Brasa
Category: Spanish/Basque [Edit]
Neighborhood: Downtown2107 3rd Ave
Seattle, WA 98121 (206) 728-4220
- Price Range: $$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Dressy
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: No
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
51 Reviews for Brasa
Yum!! I was here on a Friday for Happy Hour and seated right away. The two of us shared 4 plates: lamb burger, ahi tuna, fire roasted veggies, and smokey mashed potatoes. They were all excellent! My Roman Holiday drink was okay, not that exciting, but the food was absolutely delicious. Two drinks plus the 4 plates came out to be a steal: $22. We were stuffed, and I can't decide which was my favorite!
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I won a gift certificate here from a cancer benefit raffle. The certificate was dinner for two, so all we paid for was alcohol.
It was an awesome dinner. The butternut squash Cappeletti was the stuff dreams are made of, and my steak was perfect. The Spanish donuts and profiterole were an unnecessary but awesome end to the night.
I was very happy I entered that raffle!
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I have been here a couple of times, but if you really want to experience Brasa then you need to go for HH between 5-7 in the bar. With one drink purchase you can then have at the whole bar menu for half off the posted prices.
This means 6.50 lamb burgers, seafood stews, calamari, and less for pizzas and veggie dishes. My seafood stew was beautiful with a crispy skin topped black cod piece along with large prawns, mussels, and clams. The calamari was light and crispy with a wonderful spicy sauce.
For under thirty bones you can sample a lot more of Brasa than a full on dinner in the dining room, however it is a beautiful space and a great place to meet up with people.
Bravo to the ladies at Brasa....you guys are doing some amazing things!
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Tried out Brasa when visiting with an aunt in Seattle. I hadn't read any of the Yelp reviews, so I went in without any preconceptions. We dined with auntie's Microsoft Prime discount but without it, the price would've been pretty steep for 3 courses and wine. It would have been worth it, though, given that the seafood was super fresh (as it should be in Seattle!), with generous portions, to boot.
We started off with the mussels appetizer. There was a generous amount of mussels, and the broth they were served in was excellent. It didn't overpower the mussels, which were cooked perfectly. Our entrees were the paella and sea scallops, both excellent. The large scallops practically melt in your mouth. The paella was excellent as well, and I'm usually tough on restaurant paellas, having been spoiled by my husband's Spanish grandma's homemade paella. The rice had a great, rich flavor, and the seafood and chicken in the dish was well-seasoned. The homemade chorizo had a nice smoky flavor, and I thought each component of the paella was really well done.
Dessert was a great ending to a satisfying meal. Like other reviewers, I was left wondering why they didn't just call 'em churros, though. :) By whatever name they're called, they were delicious! The accompanying whipped cream and chocolate were a great dessert on their own.
One star off for slow service, however. We went on a Monday night and were the only 2 people there for a while, and still it took a while for each course to be brought out. It definitely merits another visit the next time we're in Seattle.
I went here Friday for HH, of course, because of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine's suggestion. I was not at all disappointed. The food was amazing, service fast and warm - though still professional, the place unpretentious though still really amazing. I would love to go back for a real meal...but who does that anymore with all these great HHs in Seattle?
I've been to Brasa a few times now, and despite the high price I've enjoyed it every time. The atmosphere is nice (if a bit fancier than I'm usually into), the service is courteous, and the food is very tasty and flavorful!
I had the braised suckling pig (which I believe is their signature dish) and it was excellent; it really could be described as "succulent." I've had other dishes there as well, and while I was never disappointed, I don't think any of them lived up to the quality of the suckling pig.
Dessert was actually the real highlight for us. The churros with chocolate sauce are AMAZING! We were really stuffed, but the waitress convinced us to try the churros and we were thanking here for the rest of the night.
So if you have a few bucks to spare (or better yet, if someone else is paying) I'd definitely recommend Brasa as a tasty place to eat in Belltown.
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Ambience: 4
Food: 4
Value: 3
Very nice looking place. Interesting lay out and lighting.
