers will be dressed in traditional Goucho attire. These Southern Brazilian cowboys are attributed as being the inventors of Churrasco and the rodizio style of service. They traditionally cook and serve the meat from professional-grade Brazilian Skewers.
A rodizio service doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with the serving of meat in the round. It could apply to any kind of buffet service where the wait staff brings the meals automatically from the kitchen to your plate. I personally don’t know if a rodizio service is applied to any other kind of food service.
Rodizio Grill is a Brazilian Churrascaria (Brazilian Steakhouse) that uses a rodizio style of service as it’s primary method of food distribution. The Rodizio Grill is one of the first that I had ever heard of in the United States so I imagine the name was a super clever branding tactic.
I find myself using the two phrases interchangeably at times. Like, I will want to go to Tucanos Grill and will tell my wife about going to the rodizio restaurant. While technically correct, it may be confusing because of the branding.