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Copacabana Brazilian Steak House
Categories: Restaurants Brazilian Restaurants Steakhouses Brazilian, Steakhouses [Edit]
150 Eglinton Ave EToronto, ON M4P
Neighbourhoods: Mount Pleasant and Davisville, Yonge and Eglinton
(416) 916-2099
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
49 reviews for Copacabana Brazilian Steak House
Review Highlights
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"Even the 'salad' bar was really great." In 14 reviews -
"The grilled pineapple was also very very very very good." In 8 reviews -
"...amazing skirt steak, bacon wrapped turkey, sausage." In 3 reviews
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49 reviews in English
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Review from Tina N.
Toronto, ON
4/11/2012
Double date at Copacabana with a pair of close friends yesterday and it was such a good time! The restaurant serves up ayce meat varying from different seasoned steaks, chicken and pork. They also offer a mini buffet/salad bar as an appetizer option, nothing too fancy just your average pasta, potatoes, greens etc. As for the steaks, you'll have servers walking around with sticks of meat coming around to offer you a chunk, pretty awesome as you get to try a bit of everything. Most of the meats were really good and well seasoned as they were able to showcase different flavours. I was surprised at how well done their chicken was, very moist. Recommended meats to try are the garlic sirloin and top sirloin. They usually bring the same meats around repeatedly so if there's a specific meat you wanted to try that's listed on their menu, you can put out a special request. They also offer desserts after you've finished pigging out and that includes their grilled cinnamon pineapple and deep fried banana which were both delicious!
I can definitely say their food was good but the service of the workers were just below average as they didn't seem friendly or happy with their job - good accommodations but lack of social interactions.
Overall a great dining experience that I would recommend as a good date night! -
Review from Lauren M.
5/13/2012
3.5 star for Copacabana.
Came here with a group of 10 for a birthday party on a Saturday night.
PROS:
- The meat! It really is delicious. Everything was cooked nicely, nothing dry and nearly all of it was extremely tasty.
- Entertainment was a lot of fun, I felt like I was on a resort in Cancun or something.
- Salad bar is reasonable, making it easy to balance your meal in case you actually want to have some starch or veggies.
CONS:
- Service - it took ages to get a first round of drinks and even longer to get a second and third round. I also wanted to try some of the cornbread and the guy never came around to my end of the table. It's also agonizing watching other tables being served meats that you want to try and then they run out before getting to your table.
- Seating - large tables in the center of the restaurant are all crammed together, so you constantly have people weaving their way in between tables. Too much traffic.
- Price was a bit steep. Dinner for 2 people plus 3 glasses of wine came to $180 with tax and tip. Would gladly spend $180 on a meal elsewhere with more relaxed environment, although some people love the hustle and bustle of this place. -
Review from Jarita L.
Markham, ON
4/10/2012
I was skeptical as I am of any all you can eat places, but luckily, they carve you off pieces of meats (as opposed to giving you an entire steak, or lamb rack).
The meat is cooked well (don't know why the carver kept refusing to give me the rarer pieces). Some of the steaks ended up being dry.
The skirt steak was awesomely seasoned, and the salad bar is AWESOME.
and as it has been mentioned before, the pineapple is amazing.
considering it is an all you can eat place, the food quality is pretty high, but you're going to pay for it (which is fair). -
Review from Tara N.
Markham, ON
5/24/2012
This place is amazing non stop food and and non stop fun
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Review from Joy S.
Woodbridge, ON
Updated - 4/9/2012
Took my mom here for her birthday.
She loved it!
We came Thursday for 7pm.
They had a live band and a crazy Brazilian dancer!
Got VERY busy.
DELICIOUS MELT IN YOUR MOUTH STEAKS!Listed in: *****
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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2/1/2011
Sexy Brazilian men and all you can eat steak? COUNT ME IN!
Came on a Sunday for my work party! It… Read more »
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Review from Patryk L.
Mississauga, ON
3/19/2012 1 photo
When Joe sent out his birthday invite and I saw that we were going to an all you can eat meat joint I was SOOOOOO excited!!! I had walked by the Niagara Falls location a few times and I have wanted to try it for the longest time. Let me just say that this place did not disappoint!
The restaurant itself was very nice. It was nicely decorated and it didn't feel too crowded (even with servers walking around with sticks of meat :p). We had a group of 17 people and the restaurant handled all of us exceptionally well. They had a live musician playing and even some Brazilian dancers performed at the end of our night. I was entertained and kept happy throughout the night.
Now lets get down to the food :D. They had a salad/seafood bar that everyone started with. The selection was quite large and everything that I tried was fresh and tasty. It was nothing exceptional but it was nice to have something other than meat and it wasn't cold or stale. Then came all the meat..almost everything that I had was cooked to perfection. All the beef + pork was well seasoned and was full of flavour. The bacon wrapped turkey was to die for as well!! The only meat that they really messed up on was the chicken :( I had the chicken parmesan and the Moroccan chicken and it was way overcooked (tasted like rubber) and it was way too salty. It was a bit of a let down for me seeing as chicken isn't that hard to cook. The desert foods were MIND BLOWING. I must have had 6-10 servings of the grilled pineapple and a few pieces of the deep fried banana :).
The bill for 2 people came out to $110 including taxes and gratuity which in my opinion was a bit over priced but I made sure that I had my moneys worth. I would love to come back in a smaller group that way there will be less time waiting for other people to get their food cut :p -
Review from Joe H.
