Critic's Review

You read a lot of reviews about Chima, most of which talk about the volume of food or the high prices. But there’s a lot more to Chima than just the Rodizio. Its really one of the nicest and most interesting restaurants in Fort Lauderdale.

There are a handful of metered parking spots, so if you get there very early you can park in the street. There’s a $2 charge for valet, which is about as much as you’d have to put into the meter. Of course you don’t have to tip the meter or wait for your car if its busy when you leave. I’m not a big fan of forced valets but when you have a big restaurant and 8 metered spots there isn’t much choice.

The entrance is quite charming; a large area with fountains and designer plastic chairs and flame bearing lamps. The restaurant is set in the rear, far enough from the street to leave the noise behind. There’s an outdoor area that only have a few tables and its really quite nice. You can sit and enjoy the evening air and watch the kitchen through a large window.

What’s missing from most of the reviews is that there is a very nice bar, and quite an extensive appetizer menu. So if you’re in town on business and you don’t want to get a table and eat a boatload of meat by yourself, you can come in and have a drink and get some food. At first glance, the wine menu seems a bit expensive. My choice here is $16. But they give you a bowl of mixed nuts, some cheese bread puffs and croquettes and some really delicious turkey spread. Its something you’d pay a few dollars for usually, and its pretty interesting and quite good. The app menu (we have it here) has grilled salmon and an 8oz filet mignon as choices; so its really just a regular style menu. Where else can you get an 8oz Filet for $14?

They have 4 TVs with nothing substantive on; soccer and surfing of course; pretty much what you’d expect at a Brazilian place.

In the dining room there’s a fixed price deal that includes an elaborate salad bar and virtually unlimited meats off of the barbeque. The salad bar has many items that might be appetizers elsewhere, like beef carpaccio. At the table you have the “more” chip, which tells the meat carriers whether you’re interested in more meat. They bring the meats out one by one, and if you want some they’ll carve some off onto your plate. They have several kinds of steak, sausage, fish, ribs, leg of lamb; it seems endless. There isn’t however, anything that will scare your date like rabbit or squirrel (as they used to have at the Greenfield Rodizios in NY).

The place is pretty expensive, $50 for the rodizio and salad bar, and with the expensive drinks figure $75 per person if you don’t drink too much. If you come here without a big appetite you’re really cheating yourself. This is one place where you want to have a very light lunch and then plan on chowing down. You’ll have no trouble getting your 40 ounces of protein here.

The place starts getting crowded around 7:30 and on weekends it can be a real rat-race. Go early or for happy hour during the week and you’ll have a much more relaxing experience.