Carne-Vale

Carne-Vale
46 Ave B
(btw E. 3rd and E. 4th St)
New York, NY
(212) 777-4686

If you’re looking for a cheap Brazilian bbq/steakhouse that also serves good quality meat and Brazilian chicas dancing, I seriously recommend Carne-Vale. Located in the East Village, Alphabet City, it is surrounded by a lot of great bars, restaurants, clubs, hookah-bars, etc. I remember a time when this neighborhood was rural and dangerous due to lack of people [with money], and money haha. But now it certainly has flourished due to a handful of innovative entrepreneurs who had high hopes. Thank goodness.

This is my first time going to a Brazilian steakhouse, or churrascaria which is Portuguese I believe, and my group and I did not want to spend too much money. I chose this place because there were rave reviews about this place, and that the price was right. Most Brazilian steakhouses, like Churrascaria Platforma in midtown, starts off at least $75+ per person and the atmosphere is really uptight/high scale, which I wasn’t ready to have. Plus they didn’t have exotic dancers, so that threw me off. Hey, you get what you get for your money’s worth, and I’m definitely sure that they have more varieties of food to feed you with until you blow up like a gigantic whale. But if you’re looking for a casual, upbeat, trendy place to have all the meat you can eat, starting at $35 per person, Carne-Vale is the place.

Upon entering the restaurant, I realized how incredible dark it was. Everything was lit up with candles, which is cute and romantic-ish, but I wished they would ate least have fluorescent lights around. Oh well, I can’t complain, but that was the one thing that I noticed. We made reservations a day in advance, which is highly recommended because this place can get quite pack after 7pm. Moving on, the restaurant looks very casual and relaxing which I like.

Very cozy. This is the very front of the restaurant. This place isn’t very big, but it’s certainly cozy and relaxing.

After our group of 7 got together, we were served with this:

This is my first time seeing this, but it’s essentially bread with cheese inside. Cheese-bread? It would taste a heck lot better if it was warm, but I guess it’s been out for a while. This comes for free, so don’t worry about it. Everything, except for drinks, come with the whole $35 pre-fixe package.

At this time the waiter asked us what we wanted to drink, and we chose a cocktail, the name just slips my mind right now, and flat water. The waiter seemed pretty new to his job because the cocktail we ordered, I believe it was the alegrea, was completely unknown to him. He had to double check with the guys at the bar in front even though it clearly says it on the menu. But yeah, you might experience that for yourself too, so be nice. Flat water is $7 per bottle. Next time don’t even bother ordering this because it tastes like regular tap water. I don’t know why on earth I said flat, where I could have sworn I said tap. He told us that the cards next to us are used to signal more meat and no more meat – one side green the other red. I thought that was interesting because I’ve never encountered anything like this. Ha, anyways, before the meats, we were encouraged to go to the salad bar.

Now I didn’t take a picture of the salad bar because I was famished. But be prepared because it’s not a huge salad bar, but there’s a good variety of food. There were 3 different types lettuces – romaine, spinach, iceberg, few dressings, tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflowers, pasta, various cheeses, and some meats like salami and raw meat. This is what I started off. But you get the idea.

Later on the helpful waiter came by and served us a plate of soft fried bananas. It’s not quite a plantain, but it’s fried up. It’s very sweet and loaded with bananas, so eat this wisely if you have a small stomach because otherwise, you’ll be really full.

The point of this restaurant is all you can eat meat! So hold off the salads when the meat come. And when the meat comes, it’ll be coming so fast that you can’t even keep up! I have a small stomach, so I was already half full from the salad and the fried banana. Plus later on, there will be 4 little trays worth of rice, mash potatoes, beans, and something else that the waiter didn’t explain well. Maybe you can tell me what this is. It taste as dry as you see here, but it tastes fried. Any ideas?

But anyways, yeah these guys came nonstop with meat loaded in their arms. Oh my god. Let me tell you a list of things they serve: prime ribs, short ribs, beef ribs, ribe-eye steak, filet mignon, skirt steak, sirloin, flank steak lamb chops, leg of lamb, chicken, turkey, and Brazilian beef sausage. Don’t worry, they will repeat and you can have more of the same meats. Trust me, it sounds like a small variety of meats, but it’s quite a lot. Can you handle it?

This man is serving delicious, juicy, tender chicken. Sometimes you might have to use your tongs to grab meat off from the guy slicing meat at you.

Oh man, it was incredible, but I just could not keep up and I only had this: Filet mignon wrapped with bacon, steak, and chicken.  I think I had more, probably the sausage as well but I was so full afterwards.  The meats are overall delicious! Most were moist and loaded with flavor, and the others like some steaks that were kinda dry and lacking in flavor, but it’s alright.  Remember to eat it while it’s hot.  Don’t load up your plate with me — the guys will ALWAYS come around.

Around 8 o clock, the music grew louder with festive Brazilian music, and our lady of the night came out!

  Yes, she is a dancer, but she is not a belly dancer, as I was supposed to expect because of the reviews I’ve read.  She’s a very fun girl and she encourages people to dance.  My friends here were too shy, but in the end one of us got up and mingle with her.  She is the sweetest girl, and tried to teach us a few extra moves.

Nearing towards the end of the night we were down to dessert.  Yes, you may have read reviews saying that the dessert sucks here, but don’t judge yet until I’ve showed you the pictures.   The choices for dessert was, chocolate cake, tiramisu, and fruit yogurt.

  This is by far the best of out of the 3 dessert.  The waiter tells me that this is a new dessert, so of course I had to try it.  There were 3 layers – strawberry, mango, and kiwi.  My goodness, it was such a delicious treat.  It was very sweet and soft, especially the berries themselves.  I would highly recommend this.  The tiramisu was bitter and too loaded with chocolate liquer, and the chocolate cake was too dried.

One of my friend’s told the waiter that it was my friend Lori’s birthday, and so the waiter said he will set something up.  A few moments later,  loud festive birthday music in Portuguese came on and a bunch of waiters came out with a slice of chocolate cake with a candle that shimmered in the middle of the cake, which I thought was really thoughtful.  Everyone in the restaurant can’t help but to turned their heads to see who the birthday girl was.  It was very sweet of them.

Of course then everyone else started doing the same thing, which I can understand why they did it.  But it was very nice.  The only thing that I didn’t like at the restaurant was the bathroom.  The bathroom is in the back of the restaurant and there are only two stalls and is guarded by one man who works there.  The sinks and towels are not part of the stalls, but rather it’s outside, next to the guard.  When I came out of the bathroom, the guy opened water for me, squirt soap for me, gave me towels to dry my hand, and even lotion to moisten my hand.  My goodness, it’s such a nice gesture, but I felt guilty not tipping him because I wasn’t expecting that.  After my second run, I finally grabbed a dollar and gave it to him.  Whew.   I hate feeling guilty.  I really do.  Haha.

Overall, it was a good experience at Carne-Vale and I would recommend you to come especially if you’re like me and never had brazillian bbq before.  This is a place for meat eaters really, but they also try to accommodate to the vegetarians as well.

Before you leave, the waiter will ask you to tip him in cash, which I guess is understandable.  I prepared for this because I read a review that said the very same thing.  But yeah, be sure to calculate your bill correctly. We were in a party 6 or more and they said that gratuity was included, but it didn’t seem to be, but we weren’t sure.  Always double check.

I would post up the health inspection results but there isn’t any.  I think it’s probably because it’s a new restaurant.