Takeout Tuesday: Grill Hall Churrascaria
Brazil is roughly 4,600 miles away from Minnesota, but for anyone seeking the experience of a traditional Brazilian steakhouse, look no further than Maple Grove.
“We serve table-side steak, chicken, pork and lamb,” said Nathan Uherka, manager of Grill Hall. “We have meat servers called gaucho chefs and they serve table-side. We cut little by little at the table so you can try multiple, or varieties of meat.”
That’s essentially the concept of Grill Hall, a restaurant that opened in a strip mall off Highway 169 and 63rd Avenue in August of 2019.
And for $49.95, customers have access to more than a dozen meats (cooked to the temperature of their choice), a massive salad bar and a variety of other sides.
“It’s high quality meat that’s coming out,” said Carol Castle, a customer from Coon Rapids. “There’s two other Brazilian steakhouses that I’m aware of. I think this is better quality. It’s cooked fresh. It’s top notch.”
This top-notch restaurant is something that owner Marcio Morais wanted to bring to the area from his native Brazil.
Some of the meat being cooked at Grill Hall in Maple Grove.
“Ever since I came here, I’ve noticed that most of the Brazilian steakhouses focus on the capitols and the big cities,” Morais said. “And I decided to bring this to the suburbs.”
Maple Grove is just the start, and he says more are on the way.
“For them to have the opportunity, to feel the experience, the southern Brazilian experience of all you can eat steak,” Morais said.
Started off slow
But even with the quality meat selection, managers say when the restaurant first opened, things got off to a slow start.
“Just because our location’s pretty odd for what we’re doing here, but a shout out to all of our regulars who have kept us in business here,” Uherka said. “We really thank them. We would not be around without them. Especially with the COVID shutdown. We shut down for three months, you know.”
Weathering the COVID storm is something every restaurant deals with, as they grapple with limited capacity and reluctance of people to eat indoors. Luckily, Grill Hall has a takeout option as well.
“You get to choose between steak, chicken, pork and lamb,” Uherka said. “We do two pounds. So you can do a half pound of each, or you can do all steak, all chicken, whatever you want to do.”
In addition to the meat, customers can make their own salad to take home for $39.95.
So whether you’re doing takeout, or the full-blown dining experience, the advice is to come with an empty stomach.
“Yes, come here hungry because it’s a lot of food,” Morais said. “It’s going to be worth every penny.”