3/20/2012 Seated via OpenTable 1 Check-in Here
This is the 3rd time I've been to Copacabana, and I'm still a big fan of it. Personally I really like that spits of meat are brought to you and then carved, over and over again. Beware though, one, this place is expensive (happy birthday to me) and two, better get a reservation if you want to come here on saturday or sunday, or else you'll be waiting.
One of the perks of coming here on a friday/saturday, is that there's always live entertainment. I guess you can kinda factor that into the cost. We personally heard a string duo (guitar and bass) which was awesome, and then there were these carnival costume wearing dancers that decided to dance around the restaurant. Kinda neat I guess (I found it really funny when guys would go up and take pictures with the girls). During the other times, there was a DJ spinning so the place kinda felt like a supper club.
As for the food, depending on the cut of meat, they will usually season and broil the outside of the meat, slice and serve it up, then take it back in to repeat the process. I found that if you want it rare (like I do), just let them know and they'll do their best. One thing I've noticed is that they did hold back the more "premium" items unless you asked for it. Personally I kinda wanted to try the suckling pig and shrimp, and I only got them when we asked for them. So suggestion is if you want it, just ask. They'll eventually bring it out to you.
As for the non-meat things. I can't really comment much on the salad bar, I didn't go. I did however LOVE their corn bread. It's AMAZING. I would probably eat it every day and be happy forever, it's that good. I don't care that it leaves your hands shiny as a mirror after holding it. That just means it's filled with goodness. Oh, and the cheese bread balls are pretty damn good too.
As for the amount of food, I can probably say that most people will be stuffed easily (even with the 2 hour time limit). Personally I would say it's best to come here with a smaller group, so the servers can come to you more often and you can get served a bit quicker. We came in a group of 17 and it took really long for a server to get from one end to another.
PS... one end of the table will steal all the pineapple and one end will not have any
=( What ever happened to sharing the anana? C'est Anana! Telefrancais! -
Review from Mary C.
Richmond Hill, ON
2/5/2012
When I found out that I would be going to an all you can eat Brazilian BBQ for dinner one night, my carnivorous side got pretty excited. I don't know of too many places like this, but Copacabana is definitely the most well known Brazilian BBQ that I know of. Everyone who's been there had great things to rave about, so that just added to my anticipation. Bottomless meat for a fixed prix of $35? YES PLEASE!
I arrived a bit earlier than my reservation, and ended up waiting a bit. It was really hot inside the restaurant, probably from all the grilling and the wide open entrance to the patio where all the A/C seeped away. Not too big of a deal because I was nicely distracted by the belly dancing and martial arts performances that were on display for the dinner guests!
For a drink, you must try the "Caiprinha" ($9.25). It's the National Brazilian Drink consisting of Cachaca, Muddled Limes and Sugar. It comes in a small little glass but BOY was it strong!
The food is served rodizio style where several servers cycle around each table with spears of meat, and shave you pieces of it if you choose so.
All the meats were perfectly cooked, but a tad too salty for my tasting. The ribs were one of the highlights, and the cheese infused prime rib. Yes you read that right. The cheese was just oozing out of the meat as the server cut it. A must try!
The pinapple, like everyone else says, is AMAZINGGGG. Grilled with a sweet cinnamon sprinkle, it was just delicious. They serve this throughout dinner service, but it's good enough to be dessert!
They also have corn breads, cheese breads, and deep fried bananas which you can order from the waitress (not rodizio style). Quite good as well!
If you're looking for a different type of dining experience, live entertainment, and a place to satisfy your insatiable carnivorous tendencies, I would definitely recommend you try out Copacabana. I will also recommend you eat vegetarian the day after to balance it out... -
Review from Josefa M.
Toronto, ON
8/9/2011
The first time I went here was in a December with my office for our holiday party. At the time I was a vegetarian, so I was stuck with the salad bar at the back and standing up to the jokes from my colleagues. I was able to keep my spirits lifted with the endless bottles of wine that kept coming to the table.
I have since returned as a meat eater and while I haven't been able to eat everything there, I cannot believe how much meat people can pack in! Or I can pack in. Nobody told me about this thing called the "meat sweats" when I started eating meat again. I also was not consuming portions that were large enough for me to experience it.
The amount of meat and variety that they bring out is impressive. I have never seen beef being cut off from a giant skewer with cheese oozing out of the centre! They tell you what options they have and will bring it out based on what you want. Out come the giant hot skewers that they hold next to your plate and cut off slices of meat that land on your plate.
The fried pineapple at the end was quite tasty and they bring as much corn bread out as you want. The salad bar was ok, but that's not what you come for.
The live entertainment is also another added element of fun. Make sure you go with an empty stomach and cab money to get you home. -
Review from Karl R.
3/20/2011
Lots has been said and said better. I'll just summarize for the few people who are going "yes, yes, but what does Karl R think?"
1) No reservations are taken on weekends unless you have a party of 6 or more. Me and the lovely Yvonne T. arrived about 6:40 pm on Saturday and the wait time was 1 hour. They will write down your cell # and ring you when your table is ready. Stroll down to the second cup or starbucks and chill out there.
2) Want more meat? Flip your card to Fire Up. Want a chance to catch up? Flip it to Cool Down. Theoretically the Cool Down cards keeps the wait staff away but it does not seem to work. They still come to your table offering you meat. Sometimes somebody compelling is on the other side of the table and suddenly (I would hardly believe this myself if I didn't experience it) a man hacking off hunks of fire-cooked meat with a sword directly onto your plate can just seem an interruption. An actual interruption.