Food is Mediterranean/Spanish influenced. It's got some interesting spices that makes it interesting. We had the scallops and paella. I've been to Span and this food is not too bad. The crunchy puffy bread is good. I liked it. I enjoyed eating here.
I listen when people talk about their favorite food in Seattle, tuck it away in my little mental file, and I'm surprised that Brasa never comes up. This place, in my experience, is highly underrated.
Friday night, 8pm, we had reservations for a party of nine at a different restaurant who completely dropped the ball, but Brasa was able to get us in last minute, no problem.
Even though they left us with empty glasses a bit too long a few times throughout the night (we would have bought more alcohol, we really would!) I'm still giving them five stars because when the food came, it was unbelievable.
Even though my friend's black cod dish was a little unbalanced (the cod was light and delicate, served with a WAY too salty overpowering squid ink risotto something or other, if I'm remembering right,) I'm still giving Brasa five stars because the rest of the food I tasted was so frickin' amazing.
I had the spinach salad with goat cheese, which was good, but my other friend's pear salad was probably even better. I then had the Cappelletti with butternut squash, and I'm still thinking about it. I wish I'd gotten the large portion, but then I wouldn't have had room for the Brasa Sundae, which was amazing. My friend got the scallops and we were all blown away. Totally orgasmic.
I believe their menu changes regularly, and I'm not sure their online menu is often updated to match, so be open-minded. I can't wait until I have another excuse to go back and try something new. Or maybe order the Cappelletti again. Gawd.
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I went here for the Dine Around Seattle (a.k.a. 30 for 30) deal, and it was pretty good, but not enough wow factor to bring us back at full price, probably. Service was good: attentive, but not too needy.
Items ordered:
cauliflower soup (pureed, with some other stuff, and TRUFFLE OIL on top).
mussels & clams appetizer (dining companion said 'ok', but sparse in terms of actual food content).
veal atop pasta with some bits of other stuff
beef with polenta on the side and something else I forget
3 stale cookies and almond milk
profiterole? something soft and breaded and fried, and quite delicious and clever.
So um..that veal did not come in a slab like I'd been expecting. Instead, it was like some glorified sloppy joe in a non-spicy non-sloppy joe sauce. I liked the bits of carrots in it, which was the only small redeeming feature atop limp slips of pasta. Obviously, I have forgotten what my dinner partner's entree was. If those dessert cookies were not stale, then they were meant to be biscotti that would not fit in the shot-glass of milk to fit for dipping. i promised to post this and include the term 'glorified sloppy joes,' so there it is -twice!
The atmosphere was nice (although very Rich White Yuppie) and it was quiet enough to speak at a normal level but loud enough to be a nice companionable atmosphere. However, I'd consider Dine Around Seattle to be an opportunity for restaurants to put their best foot forward so people would consider going back for the full-price menu, and I just didn't see that. Other yelp reviews make me want to try the sea scallops, paella and ravioli on their regular menu (and NOT the cod), but chances are I will have forgotten about this place as a viable option by next week, since I'd have to pay that much more for a debateably good meal. For this price, it should not just be good food (which it was), it should be mouth-savoringly good food where you wouldn't want to brush your teeth later for fear of losing the aftertaste.
A note: although people voted for 'dressy', there is definitely no dress code, and as long as you're not in ratty jeans or full fubu gear, you'll probably feel fine eating here.
My boyfriend and I stumbled onto this place late on a Saturday night. It was our anniversary and we were wanting an upscale dining experience but weren't feeling particular about where or which kind. I had walked by Brasa and been curious about their food many times over the last five years or so. They had the requisite dim lighting, fancy table linens and impressive menu crucial to a romantic night, so we decided to give them a shot.
Basically, the point of this review is to yell at you guys. Why in the hell did a.) no one tell me how totally incredible Brasa's food was and b.) not a one of you ever mention their kick ass happy hour???
