Comments on: Picanha, Philadelphia’s Other Brazilian Steakhouse

By: Allie Serrat

Allie Serrat — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:48:19 +0000

By far the BEST BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE in Philly (well, outside of Philly, in Horsham, Pa) is naBrasa Brazilian Steakhouse. I have been there 3 times now. The first with my husband for Valentine’s Day and it was LOVELY! The meats were tender, their salad bar selections were super fresh and our waiter very sweet (I had a cold that day and he offered tea right away!)The second visit was for my company’s holiday party in one of their private rooms. The room was very quaint and the food was just as yummy as I first remembered it. And I just went there again last Sunday for brunch, (which was not my preference but we couldn’t get in for dinner so we took the next best thing). It was the first time I had their brunch and I gotta say I was reluctant at first- being that it’s a steakhouse and all..but no, it was really very good. Their Grilled Pineapple in cinnamon was my husband’s favorite!

By: Snake

Snake — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:15:53 +0000

My opinion on Picana…you get what you pay for. It’s defintiely authentic, run and patronized by Brazilians. Neither the food nor the service is as good as Fogo, but it’s about 1/2 the price of Fogo as well.

By: Planters

Planters — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:34:42 +0000

Picanha is the most HORRIBLE BRAZILIAN STEAK HOUSE! The food is very limited to variety and quality is very poor. Service was horrible and waited about half an hour for a glass of water to be refilled. Management service was dispicably rude! and trying to use gift cards for there were catchy. i had a 50$ gift card but was told i had to spend 100$ or more to be acomadated. Meat was overly well done. almost like shoe leather! chicken was average.,But they do not have what they say is even close to what the menu offers. I would not recomend this place to my dog.

By: Jan KLincewicz

Jan KLincewicz — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:37:25 +0000

Well, it’s over a year later, Picanha has new management, and I’m afraid I have some disappointing news to add.

Though fundamentally, nothing much has changed, I was less than pleased with the service on a Saturday eve at 7:00PM. With two adults and two teenagers at the table, I got the distinct impression that Picanha was being skimpy with the offerings. We sat for long periods with empty plates. They brought around chicken wings and sausages with 3X the frequency of beef cuts. We never saw fish, lamb or pork as advertised on the menu (despite near two hours at the table.)

Despite waving frantically at the server who had some skewers of rare Picanha a few feet away, I had to flag down the hostess to chase him, and he came back with well-done hunks. I suspect they are told not to server rare beef, probably becasue the fire-seared crust makes everything appear tastier.

At $21, this is less of a deal than it used to be. I wouldn’t have minded so much for the $15.00 lunch, but with a price creeping toward Fogo, they will need to do better to make the value a real bargain.

By: Jan Klincewicz

Jan Klincewicz — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:58:04 +0000

I’ve eaten at Fogo in Houston numerous times, and in Philly a few. There is no question, the lack of wood brings the Philly version down a few notches.

I just went to Picanha last week, and had a blast. Though there is less variety than Fogo (and TONS less pretension)it is a damn nice way to blow 15 bucks on a lunch.

Delicious home style food. The meat is a little salty, and a bit more well-done than the average slice at Fogo, but you can request your way around it once you get to know the servers.

Both have their places …..