3) It's loud. The live music makes it hard to talk. Hope your mate has lungs.
4) Part of the fun is interacting with the waiters but the Copa is so busy and packed the meat delivery is perfunctory.
5) Damage for two people was ~$110 with tax 'n' tip. It makes The Mandarin on Saturday night during an Alaskan King Crab and Looted Persian Antiquities Festival seem like a deal.
6) Lame salad bar. A woman comes around with awesome corn bread but no corn bread at the salad bar's bread station. Whats up with that? -
Review from Magdalena R.
Toronto, ON
6/7/2011
Meat, meat, meat! Sometimes you just want meat!
Well, I do anyway. And when I want that delicious meat, I go here. Not only do I get to eat a large variety of different meats, but they ALL taste delicious. Juicy, flavourful, melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
It is very important, although hard to remember sometimes, to leave a little bit of room for the cheese buns and a LARGE amount of room for the grilled pineapple. They come around a little later in the dinner and are just magnificent. If you are here on the weekends you will also get to try the fried banana's (also an important must-have) and see the live performances.
I always have a lot of fun here...
... and my meat needs always get satisfied. -
Review from Viviana M.
Toronto, ON
Dining Experience: Dinner
Specialty:Brazilian Steakhouse
Menu items: Prix Fixe Rodizio style meats, salad bar and beer
It's snowing outside. The famous Canadian winter is finally making an appearance in this city. It's white, snowy, windy...and all of the sudden, its sunny as I write. Memories of carnivals, delicious meats, warm smiles and rhythms are coming to mind. Brings me back to CopaCabana, not the beach area in Rio, but the Brazilian steakhouse right here in Toronto, on the Yonge & Eligible, I mean, Eglinton area.
A week ago to be exact, I was eating at CopaCabana; a Brazilian Rodizio style restaurant. Rodizio is a style of restaurant service in Brazilian restaurants. One pays a fixed price (prix fixe) and the waiters bring an offering of meats to each table at several times throughout the meal, until customers gesture they've had enough. I would say gesture, because you can't really be at this restaurant without having a piece of meat in one's mouth for more than a second.
Upon getting seated, we were invited to start our meal with an assortment of salads and accompaniments from the buffet-style salad bar.
The salad bar has a variety of salads (cold and hot) to choose from. Soup, paella, steamed rice and even pizza were also part of the buffet. Although I really enjoyed the assortment of this salad bar, I can't really say there was a particular salad that stood out. However, as part of our meal, the salad bar was great and so was the selection. On a side note, my take on the salad bar is that restaurants use this as a tactic to get you full before the meats start rolling in. Makes sense, that is the most expensive part of the meal. Do I justify it? No. Is it upsetting? Not really, its really up to the person to control his or her portions and know that the best is yet to come...
And so it was! Grilled pineapple, in my mind, was one of the best things to pair our meal with. Pineapples wake up your taste buds so that one can enjoy the true taste and juiciness of the meats. In addition to its great nutritional value, Pineapple has a protein-digesting enzyme, bromelain, that helps digestion at the end of a high protein meal; hence why its highly used in Rodizio style restaurants.
Now on to the real deal. The meats!
CopaCabana's extensive meat menu made our experience a success. Our table was privy to Chicken Drumsticks, Parmesan Crusted Pork Loin, Beef Ribs, Top Sirloin, Fillet Mignon, Suckling Pig and Homemade Sausage, amongst others. All of them being well cooked, tender when needed and tasty. This was a meat-comatose I would love to experience again.
And if unlimited salads and meats are not enough for you...well then I am sure the beautiful Brazilian dancers might just be what you needed to begin or end your night with.
Viviana. -
Review from Alisa A.
Québec, QC
8/29/2011
Great meats, tasty and well marinated. Juicy and soft. Friend pineapple is a blast.
Amazing! -
Review from Sefy C.
North York, ON
1/11/2012
Great meat dishes. They come to your table and cut the food off of the massive skewer they carry around and cut you pieces with a sword for you to take up onto your plate. Also the grilled pineapple is great as well. And also the entertainment is amazing with Brazilian dancers like in Carnival in Rio and Capoeira dancers too, and a musician playing good music.
Though it is pretty expensive, we paid $62 a person tax and service included, but it was worth it. -
Review from Yvonne T.
My second time at Copacabana. We arrived at around 6:45pm. Unfortunately reservations are not available for parties of 6 or less. We were told it would be about a 1 hour wait. The hostess took down our name and phone number. We headed to a Second Cup nearby until our table was ready.
The place is definitely a hot spot for birthday parties. I think I heard enough "Happy Birthdays" to last me the year now!
The music is loud with the live band so I would not recommend this place for a first date unless your date has big lungs!
The server explained to us re the self-serve pasta and salad bar, and also about the Red/Blue or Hot/Cold system as to how the meat carving studs magically appear at your table with the exhaustive list of meats...however, they seemed to randomnly adhere to this system as some of the studs still came around when we had our Blue/Cold side up. Kind of defeats the purpose of having the system if its ignored.
I think I would've enjoyed it more if the pace in which the food was being paraded around was taken down a notch. Half the time the meat carving baddies introduced the dish so fast that I'd wondered if they worked part-time as auctioneers? Of the dishes I did hear, we had:
Lamb Chop
Chimichurri Steak
Parmesan Steak
Garlic Sirloin
Grilled Pineapple (Just delightful!)