Our dining experience that night left us speechless and happily dazed for about forty-five minutes afterward. Everything from the beef carpaccio to the roast pig to the chocolate bread pudding was practically screaming with flavor and freshness. I'd never known freshness to scream but apparently, it does.
To top it all off, the service was phenomenal and they even e-mailed us a gift certificate for a free appetizer next time we visit. I couldn't possibly be more impressed. I will most definitely be back for their happy hour. A+
To those of you who forgot to clue me in about this place or made me eat somewhere in Pacific Place for the millionth time when we could have eaten at Brasa, do me a favor and flip yourselves off.
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Basque? Spanish? Not really.
My mother is full blooded Basque and I was raised in the San Sebastian (Donostia) region in Hondarribia on the border of Spain and France. So when I see this description for the food listed as Basque, I kinda scratch my head a bit. I see many items on the menu that incorporate Spanish elements, but they are not necessarily Basque. Paella is had everywhere in Spain and its pretty standard stuff and to me not particularily special. And to describe churros as Spanish donuts is rather laughable as there is no such thing. Grandma called em Churros and thats what they are. They probably dont even know what a donut is in the Basque countryside. That said, onto the food.
After looking at the menu, I decided to order the steak frites. I did not order the full steak dinner as I was not super hungry and I wanted a decent portion but not a full meal. I have to say I was disappointed and heres why. The meat was decently flavored, but more french inspired which is ok. However it was tough and chewy and they ruined it by drenching it in some nasty white sauce which I have never seen anyone do in Spain or France. The ETA would probably blow up your restaurant for serving this. :o The frites (french fries) were bland and not even slightly seasoned. 2 things about Spanish\Basque cooking: Olive oil and Salt. Both elements were missing. There was a greens salad that was basically over run by the white sauce and the fries were just plain and bland. Over all this plate was not very good. Another person at the table had the steak bocadillo (sandwhich) and he said it was tough as well. He also ordered a side of the frites and they were just as bland as mine. Basque chefs are known for spicing their food, and this was just missing here totally. Whoever designed these dishes, especially the drenching of the white sauce on the steak should be shown the door. I think the chef needs to go be an apprentice in the Basque country before claiming the food as such.
The dessert was good, but you really cant mess up Churros. It's fried dough. The complaint folks did have was that they ran out of the chocolate. I think that is not really a fault of the restaurant but a bit more might make folks happy. It was tasty but nothing to consider fine cuisine or remotely special. At the most normal of restaurants in Spain they made an ice cream cake they served with a shot of whiskey over it. It was delicious and inspired and that is what I expect from a restaurant like this, not churros. Find your inspiration and you will find your new menu. Also, think about your dishes and the preparation. Steak should be tender not tough and chewy. And that nasty sauce you poured over it took over the dish and completed the destruction of that dish.
Conclusion:
My experience at Brasa is like meeting a person with so much potential who just falls short in life becuase of a lack of vision or direction. I think 2 months traveling Spain and southern France will invigorate the chef and inspire the diner. That is what is needed here. Until that happens I am going to say go to Betty on QA if you want a great Steak Frites and go to Txori if you really want authentic Basque food.
Agur!
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Do you love pork? Brasa loves pork. I love pork, too.
I first when here during the 30 for 30 (which any of you should check out any time it happens) and enjoyed myself thoroughly.
I enjoyed myself so much that my boyfriend decided that Brasa would be where we went for Valentine's Day. And boy am I glad.
When I went on V-day, I had the scallops and let me tell you, they were the best I'd ever had. The star of that dish however was the melted leek. I never knew I liked leeks until I ate them at Brasa.
The cheese plate was really good; they had a cheese that spent part of it's life soaked in ice wine. You can't go wrong there, in my book.
I haven't sampled everything so I can't say this for sure, but I really don't think you could go wrong anywhere on the menu.
The only area of improvement that I could hope for would be more Spanish wines. That's a personal preference, however.
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This restaurant turned out to be a last minute choice when a party of eight had reservations dropped at another restaurant.
