I'm glad that we finally have not one, but two, churrascarias in Austin. And there's nothing wrong with the food at Estancia; I thought the meat and side dishes were just fine (especially the fried bananas, the linguica, and the frango).
However, I did have some problems with Estancia:
Would I go back? Sure. The annoyances didn't turn me all the way off. But I'd like to try Fogo de Chao before making a return trip.
Being devoted carnivores, the lure of a Brazillian churrascaria steak house is so strong that we once drove 90 miles to eat at one. (We also shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.) Since that was the SDC's only previous churrascaria experience, I am going to use that as a baseline for comparison even though: A.) It was in San Antonio, and B.) It's no longer open.
With a fixed price tag significantly cheaper than the one Do Brazilla used to charge, Estancia Churrascaria offers you a pretty good bang for your dining buck if you can resist the siren song of the "extras" that are pushed on you aggressively. I am well aware of the fact that the extras are the only way a restaurant like this can make money, so I'm willing to work with them. To a point. But there are a few places they step over the line:
Those two things really struck a sour chord with me. By comparison, the (alcoholic) drink and dessert prices seemed much more par for the course.
If you can get past all that, how's the food?
Pretty darn good, actually. Like the rest of the restaurant, the salad bar was smaller than that at Do Brazilla, but was otherwise most satisfactory. The garlic beef was excellent, as was the beef picanha (of not quite as good as they same they once served at Do Brazilla). The sirloin and filet mignon was also quite delectable. For some reason the lamb didn't do that much for me this time around. I did like my papaya cream dessert quite a bit.
Service was, well, strange. There's quick service, and then there's "I've been freebasing crystal meth for 17 hours straight" service, and this leaned more toward the latter; it seemed like I would no sooner be given one cut of meat before another was offered up. To be sure, it's much preferable to the other extreme, but it still seemed to suggest that they were Trying Too Hard.
Despite all those caveats, the food was very good, you get what you pay for, and we all left pleasantly full. I'd definitely eat here again. But Estancia Churrascaria needs a bit less speed and a bit more grace.
Captain Renault: What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.
—Casablanca
Let me put it this way: even the tea was bad.
This was a mistake.
The website suggests that they have a buffet but also offer some traditional Indonesian dishes you can order. Alas, the website is badly out of date and that no longer seems to be the case, as the Chinese Buffet side of the business seems to have swallowed the rest whole. For a Chinese Buffet, it wasn't bad (though you should avoid the squid, and the desserts are sub-par even by buffet standards) and was less than $10 a person with drinks and tip. But it's not worth driving any appreciable distance for, especially given the scruffy state of the neighborhood. Stick to Java Noodles instead.
The place isn't much to look at; an abandoned Schlotzky's that's being remodeled bit by bit. This is clearly a small family-run business.
And you know something? The food's darned good. My beef combo was some of the best Mediterranean food I've had in Austin, with excellently prepared rice, and at a very reasonable price. I didn't try any of the pizza (I was stuffed) but I would like to go back and sample the wings.
Something of a find. If you can ignore the dumpy atmosphere (a former Schlotzky's they haven't finished refurbishing in a sort of down-market Arabian Nights theme), you can find descent Mediterranean dishes (the dolmas were far and away the most palatable I've had in Austin), and huge pizzas. How huge? Try 28" inches huge, which works out to about $1.50 a slice $30 a pizza for 20 slices) for their version of a meat lover's pizza. And those slices are easily twice the size you'll find elsewhere. Moreover, it's pretty good pizza, sort of like Saccone's, but a bit better and less greasy.
It's still more of a take-out than dine in place right now, but for good, cheap, and huge pizza this is pretty hard to beat.
See the logs for March of 2008.