Cheddar Bread
The meats are all heavily salted but tasty.
At $50 a head it is good value as you do get to sample a fairly wide range of meats. I deducted 2 stars because I found that the speedy zipping between tables doesnt give you sufficient time to digest, because the servers ignored our Cold/Blue cards and because I had to hear Happy Birthday in a loop.Listed in: All that talk about nothing...
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Review from Jason K.
12/26/2011
toronto doesnt have have a good brazilian bbq joint. this is no exception. this is one moment we should be jealous of our american cousins.....
- oversalted meat. bad
- cinnamon dusted pineapple. good.
- expensive pricing. bad.
- attractive wait staff. good. -
Review from Giuliana B.
SCARBOROUGH, ON
2/23/2011
HOLY COW!!!
Wow - I am still salivating at the memory of my meal here. Now let me start this by saying that I don't particularly enjoy beef - seriously, I just don't. But my friends really wanted me to come here with them because they were sure this would be the place to finally convert me to the pleasures of eating red meat - particularly steak. So I agreed in joining them here for dinner.
The hostess showed us to our table and proceeded to explain to us how things work. Basically, there is a "salad" buffet at the back of the restaurant that has a variety of things like: mashed potatoes, sauteed veggies, fried cassava root, fresh salads, olives, bread, soup, etc,etc,etc.....
After you have filled your plate with whatever catches your eye, you proceed to your seat and wait for the very hunky gauchos to bring you unlimited amounts of delicious meat. And you get to check them out while they do this - just make sure your date doesn't catch you (mine did) as this can make things a bit uncomfortable....
Anyway, I tried a large variety of meats including seasoned flank steak, pork loin, Parmesan chicken thighs, fillet Mignon, bacon wrapped fillet Mignon, peppery BBQ ribs, salmon, lamb, steak with cheese, suckling pig, homemade sausages, etc.... so much meat I can't even remember it all. There is a little menu card on the table, and if you see something on there that you'd like to try but haven't, just ask the next gaucho that comes around and they will bring it to you. Oh - and make sure to have the grilled pineapple, not only is it sweet and delicious, but it will aide you in digesting all those massive amounts of meat.
Service here was great - all the servers were super friendly and accommodating, and our drinks were refilled continuously. We came on a Friday night, and they have live entertainment. A Brazilian band plus Samba dancers and Capoeira performers. They only have these on weekends, so I guess that's the best time to check this place out.
Oh and if you get caught checking out your cute gaucho, fret not. Your date can check out the skimpy dressed Samba dancers and make things even :)
Definitely a place worth checking out at least once, but I enjoyed it so much that we are returning in a couple of weeks. I guess I was converted into a full fledged carnivore after all.
USEFUL INFO: They will only take reservations for 6 or more people. -
Review from Yunn A.
2/28/2011
At first, I was hesitant to come, as I went to a Brazilian steak house in Vancouver (Samba) and felt that it wasn't a good value, nor was the ambiance or food very good.
WELL I was shown very differently here! I came with a birthday party of 15 people and we were treated extremely well even with all the commotion of an extremely packed saturday night! Live sexy belly dancers that perform regularly and roam the restaurant, Capoeira dancers and a live band make the night lively and entertaining enough! But the servers traveling around with the DELICIOUS cuts of meat were great :)
I ate so much I pretty much had the meat sweats afterwards. There were over 10 different types of meats including (but not limited to) suckling pig, bacon wrapped filet mignon, beef and pork ribs, moroccan chicken, and then there was the toasted pineapple with a dusting of cinnamon to cleanse the palate. Even the 'salad' bar was really great! It was approximately $42 a head (it's only all you can eat, so if you don't want that, don't come here), so after tax and tip for a large group you're looking at $53 a person before drinks. Not for the light wallet, but if you're looking to put yourself in a meat coma, this is the place to do it. -
Review from Char C.
Toronto, ON
12/24/2011 1 Check-in Here
Love it!!!!!! So happy right now! I got the meat sweats!!!!!!
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Review from Dishan W.
3/23/2011 1 photo
It gets three stars for friendly staff, the fact that it's a Brazilian steakhouse so the fun dining experience comes with that fact and they also have good live entertainment which does not interrupt your meal in an annoying manner.
But on the food front, this place probably would have got 2 stars. Brazilian steakhouse meat is salty by nature so I'm not going to rant too much about that. But from the actual look of the meat, the below par salad bar (in terms of awesomeness and presentation) to the fact that we kept getting non red meat come up in higher frequency than actual red meat (aka steak) really put this place off track for me. I also don't believe that we got served every single rack, but I could be easily mistaken as once you start eating, it's so easy to not care about what's being brought on to you.
There was once meat item that is stuffed in cheese or has cheese sauce over, which just looks like all sorts of wrong and I had no interest to eat it because a) it looks horrible and b) by the time it was first brought to our table, I was stuffed.
They had suckling pig which was a first for me, and despite my lack of love for pork, I did try it out but found out that that sort of texture was not my thing.
They had the heavenly cinnamon coated pineapple as well as cooked yummy banana which are always a big hit with me.
In terms of the entertainment they had fairly attractive dancers that did their thing and then walked around for photo ops, that was fun and they were very friendly too.
If Toronto had a great Brazilian steakhouse, I would choose that over Copacabana, but until that happens I will stick with this although I won't be eagerly awaiting my return to Copacabana. -
Review from Arun P.