Upon entering around 8:30pm on a Friday there was absolutely no wait and many tables were not filled; the reason for this became evident during the evening.
Simply put: the meals were over-priced and did not adequately represent the quality which one would expect when paying ~$30/plate. Also, the service was very slow, especially considering the mostly empty restaurant. However, our waitress was very kind and personable.
Appetizer: I shared a goat cheese spinach salad with my date. The portion was small and the sauce was something anyone with bechamel experience could whip up at home in minutes. It wasn't special.
Main Entree: The black cod atop squid ink risotto was bland, greasy, and I could hardly stomach it after a couple of drinks. The only saving grace was the cod skin which was actually quite tasty. My date ordered the paella - portions were generous. Unfortunately, this dish was also tasteless. There was a hint of chili flavor but it didn't seem to mix well with the seafood; it seemed like the spices which were in the paella were there because 'the recipe says so'. They weren't delicately balanced to produce an incredible dish.
I heard rumors that the scallops were delicious but I did not have a taste. There was oohing and aahing at the other end of the table.
After dropping a large sum for dinner, my date and I left feeling disappointed and unfulfilled. I'd rather check out another nice restaurant before returning.
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We came here on a Friday night at 8pm. No wait, not even close. The menu was a little too fancy for us, so we moved to the lounge were we both had the lamb burger and fries. It was absolutely delicious and rather messy. I don't normally eat cute fluffy lambs but I'm gonna have to make an exception here. The fries were crispy and golden brown, and even the ketchup was yummy. For dessert we had the Brasa sundae. It comes in a 12oz glass and is layered with brownie, chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, fudge and whipped cream. It definitely tasted more Spanish than American.
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Great Downtown Happy Hour.
It can literally be your dinner. 1/2 off Bar Menu. Although No drink specials (boo). It's more so if your hungry and planning on eating well. But you may get a hole in your in wallet for if your looking for cheap drink specials- they dont have one! So again, its pricer for HH, but the food is damn good. Nice ambience too.
My friend and I had the steak frites & paella. Must try the lamb burger next.
I went to Brasa on a Friday night around 10pm for a cocktail as a place to start the evening and assemble everyone before we went out in Belltown. We sat in the lounge, but both the lounge and restaurant areas were almost empty. The atmosphere was still nice, with chill music and an open, minimal decor.
They had a fairly creative cocktail list, including several champagne cocktails. I had the Jinx, which was quite tasty. We also got hummus and fries to share, both of which were excellent. The service was friendly.
Overall, a good chill place to start an evening, but nothing too exciting.
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In retrospect, it isn't the smartest move to look for reservations 12/31 for new years, but we managed to score an 8 top at Brasa at 6pm. Without embellishing too much the most profound comment of the night was, "Lately I've noticed that most restaurants have great appetizers, but the main courses seem lacking".
How true. Here's how it went down:
Best cheese plate in the city. Although they skimped a bit on the triple cream (personal glutton opinion) the restaurant provided another plate of apple slices, grapes, thinly sliced toasted nutty rye bread(?), toasted almonds, fig compote, and dried dates. Wow.
Oh yes, the bread service was excellent too. Along with the bread, came what we at the table dubbed the worlds best Pringles. They appeared to be some type of mashed potatoes with maybe a cheese and spices mixed in spread over a silpat and baked?? Unsure, but slightly addictive. Also a small casuella with olives and olive oil for dipping. Very tasty.
We had some Oysters as well as a nice beet salad for myself. The salad itself contained generous amounts of beets and toasted walnuts but thought they could have sprinkled in a bit more of the Bleu cheese...
For my main, I chose the Paella with rabbit which although was tasty, didn't really rock me off my feet. The same was said about the roasted pig dish. The scallops dish was rather tasty, but small (who couldn't eat half a dozen of the little suckers honestly?).
Even though I gripe about this or that, I would say that Brasa is solid. A great meal and they even had some cirque du soleil type performers towards the end of our meal. I'd like to come back and try some of their other items that were not available sometime.
