Restaurant review: Samba Brazilian Grill

“It's like I'm drunk on meat!”~Joe King

Joe took me out to Samba as a belated Birthday Christmas gift in response to my taking him to Sushi Muramoto for his birthday back in November.

Going to any fancy restaurant can be difficult when you are watching what you eat, but going to a Brazilian steak house is just plain suicide for your diet. Not that I'm complaining...Far from it! I loved every bite I shoveled into my mouth at this wonderland of meat.

Samba is a fairly new restaurant in Madison. It is housed on the second floor of the historic Women's Club Building. This building was where women who had been admitted to the University of Wisconsin congregated in their off time when the University was first allowing women to enroll. The building was recently slated for demolition but a local business owner intervened and after extensive renovations opened 2 restaurants on the premises: Samba and the Cabana Room.

The bar (where we waited for our reservation to come up) was unremarkable in décor, but the bartender was very personable and easy on the eye. He served the drinks with very little flair or ceremony but the drinks were what we asked for (Joe had a Mojito, I had a Cherry Pepsi) and prompt.

Our reservation was called promptly, indicating that the hostess of the restaurant is very well trained to ascertain how long the meals are spaced apart.

We were seated on a level above the general dining room, and there was yet another level above the one we were seated on. There was a second bar located on the level with us making our subsequent drink orders arrive in good speed.

The décor of the dining room would have been stunning if there had been more light. Many of the accents such as the cornices, crown moldings, and balcony rails were painted with a gilt treatment, which I found to be very attractive against the backdrop of the royal blue and burgundy paint. The whole design of the dining room engenders excess. The curtains stretch the length of both floors, as the room is open to both dining levels. All the accents are just that much larger than they need to be.

However, this extravagance all comes home when you see the plates. They measured over a foot across. Pure white platters for joyous gluttony.

Also on the table is our idol to aid in the worship of meat. This heavy large wooden pillar is marked with one green side and one red side. When you place the green side up you are calling to the meat gods to bring forth the bounty in the shape of gauchos carrying spits on which this evening were 9 different kinds of meat. When you turn the idol down and bring the red side up you are spurning the meat gods.

The nine kinds of meat available tonight (Duck Breast, Rack of Lamb, Leg of Lamb, Parmesan-Crusted Pork Loin, Balsamic Glazed Pork loin, Bacon-wrapped Beef Tenderloin, Flank Steak, Sirloin, and Sausage) were not the only bounty provided for our dining pleasure; there was also the “first course.” This was a very nice side bar that featured a few hot items (Garlic-mashed Potatoes, Saffron Rice, and Cuban Black Beans), some green salad fixin's, breads, cheeses, olives, seafood salad, pasta salad, potato salad, nuts and fruit, just to name a few items available. These offerings changed during the 2 hours we were there with new items being brought out as options became exhausted.

Our waitress was attractive, personable, attentive and prompt.

The food was good. I was very fond of the sea-food salad (which I suspect came directly from Sentry), the angel hair pasta salad, and the chilled asparagus from the side bar. Of the meat options the duck, the Parmesan-crusted pork loin and the sirloin were my favorite offerings. I may have voted the sausage higher except I received it very late into my feast and by then the law of diminishing returns had set in with a vengeance.

The atmosphere was not great even with all the positive decorating achievements. Since the dining room was located on two levels that were open to each other the area was terribly echoy, lending to a noisy dining experience.

Also the “atmosphere” (ie. the view of the people, both dining and serving) was not great. Although most of the wait-staff and gaucho servers were attractive enough as to make not comment on, the diners were a different story. As with most restaurants that promise to deliver more food than should be legally consumed in one sitting (even when fairly steeply priced) the clientèle were generally heavy and in a few cases grossly obese.

To sum up:

The food was good and copious, perhaps too copious – but I have only myself to blame if I overate. The flavors were good but not outstanding.

The restaurant was attractive in general but not wonderful.

I grade the place: B