Toronto, ON
12/17/2010 1 Check-in Here
This is a cool Brazilian Steak House!
Great for parties... We had our work's "Happy Holiday" party there, and I loved the atmosphere...
Lot of salads (about 50?), different beans dishes in buffet style, and are very tasty.
Beautiful waitresses bring you the prepared meat of your choice. Overall, the service is average, not bad though. -
Review from Megan H.
Toronto, ON
9/27/2011
I've been here a few times and was quite happy the first time but not in the slightest bit impressed on the last two trips to the point where I'm now writing it off as a place not to go. To summarize why:
- They are unwelcoming and with the rare exception, staff seem burdened when you make a request for a certain meat (which your card will tell you you are free to do).
- The service was appalling as we sat waiting upwards of 10 minutes between slivers of meat while we watched food circle the two large tables beside ours but never come our way. With a two hour time-limit far too much of that was spent waiting and we left hungry...ironic given the "all you can eat" set up.
- I am a HUGE fan of meats of all sorts but have never tasted such over-salted food!! Everything was doused in it and you could see the large sea salt granules. Totally unnecessary and ruins perfectly good meat.
- As a final note, I was violently ill as were two of the friends I went with after my most recent trip there despite not having eaten much for all the waiting we did.
Brazilian restaurants are great in general, but if you're looking for a good quality meal in a nice and welcoming atmosphere then I would recommend looking elsewhere. -
Review from Esquire N.
Toronto, ON
4/24/2011
Went here on a Tuesday night for a friend's birthday dinner. There were three of us at our table. This was my 4th visit to this establishment in 2 years.
SEATING/ATMOSPHERE
I called an hour before our scheduled eating time for a reservation and my party was easily accommodated.
FOOD & DRINKS
For about five minutes we were ignored. Eventually our server made her way to our table. We ordered the caipirinha, which took a very long while to arrive, but was divine. We also ordered a bottle of Prosecco which was $34 and was a hit at our table.
Food. Well its a brazilian steakhouse and I trust that you know what that is. My brief review of the meats is....OK. I've been to a Brazilian Steakhouse in Chicago (Brazzaz) and it was the bomb!
At Copacabana all of their meats seem to have been soaked in salt for days. After a few of the types of meats they bring to your table, they honestly all start to taste the same.
Salad bar was mediocre. Be sure however to request the complementary cornbread, cheese puffs and fried bananas....yummy!!
SERVICE
Our server was somewhat absent - especially when she was needed. The manager needs to smile more. He seems to be the only one that deals with the settlement of the accounts. Are the servers not capable or trusted to process payments - very odd.
VERDICT
.... PASS. Will likely return for another salty meat comatose in a few months for another celebration. I will not be rushing back though...thats for sure
. $220 for 3 people including alcohol and tip.
....3/5 because of too much salt.
TIPS.
a. For some Carnival-style entertainment, go on Wednesday through Sunday. No entertainment on Monday and Tuesday.
b. Ask for a table in the back section of the restaurant close to the salad bar. This section of the restaurant has perhaps a dozen tables and is more quieter and intimate than the "main section". -
Review from Greg B.
6/26/2011
I feel bad giving CopaCabana one star. It might mislead you all into thinking it deserves a star. I'd give it zero if Yelp would let me. I would not recommend CopaCabana to anyone.
Most importantly, to summarize my review, they have a surprise two hour limit and they physically kick you out of the restaurant, and they are completely unfriendly.
As background, my friends and I organized a surprise birthday party here. We made the reservation for 5:30pm and then plan was to have the birthday girl arrive around 6. As part of this we dropped off a birthday cake for the restaurant to hold for the end of the meal.
I will say that the food was very good. I was disappointed that in the two hours that we were there, about a third of the meet types never showed up, including the Salmon. I did love the top sirloin and the flank steak, as well as the cheese-stuffed sirloin! And the "salad" bar was also delicious and had everything from avocados to ziti pasta.
But that's where the goodness ends. Where to begin my complaints?
* Our waitress was dumb as a brick. It was nearly impossible to communicate with her, and she managed to mess everything up. Just as an example, I ordered a Diet Coke. She brought out a drink and said "here's your Diet, I mean your regular Pepsi." I said "really, it's not Diet" and she said "Yes, yes, sorry, it is definitely not diet, it is regular Pepsi, not Diet." She was very emphatic that this was not Diet. To which I replied, "oh, I'm sorry, I had ordered diet, do you mind switching?" And she replied "oh, sorry, my mistake, yes, this is diet, definitely diet, not regular." Ugh.
* Our waitress was dumber than a brick. The party next door to ours was also having a birthday party and she accidentally brought OUR surprise cake over to that table. We were looking over trying to signal to her, and it was't until the recipient table told her that it was't their cake that she realized her mistake. Then, instead of quietrly bringing it back, she brings it to our table and says, to the birthday girl (who didn't know about the surprise cake), "sorry, I brought your cake to the other table. Should I just leave it here now?" First, way to spoil the surprise you dumb b****. Second, no, we aren't even half way finished with our meal, go put it back in the fridge.
* The staff was inconsiderate. You know when two people are walking down a narrow space between tables and someone has to move to the side. Well you'd expect in a restaurant charging about $50 per person, that the wait staff would elect to make way. Not here. It's like playing chicken. They seem willing to plow you down to get through. I will say, though, that most of the "meat boys" who delivered the meats were friendly - it was mostly the waitresses who were awful.
* Speaking of waitresses. What do they do, even? It's an all you can eat buffet with men walking around with hunks of meat. Their only role is maybe to bring beverages, as there is no food to order. And she couldn't even do that. I was parched the entire dinner, and had to ask multiple times for more water and soda.
* Now for the kicker. At 7:20pm, the waitress came up and said "I'm going to bring your cake now since you're almost out of time." We gave her a very confused look as she walked away. She came out with the cake and dropped it onto the table before clearing out our dozens of plates from the all-you-can eat food. Not a very good dessert experience.
* But here's where it goes wrong. At 7:30 she comes over with the bill and says we have to leave. Now we're confused and she explains that our reservation only allows us to stay for 2 hours, and there is another 7:30pm reservation that is waiting. First of all, this is a ridiculous policy. Maybe you can put a 2hr limit on the all-you-can eat, but to physically kick us out of our seats before we've even started on our cake? We demanded the manager came over and, much to our surprise, he was even more idiotic and inconsiderate . His name was Jhon Vionot (manager on 6/25 at 7pm) - not sure about the spelling, unsurprisingly he had "run out" of his business card. All he could tell us was that "everyone knows about the two hours limit." We explained we did not know and he said "well we emailed you a confirmation that mentioned it." This is not true, as we did not even provide our email address when we called in the reservation. No one told us at the time of the reservation. No one told us when we arrived to the restaurant. No notice of any sort until 10 minutes before our "time was up." Complete bullshit.
On top of all this, they included gratuity.
Read all of my reviews - I have very few 1 star reviews, and I don't think any others with so much as a swear in them. This was truly one of the worst dining experiences of my life and a perfect example of how to ruin a special birthday.
I'm out of space. Please trust me. Do not go to CopaCab -
Review from Laura C.
Toronto, ON
10/9/2010 1 Check-in Here
The place was fun, friendly, and good food. I agree with some comments that the meats could have been better quality, but for what it's worth - it was quite a good time for a family outing.
The bonus was the Samba ladies shaking their tail feathers (Fri/Sat only) and the live performers playing, Astrud Gilberto, and Stan Getz (my favourites!) - Wed to Sat only
We sat in the smaller intimate corner near the salad buffet, rather than in the middle which seems a bit cafeteria like.
The servers were quite friendly and the wandering rodizo guys, are quite good at bringing requests of different meats. One guy let my boyfriend's mom hold the stick while we snapped a photo.
The hostess seems really non-assertive and very insecure. Not much of a hostess.
What do you get for $50 in terms of food:
- all you can eat salad bar. Different varieties of cold salad (no labels on them, so had no idea) and soup (no labels, or handles on the lids!) that seemed to change throughout the night
- different meats that come to you on a rodizo stick that they cut off for you
YUMS to :
brazilian steak (picana brazil)
top sirloin
lamb
salmon
pineapple
friend banana
cheese bread ball
They also have rib eye, suckling pig (never saw it), salmon upon request
Tip: save your quote for the meats and don't stock up on the breads
All you can eat!
Parking: after 6pm the street east of it called Redpath, and the resdential streets north of it
I think this is a great place to take out someone for dinner, and have something different. Good family place.Listed in: Where to take my parents to…, Great for Groups!
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Review from Ken S.
1/16/2011 2 Check-ins Here
Went to dinner on a Saturday with no reservation. I had to wait 2.5 hours for a table of 5 and to be honest I was really upset when I sat down. I was told it would be an at most 2 hour wait.
Here's where everything changed. Imagine a restaurant where you have a great steak and by the time you finish off your last bite, a man with a sword of meat drops more meat on your table. This continues for about an hour until you literally have to say "No thanks, I can't take this anymore"
In any normal establishment you would stop yourself way before an hour of constant eating. It's extremely difficult to stop at Copacabana because it's actually that dam good.
On Saturday they have 13 different meat floating around the restaurant and you should try all of them. There were some things like the suckling pig that were not brought out unless requested. Look at the menu, make sure you try everything and if you don't see something just ask for it.
Overall great experience and I forgot all about the long wait by the time I ate my first bite. If you want to go on a Saturday, make a reservation and know that in order to get one after 4:30pm you have to make the reservation 2 weeks in advance. -
Review from Steph L.
6/5/2010 ROTD 6/29/2010
Signs that you have overdosed on meat:
*Dry mouth
*Blurry vision
*You know that you are imagining it, but you hear mooing noises in the distance
*You undo the top button of your jeans to make room for your gut
*You feel like you never ever want to eat meat again (well until late the next day at least)
Ugh.
That is how I feel right about now.
I arrived hungry, excited for my glorious Brazilian meat feast.
I headed right for the salad bar.... just to check it out. However, for 40$ a head, I wasn't going to fill up on cold pastas, greens, and baby shrimp.
At first I was impatient, the meat couldn't come fast enough.
The waitstaff made their rounds skillfully carving small tender portions of meat.
I think they found it funny to see how much I could eat because they started coming by very frequently.
And ladies, the servers are cute dudes with nice biceps.
For the gents, they have dancing girls that make an appearance in some sexy outfits.
Anyways, back to the meat.
I tried everything. Juicy, tender, tasty...but a bit salty. After round 12 everything starts to taste the same. And anything wrapped in bacon loses it's appeal.
Taking a break from meat, the fried bananas, cornbread, and grilled pineapple rounded out the meal with some sweetness.
I had a lot of fun here! -
Review from Leeor J.