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Dinner for Two.
We'd made reservations a couple weeks ago, and I'd made a note int he special instructions column. "It's our six year anniversary." It was a special evening for us. Our dining dollars don't often drive us towards the nicer places like Brasa. I wanted the restaurant to know the night was special and I wanted to be treated well.
We arrived 30 minutes early and secured a space in the bar. We checked our coats and ordered one of the special martinis. Aron's San Sebastian was aromatic and as described on the menu, he found the caper berry to be an odd garnish, and decided he didn't like Bombay Sapphire gin. My Caffe Notte was also as described , espresso , calvados and Tia Maria. It was fairly overwhelming and i wished they had finished it off with a touch of cream for smoothness.
We moved over to our table at that point. We were seated up above the main restaurant, with a birds eye view of the other tables and even a peek into the kitchen. Despite being one of only two tables there we were well attended to. We never felt like the waitress had gone missing and she was attentive in regards to removing dishes, providing water, and answering questions. Attentive, but not intrusive.
Bread was brought to the table as we surveyed the menus. I was surprised to see poppadom as I associate it with Indian food, not Spanish. The crusty bread served was good if cold and the olive oil had a delightful butter undertone. The olives that rounded out the bread plate were savory and salty, and neglected as soon as food began to come out.
We started with a 5 cheese cheese flight and unfortunately I neglected to get the name of the cheeses. We specified no blue cheese, mainly hard cheeses. She selected perfectly included a triple cream that had us both over the mean. The cheese flight was served with grapes, flat bread, almonds, quince jelly and dates.
For our main courses, I wibbled, being tempted by the rabbit pot pie on the firsts menu, envisioning pairing it with a salad. (How do you serve a pot pie as a shared first anyway??"
I chose the Whistling Train Roasted Pig, described as "Clams, chorizo, hot smoked paprika, bay scented crushed potato, pickled onions" It came out in an earthenware dish and carried a smoky paprika scent to it. This is not the paprika grandma sprinkles her deviled eggs with , this was another spice entirely. The broth was rich and fatty, the chorizo spicy and a little crunchy. My pork pulled apart like an upscale pulled pork. The potatoes were a little crunchy and I felt the clams were a little odd, not adding much to the dish, and their flavor was lost against the broth.
Aron ordered The Washington squab which came with squash, spaetzle , and bacon . The squab was seared before it was roasted and this made it extremely aromatic. He actually thought the meat smelled better then it tasted, as the spices on the outside held such promise, the meat below the seared surface was a touch bland. He was surprised by the sweetness of the squash and felt the dish went well together overall
Dessert was the Spanish donuts with chocolate sauce. At this point it was gilding the lily as we'd had enough to eat and just wanted a little something sweet. We paired it with espresso machiattos which came with too much whipped cream on top and had set too long as they were melty messes when served.
All told it was a fantastic dinner perfect for celebrating a special evening.
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Went for dinner before a show. Wife wanted to drink so we sat in the bar. She had a cheese plate(they charge by the ounce+a dollar for the fixins. Great selection, good value. I had the cauliflower soup which was fantastic and the paella. Now the paella is nothing like I ate every Sunday for a year when I studied in Spain, It is more of a spicy dirty rice with prawns, chicken, and squid, none the less delicious. We will return.
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I can't get enough of the paella! I've only been to Brasa twice, and I would actually like to try to other items on the menu, but the paella was so very, very good the first time I had it, and equally good the second, that I might order it a third time.
The shellfish was incredibly fresh, and well cooked; it absolutely melted in your mouth.
Here is a little tip though: the first time I had the paella I had it in the dining room, but the second time, I had it in the bar; the two paellas were virtually indistinguishable from eachother, but the one in the bar cost about half as much.
I haven't had happy hour here yet, but soon, half-priced bar food will be mine!
I've had the happy hour now, and feel like I'm ripping them off!
I've also tried the fish stew, and although it is very delicious, I didn't love it as much as I love the paella.
