Rodízio (pronounced [ʁoˈdʒiziu] in Brazil) is an all-you-can-eat style of restaurant service in Brazilian restaurants. In most areas of the world outside of Brazil, a rodízio restaurant refers to a Brazilian style steakhouse restaurant. Customers pay a fixed price (preço fixo), and waiters bring samples of food to each customer at several times throughout the meal, until the customers signal that they have had enough.
In churrascarias or the traditional Brazilian-style steakhouse restaurants, servers come to the table with knives and a skewer, on which are speared various kinds of quality cuts of meat, most commonly local cuts of beef, pork, chicken and sometimes exotic meats. Less popular are other rodízio style restaurants in Brazil, such as ones serving pasta or pizza in which various pizzas and pastas are brought on trays. Rodízio-style sushi restaurants are also common in Brazil.
Most rodízio courses are served right off the cooking spit and are sliced or plated right at the table. Sometimes, they are accompanied with fried potatoes, fried bananas, collard greens, black beans, and rice (served buffet style).
In many restaurants, the diner is provided with a colored card. Green, on one side, indicates to servers to bring more meat. Red, on the other side, indicates the opposite.
Fare
The following foods are often served at a churrascaria: