Chima Steakhouse

Upon arriving at Chima Steakhouse you are greeted by the valet and find yourself ushered in through a beautifully decorated breezeway that is lined with fire on the right and water on the left. Straight ahead are a set of large Banyan trees that are adorned with tiny white lights. At this point you no longer have the feeling that you are in Las Olas, in fact, you feel as if you’re in someone’s Brazilian Villa. Beyond the breezeway, immediately to the left, you’ll see a glass wall giving you a view into the kitchen where you will see the multitude of skewers that are being prepared at one time. (Please do not miss this!) Just in front of that, there is a small stage that houses their live entertainment. To the right, there’s a small service bar at which we procured a premeal drink. Doris had a Moscow Mule and I had a Chai Tai which is basically a Brazilian Mai Tai. Both drinks were on point and delicious.As you enter directly to your right you will see a beautiful wooden large lounge area as well as a very formidable wine room. To the left, you’ll see the hostess desk where check-in occurs. The hostess guided us through a very elegant and extensive dining room. It seems much larger than it looks from the outside. In the middle of the dining room, you will see an enormous salad bar but this is not any normal salad bar. This is not your typical iceberg lettuce, tomato, and cucumber type of salad bar. This is a sumptuous array of 20+ items that blend Brazilian and American favorites from gourmet salads, cold cuts, cheeses, soup, and traditional Brazilian hot dishes.Once we were seated our server Rodrigo greeted us and explained the service and concept to us. Quick note – The servers are dressed as Gauchos right down to the exquisite boot detail. There are small discs on the table one for each guest. One side is orange the other black when you want more food you flip it over to orange when you’re done or just want to pause you flip it over to black. As long as your disk is flipped over to orange one of the many gauchos continuously roaming the dining room will offer you exquisite churrasco of over 15 rotisserie meats including top sirloin, filet, ribs, lamb, pork, chicken, sausage, and fish and cut them off the skewer where you will use the dainty tongs provided to bring your choice to your plate to enjoy.After Doris and I had finished sampling the salad bar delicacies it was time for us to dive into what we came here for. I have to admit that there was no one favorite meat. One was just as good as the next if not even better. I am going to give you a brief list of some of the meats that we tried. Please know, there were several that we just were too full to try. We had the Black Angus Picanha (top sirloin), Black Angus Picanha with Chimichurri and Grilled Jalapenos, Filet Mignon, Cajun Ribeye, Flank Steak, Beef Ribs, Aji Chicken, Sausage, Lamb Chops, and Shrimp. I’m sure I’m missing something. For dessert, we had the Crème Brulee which is a classic Crème Brulee crowned with a passion fruit caramel. There were many other desserts just as beautiful to behold but we agreed to share the Crème Brulee as we were quite satisfied following the aforementioned feast.The Silva family started the Chima Steakhouse chain in Uberlandia Brazil, the first U.S. Chima Steakhouse opened on Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale in 2003. They are known for their Brazilian Rodízio service where an assortment of dishes and churrasco is delivered directly to the tables on large skewers. The meat is then sliced directly onto the plates.