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We're in and out of Seattle so much these days, we somehow missed that this was supposed to be a hot spot of sorts. A colleague recently grabbed the gallery level for an intimate gathering and we attended.
Elegant colouring, sexy wood/beams, iron railings -- and a respectful layout with an equally welcoming lounge. The Mediterranean cuisine was an easy sell for us, as the tapas, falafel and frites went down rather well between enthusiastic swigs, er..sips from a variety of martinis. A few nips at cheesecake, fruit and profiteroles wrapped up the experience.
While each item was certainly delicious and our group received excellent service, I am resisting the urge to appoint a 5-star rating. Not that it matters; Tamara and Bryan seem to enjoy the road to perfection upon which its establishment marches purposefully.
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Showed up early on a Saturday without reservations and sat down in the lounge. The crowd was primarily couples and the atmosphere was pretty romantic with dim mood lighting. I ordered the paella and it was really really tasty. Came with very flavorful rice and the seafood was really fresh. Not a very big beer selection, but I think most people opt for wine. My friend ordered a steak medium-rear and it came out a little too rear in some parts. He didn't bothering sending it back but it was still extremely tender and tasty.
Overall a little expensive, but accepting the Passport gave us a sweet discount. Our waitress was very nice and kept the waters filled also.
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I went to the bar at 5:30 on a Wednesday night. I thought I could have apps in the bar for happy hour at half price and then eat dinner but they told me that they don't serve the dinner menu in the bar. The server asked the manager if it was okay for us to eat dinner in the bar and I'm assuming because it wasn't very busy we got the okay. We had the fig and ham pizza, bar paella, veal sweetbreads, and the whistling train pig. The happy hour is half price for the entire bar menu. The bar menu items cost between $7-$15. I liked all the food. The paella is very good. The sweetbreads(on the dinner menu) were dripping with sweet dried fruit and the smokey sauce on the pig was wonderful. Too full to have desserts but had a few drink and wine instead. The red wines were nice and cocktails were great. Overall had a great time. $117 for 2 people which included 4 drinks.
Delicious as usual. Had the tenderloin, mediam rare, it melted in my mouth. Served on top mashers with a smoked squash. Started with the spinach salad dressed in a hot mustard dressing, it was 'just OK'. I think I would have preferred the lobster chowder being consumed on the other side of the table. Five us us ate for about $350 so this place is not cheap by any means. We had a few drinks but not much, maybe $50 - $75 of the bill was alcohol.
I am not a big fan of places packed to the gills. I disdain the sound of tinkling laughter and clinking glasses.
Having said that, the cheese plate was pretty awesome and the Bellisima (a lemony champagne cocktail) was fabulous.
Service was neither stellar nor horrific.
Overall, it was an average overpriced experience.
I went to Brasa last week for Happy Hour on Thursday night and it was great. Everything on the bar menu is half-price for happy hour. I got the empanadas and the flat iron steak. The empanadas were excellent...the flat iron steak was a little dry. The thing I liked most about brasa was there were sooo many things on the bar menu that I had trouble deciding!! I can't wait for the next time to go. We had the doughnuts for dessert and the were yum too...the chocolate was an added bonus!!!
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Brasa is a unique combination bar / lounge and restaurant. I totally enjoy the food, especially the paea and I typically enjoy their 25 for 25 options, but I'm not sure if I'd come back here for their regular meal service.
That said, I really can't be that hard on them as they make my favorite martini in the city. Its called the VAMP and it has a port shot in there plus all kinds of other good stuff that make this an extremely smooth and mellowing drink that almost makes me forget how not cheap it is.
So all in all, i love the atmosphere and they really only get dinged a star because I'm not thrilled with the normal pricing... though i'm back here every year for 25 for 25.
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Generally, I like Brasa. Nice ambiance, very lounge-y with a hip vibe, sexy lines in their decor.... this is definitely a great happy hour spot to have one of their signature martinis and become human again after a long day at the office.