7/10/2010
For $50-60 a head after drinks, tips and all applicable taxes, I expect way better quality meat. This place is a huge ripoff, and the worst Brazilian steak house i have ever been to.
The cuts of meat are seasoned with all kinds of crap (why??). A good cut of steak should not need anything except some sea salt and pepper. They smother half the cuts with these steakhouse seasonings that ruin them. And their marinades are terrible. They even put cheese in a bunch of them (gross and completely unnecessary). clearly they are trying to mask the lousy quality of the meat they're serving you.
Stay away. Spend your $50 bucks on one good steak elsewhere. -
Review from Pascal P.
Toronto, ON
10/28/2011
Love this place. There is always a line up. It is pricey but well worth it. I have been there multiple times. I went there other night(weeknight) there was a musician but the music was way too loud. I find that the servers themselves arent very good but the carvers one word...yummy.
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Review from Jenalin C.
Toronto, ON
3/20/2011
Been here a few times in the last 12 mos. Great experience everytime! Amazing food and lots of it, if you like meat. Salad and hot food bar also has a great variety.
Quick tip : save some room for the pineapple. -
Review from Bijan V.
2/4/2010 1 Check-in Here
I'm extremely tempted to use Shari M.'s rating system here and rate this place the ultimate "SLAP MY ASS AND CALL ME SALLY!!" however I have a feeling it would be somehow inappropriate. Instead I'm going to confirm a warning Devan R. gave me when I told him I'd be coming here:
Do not even think about driving or doing any sort of physical activity once you finish at this place! Not only was my reaction time extremely slow, I had extreme difficulty making the move to check my blind spots while attempting to drive back home. I'm serious, it's dangerous.
Now on to the review:
Copacabana, to put it bluntly, is an all you can steak joint but oh man is it good. Live music, intimate setting even though the place is rather large, amazing service and great steaks. I don't even really know what else to say about this place.
When we were being seated, our server notified us of a "salad / appetizer" bar in the back but we opted to reserve any space available in our stomach for the great meat to come. The way it works is Gaucho's come around with the different items and if you want it, they carve off a piece and move on. I'm fairly certain in the 2+ hours we were there, we tried nearly everything on the menu (or close to it anyways - and minus the few items that are restricted to certain times of the year) and I loved each and every item.
Everything was cooked to perfection, tender, juicy and seasoned perfectly (one item was far too salty for me but still amazingly tasty). I might have made a mistake to want to fill every gap and crevice left in my stomach with beer and it definitely aided in me gaining ~5 pounds when I weighed myself the next morning.
Regardless it was completely worth it, the price is perfect for the amount and quality of food your getting and the service was just as good. I'll definitely be coming back here again, once I manage to recover. -
Review from Nick K.
Toronto, ON
11/8/2010
Went for dinner on a Friday. Great selection of meat. All the meat was well cooked and served hot. Chicken was juicy and had great flavor (particularly Parmesan Drumsticks)
Garlic Marinated Steak and Herb Marinated Pork Loin were 2 of my favorites.
They don't like taking reservations for small party's so if you get a group (5+) you'll have an easier time. There were only 4 of us and we had a few cocktails at the bar waiting for a table - if time is on your side it is a good way to go. They like to hold them for larger parties.
The evening dancing entertainment is definitely a good show and worth seeing.
Service was decent (nothing spectacular) and the hostesses were pleasant, but not overly welcoming. Considering the prices, frankly I was expecting a little higher level,
Good experience overall and i certainly left satisfied with the meal -
Review from Bernadette L.
Toronto, ON
4/4/2010
Never trust the lunch time promo. I work in the Yonge and Eg neghbourhood and one day a group of us passed the "$11.95 lunch" banner draped over the Copacabana sign. Knowing that most Brazilian steakhouse dinners go at $50 a head, I thought this was a steal.
I am not usually critical of ambiance but sometimes a venue just screams identity crisis. The look was industrial meets art deco meets post modern and dirty tables. There were some weird rounded corners and they had a mess hall table setup.
I have to say I was a little disappointed by the offering. Nothing special in the apps bar (rice, bean salads, cold pastas) and we were given a choice of just one piece of meat to complement the apps. I know I should not have been expecting much, but I did expect more than a single sliver of salmon.
This place must be better at dinner time, but given the lunch experience I had, I'm not tempted to revisit any time soon. -
Review from Taylor O.
3/2/2010
As a predominately Paleo-style eater, the closest I can get to eating like a caveman is this genre (one I frequent) and Copa did not disappoint my evolutionary urges and/or biological nutritional requirements.
I never would've guessed from the picture but the interior was very modern with cool Brazil graphic design and a few mid century touches, and an almost airplane like curve over one section.
We had a bit of trouble getting them to start sending over the meat as were starvingly impatient but the service was very nice.
Bring back the Sword:
-Top Sirloin
-Skirt Steak Spice Rubbed
-Garlic Crusted Steak (a surprise as usually this is weak at other brazilian steak houses)
-Filet Wrapped in Bacon
-Chicken Drumstick - Great Dark Meat
-Some sort of slow cooked pork
-Morrocan Spice Chicken Breast
Don't Waste the Space:
-Parmesan Crusted Steak
-Lamb - Way too fatty, low quality
Forget the salad bar though a stop by for some
side sauces and horseradish is useful; helps enhance the plainer cuts (especially if they've cooled down)
The live music had a good sound system; some acoustic versions of Nirvana, John Mayer and Eric Clapton... umm.. eclectic. -
Review from Kavi G.
