Raizes Churrascaria - Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Earlier this month, Will and I went to Raizes Churrascaria for our friend's 30th birthday. It was the first time I had Portuguese cuisine, so I was excited to try out the restaurant.

The restaurant is directly located across a funeral home which is a bit disappointing and sad to see. If you're not uncomfortable with a funeral home across the street, the restaurant can be quite cozy and comfortable. It's quite spacious and definitely a good spot to come for food  and drinks with family or friends.

I like that Raizes Churrascaria has an extensive menu of wine and beverages. I ordered this:

White Sangria

It was the perfect weather to have a White Sangria, plus I've never had one before. The White Sangria was actually very light, refreshing, and didn't have strong aromas like a red sangria does.

There was about 10-18 of us so it was a little difficult to share appetizers, but here's what we tried:

Appetizers

Our friend ordered three appetizers for us all to share: grilled oysters, shrimp mozambique, and cod fish croquettes. I only tried the cod fish croquettes which turned out to be mediocre, nothing too over the top. Will and I ordered the Pot O'Mussels with Port Wine Lobster Sauce which turned out to be mediocre as well. We've definitely had better mussels at other restaurants before.

Grilled NY Strip Steak

Will ordered the Grilled NY Strip Steak with a side of fries. He asked for the steak to be medium well, but it turned out to be medium rare which he wasn't too happy about it since he can't eat meat that's too red, but at least the fries were delicious!

Broiled Seafood Combo

I ordered the Broiled Seafood Combo with a side of sauteed kale. The broiled seafood combo included: stuffed clams, sea scallops, filet and shrimp. Everything was cooked just right. I tried to eat a sea scallop, but it was a failure as I just spat it back out. I've been afraid of eating scallops ever since having food poisoning back in December. I don't like the taste or the smell of it anymore. The sauteed kale was different, but I liked it. 

Overall, I thought the food was alright, but I feel there wasn't enough flavor. It was nice to eat in a different setting and part of Brooklyn compared to where we usually eat.  The space, decor, and ambiance was definitely nice and big. Will Will and I be back? The chances are 50/50 because when we saw there was a funeral home across the street, we were shaking our heads and the food was so so.

Just a note:

The restaurant opens their windows during warmer weather and it's a lot of traffic crossing by the restaurant, so there's a lot of outside noise.

As I've mentioned, it's also across from a funeral home so if your superstitious or don't feel comfortable eating across a funeral home - I would suggest going to another restaurant.