Food is excellent. Although, I swear the wafer thing that came with the bread plate tastes like a big fancy pringles chip! But of course, the original recipe for pringles had to come from somewhere...why not the Mediteranean. Go have a taste and tell me it doesn't taste like pringles.
Anyway, I digress. I had the Mizuna/Rocket Salad with Humboldt Fog goast cheese and grilled grapes. The grilled Octopus was divine. I also tried the Roast Pork, Pork Belly, and Beef Tenderloin from my dinner companion's plates. It's a good place to go with a small group and share plates so you can try everything. The only problem tonight was we didn't get to any desserts because we had eaten and drank way too much. Next time, I will save room.
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I don't think I've actually sat in the dining room since, say, the dot-com implosion, circa 2001, but I love dining on the small plates in the bar here instead. The bar menu is almost all simple stuff with good ingredients: things you could make at home but probably wouldn't.
Generally, order anything with the cabrales (blue goat) cheese or aioli. Salads. Smoky mashed potatoes. Also the mini-churros (Spanish doughnuts) with chocolate.
Nice cocktails, decent wine. Come here to celebrate or commiserate.
Service alternates between ingratiating and distracted, usually on the same visit. Bring some mints.
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After hearing about it for years, I finally went down to Brasa for dinner. Overall, I had a nice experience. The decor is fairly toned down and formal. We went on a tuesday night to avoid any sort of crowd and were seated right away. It was a tad bit too empty though but given the amount of time it took to receive our dishes, I'm glad the place wasn't busier. Service was good, not too much of any attitude.
The food and cocktails were great. I ordered the octopus appetizer (very impressive) and the roasted pig with chorizo and clams (since it seems to be the touted dish). The pork was nice and succulent and went well the the chorizo/clam broth. I tried my companions' dishes: moulard duck (oh damn was the duck good! The outside was nice & crisp and it was served very rare to the point where it resembled and tasted like beef, mmmmm) and the chevre potato gnocci with morels and asparagus (also yum). I tried the veranda martini and the brandy/orange/mint concoction did not disappoint. I wish I had room to try their desserts.... they sounded great.
So overall, I had a nice time but the ambience was a little lacking...
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I just finished a solid two paragraph four star review of the food at Brasa before I remembered how pissed off I am about the service (clearly an indication of early onset senility... or possibly it was the heavy drinking of their excellent cocktails).
I had only one request. I would much prefer a quiet table to conduct business. I'm easy going and really won't mind if you tell me you can't do that tonight. But don't assure me that it's not a problem over the phone and then seat me between the only two occupied tables in the entire restaurant, closest to the squads of demon spawn of the enlightened, non-interventionist parents so they could take their best shot at kicking my chair while singing the greatest hits of Raffi.
And that was after waiting for the hostess to appear from break time. And after having to hang up my own coat in the coat-closet. But before having to flag down the waitress for everything.
Did I mention they serve food here? Yeah, the roast pig was pretty good.
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So I really wanted to make my birthday amazing, and my friends know how much I love love love food and how I wanted to try something new.....
I had a party of about 15 people and it seemed to be going really well we we arrived..... the service was amazing.... so I can't really say much about that..... however the food was bland, and there wasn't anything that popped in my mouth.... I love love love paella but when I got it .. it really reminded me rice o roni..... and it really made me sad........ everyone else got the stews and fish....and all were bad.. we are quite the humorous group and they didn't want to complain.. but when I mentioned how I wish I had some cock sauce everyone laughed!!! I wish i enjoyed it like everyone else did on yelp, but I can't say I did..... why lord why!!!! and not only that our bill was close to a thousand dollars with drinks, appetizers, entrees, and they charged us for plating fees for our cake that we brought it... 3 dollars each plate!!! wtf!!!!! oh yeah.. they also added their own 18 % gratuity.... so I guess that made it easy.. we added a little bit more just because they did such an amazing job.. but hated the fact that food was crap...