Toronto, ON
8/7/2010
After a hectic morning for what was probably THE best client presentation I've ever done, I had planned an entire team lunch to kind of let everyone know that they were doing great work and that it was all paying off.
We all decided that the new CopaCabana Brazilian Steakhouse might be a great place. They have a reasonably priced buffet menu at lunch, and it's a shit load of food, or so I had heard.
For $11.99 you get your choice of meat or fish (steak or salmon or chicken), and as much as you can eat in potatoes, salads, pasta, bread and more from the buffet.
The steak was "eh". On my first bite, it was the perfect amount of saltiness and cooked the way I asked for it--medium. But looking around the table we all noticed that the cooks had unevenly prepared everyone elses steaks, and a lot of them were not how we had ordered them. Wait staff was also a little cocky.
Those who had ordered the salmon found them undercooked. One co-worker ordered the Kobe beef burger, expecting something of a decent size. He ended up with something just a *little* bit larger than a slider. Disappointing.
I've heard a lot of good things about their original restaraunt location in Niagara Falls, but lunch yesterday was nothing impressive. -
Review from Daniel S.
Mississauga, ON
5/11/2010
Let me start by saying that I am Brazilian, so with no arrogance, I can state that I know meat... :) And I should add that this is the place I go when I am homesick, missing a real "churrascaria" (Portuguese for Steakhouse)...
Undoubtedly this is the best place you can find if you're looking for a real barbecue (mind you - the Brazilian way!!) in Toronto!
It's worth every penny due to the variety, quality and quantity.
Enjoy or "Bom Proveito"! -
Review from Melody T.
Markham, ON
12/20/2009
The meat is unbelievable
Go easy at the salad bar, you definitely want to save as much room as possible for the meat.
The food is very well priced ($40 all you can eat) considering how much food you get (I didn't need a breakfast or lunch the next day) however, I wouldn't say the same about the alcohol.
Try the grilled pineapple!
Great entertainment!
Call ahead of time to make a reservation. The Yonge & Eglinton location can get very busy on the weekends.
Great experience! -
Review from Devan R.
Updated - 9/14/2009
Recently hit Copacabana and this last visit may have even been better than my first!
6 out of 5. Yeah that's right.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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7/7/2009 First to Review
Copacabana
Copacabana is up there with some of the most enjoyable dining experiences of my life. If… Read more »
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Review from Tanya N.
5/22/2011
Though I've heard great things about this place, I wasn't expecting much as a place with an unlimited amount of meat on massive skewers just doesn't seem right but this place was oh so right.
Delicious.
The salad/carb bar had a great selection. My favourite salads were the mixed green salad with a light dressing, avocado(!) & mango. I also liked the fried yuka and roasted potatoes (I love potatoes).
The meats come out at random and lures you into meat gluttony. Surprisingly all the meats were well cooked and even the salmon that comes on the skewer. We all loved it and the waiters were accommodating when we wanted the lamb chops & pineapples which just didn't seem to come our way after over an hour.
Corn bread (a hit with everyone), cheese bread (meh - more like super dense cheese dough) and fried bananas (deep fried in a cinnamon & nutmeg coating was FANTASTIC) have to be ordered specifically for the table though it is included in the price.
The grilled pineapple comes coated with cinnamon and it probably the most delicious with the fried bananas. Best dessert ever.
Stuffed. -
Review from Karen S.
5/9/2010
Fantastic! Came here for a birthday with a party of 5 and enjoy every minute. Definitely a special occasion restaurant due to AYCE, price, method of eating and fun atmosphere. Our table came in with presents for the birthday girl and I noticed that a great number of other tables had similar signs of celebration. When the live musician sang happy birthday, at the part where a name is usually supplied, he just kept strumming and let the room fill in the names... there were so many people who were celebrating their birthdays that day!
The great help yourself salad bar is a great deal more than that! Lots of choices for veggies, soup, pasta, and a delicious paella loaded with seafood. Loved the plentiful avocado chunks with red pepper that were just calling my name. Try not to get too filled up with at the salad bar because the meat is still to come!
The meat... wow the meat was amazing! Though there were a few misses (garlic steak was a bit too well done), pretty much everything was on the ball. Tender, fatty top sirloin, yummy chicken dumbstick, absolutely amazing skirt steak, bacon wrapped turkey, sausage... *drool!* Side note: our table girls kept giggling over how absolutely good looking all the male waiters were... one of the criteria for employment must be looks. Must! They even looked as if they were personally rejected whenever we declined their offer of meat! That's neither here nor there though. :D One grabs the meat with tongs that are provided for each person as the gorgeous waiters slice up your choice of animal. Oh, don't miss the sweet, sweet cinnamon dusted roasted pineapple! Ohoh! Don't miss the corn bread muffins or the deep-fried bananas either!
There were some performances while we were there that helped end a really great time. The service was prompt and great (waiters would ask us if there were any meats that we hadn't received yet and go get it for us), the quality of food was excellent, the atmosphere was really fun and the entertainment gave just that added value.
Get there early or it may be hard to get a seat. We came on a Friday and by 530pm the restaurant was already full of people. They don't take reservations for less than 6 people. Lots of free street parking around the area, if you can find an empty spot. Otherwise, lots of Green P. I found the CanPark lots in the back of the building a bit of a scam though (broken machine, no cashier, machine that keeps adding money even though you've reached the maximum). Skip them if you can!