Brasa, well here's the thing about brasa, so sometimes you have to hang up your own coat, sometimes you'll wait for 10 minutes to be seated at the front door. The staff are always somewhere else. You may be seated next to the loud obnoxious table of 4 when the restaurant is empty. Someone needs to train the floor manager and their staff.
The restaurant has great design, nice interior design and layout. the bar is separate from the main dining room, the raised party room is great too. That place can be packed with loud parties and you don't notice in the dining room. Someone smart thought about these things.
But then why are the booths are all wrong. The table is too high the both seats are not the most comfortable. Add this to dishes served in the 1 inch high bowls sometimes full of sauces and it's all wrong. This is simple stuff for a restaurant of this quality.
The food is good. This is your saving grace. Food is always more important.
The service once seated has been satisfactory.
Please hire some front of house people who know what they are doing.
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I went to Brasa to check out what I heard was there amazing happy hour. Of course I got there and had to wait because it's obviously not a secret. We ended up sitting at the bar, and ordered a ton of food, it just all looked so good, and wow half off!! :) I got some really good wine, hummus (so so good!!), this really good goat cheese pizza, and we got calamari. Everything was extremely good, this was probably my favorite happy hour so far, of course, I am all about the food, and less about the drink. If you like drinks this would not be the place for you because I am pretty sure that they did not have drink specials. But, for food check this place out.
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I was satisfied with my meal; it wasn't exceptional but it wasn't bad, either. However, I truly admire Tamara Murphy's (the owner and chef) willingness to expiriment with new combinations of flavors. The dishes you try here will be truly original. It doesn't always work, of course, and when it does the flavors will still disappoint many - but that's the inherent risk of creativity.
The environment itself is comfortable; stylish and modern without coming across as pretentious. The same might be said about the waitstaff, who was friendly and down to earth albeit a tad aloof.
The group I dined with seemed to consistently appreciate (and rave about) the starters and deserts more so than their main course. This was certainly true of my experience as well; my steak was properly prepared and enjoyable although not nearly as interesting or flavorful as the other courses. The desert was quite memorable; an exceptionally rich torte with cayan pepper.
I will definitely be back since the menu changes frequently. I look forward to trying new combinations of unexpected flavors, for better and for worse.
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It was a dark and stormy night, really, and I had run from the downtown library, caught a metro bus, jumped a few puddles and made it to Brasa with a minimal amount of hair frizzing.
Inside was warm and inviting, the server in the bar was excellent, the hostess was comically inept, and our server, eh, she was ok. Blah blah, right? How was the food?
My calamari was just ok, however it provided a lot of entertainment since it was served in it's own ink and I was able to make a squid ink smile by swooshing it around in my mouth. My friend had the pork belly appetizer and it would have been awesome if they called it bacon, but no, they called it pork belly so I couldn't eat it.
Next up - salads. SNORE......
The roast pig was tasty, too bad I didn't order it. I had a pile of ribs sitting in front of me that made me look like Fredrica Flintstone. My next sentence should contain "the meat fell off the bone" but it didn't, it stuck to the bone and cutting it off proved to be difficult since they served it in a bowl and didn't bother trimming off the gristle. Yuck.
I left it alone, ate some couscous and waited for dessert.
Dessert was amazing! Churros e Chocolate!!! Four freshly baked churros served with a cup of thick drinking chocolate. Some people dip the churros into the chocolate which is foolish - you need to cut up the churro to maximize surface volume, and then shove the whole thing in the chocolate. Mmmmm heavenly. The spicy chocolate wedge was good too...but didn't come with churros.
The next time I am jumping puddles downtown I will be sure to stop in to Brasa for a beer and churro dessert.
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LAMB BURGER!!!!!
also awesome James Bond style cocktails.
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The espressobean infused mixed drink was $8, but it was awfully tasty. So many mixed drinks with coffee are sickeningly sweet and make you feel like you just chugged cough medicine. This one was the perfect balance.
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It was good, but for some reason I'm not impressed. I tried about 7-8 different things and each one of them was pleasant. Actually, my favorite was a tapa