green forest churrascaria

good food but pricey. went here with three other people and although the price was on the high side (just shy of $200) for all of us together it was good food. the only problem with it is that if you like your meat well done or don't like any pink in the meat, this place isn't for you. although the cook altered somemeatsfor someone with us who likes their meat well done, most were medium-rare (with the exception of turkey, chicken and pork of course). over all, i would definitely go back again. the cold food buffet was really good and is actually sitting straight on ice, but we didn't try the hot buffet items.

excellent food. themeatsare prepared medium to medium rare in most instances which is perfect. good house sangria. good house desserts. good house seafood bar. the staff is very attentive and the beers are very reasonable priced. proven winner time and time again even if the decor isn't appealing to the younger crowds. the food speaks for itself. highly recommend the filet and mushroom sauce and fresh tuna. we come back every year and you can usually find a coupon in many publications. highly recommend and do not go to a chain for the love of all that is holy.

green means go!. the green forest brazilian restaurant is a great special occasion choice. it is an all you can eat style with a variety of fabulous food. i believe they have over 16 or 17 meat selections alone. they have disks marked green and red to alert your servers to stop or go with the meat offerings. they also have a hot and cold buffet, which is an expansive area in addition to themeatsserved table side. our gang referred to the service as "swords of meat".

the cold bar consists of many salads shrimp cocktail, oysters on the half shell, sushi and sashimi. the portabella salad was delicious as well as the grilled asparagus.

on the hot buffet they have lobster mashed potatoes and paella.
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for dessert we enjoyed the coconut flan and passion fruit mousse (when tried together was the perfect combination of sweet & tart) which were both good. there were many other options too. please be aware that desserts may not be included in your special, so please check. they also have a well stocked bar. if you have a big appetite especially for meat, this is the certainly the place to go.

check out their website for specials. i have also seen groupon specials from time to time too. on tuesdays and thursdays they have an early bird special from 4 - 6 pm: $37 instead of $42.50.

service was attentive and pleasant. also be aware that this restaurant is not visible from the main road (rodi rd), but it sits up in an office complex, conveniently located right off the parkway east, penn hills exit.

i reviewed this place a few years ago and.... ...i still love it. we went here for my birthday this evening and my wife, daughter and i had a wonderful time. excellent service, and themeatswere stellar. they even let me check out their rotisserie rig at the back of the restaurant and it is a stellar setup. swords ofmeatsslowly turning over hardwood coals under the constant eye of the chef. i asked how they got some of the different cuts (many of which you really cannot find in the us stores) and interestingly enough - they butcher all theirmeatsin house. the only other place that i know that butchers in-house is tessaro's. themeatsare well seasoned (salted) and have some interesting cuts, skirt, flank, picanha (they call it a tenderloin, but it is actually a top rump steak - phenominal), filet, ribeye, top sirloin, beef rib, roasted prime rib. yes, i tried them all. my favorite is skirt and picanha. they also have a very good turkey wrapped in bacon, chicken thighs, pork loins, whole salmon, house-made sausages that were excellent and a very nice duo of lamb leg and loin chops. there is also a nice array of sauces at the cold bar. cold appetizers were excellent. nice looking sushi (didn't have it - takes away from meat space), nicely prepared roasted/grilled/marinated vegetables, smoked salmon (twist my arm!) and a nice cheese/cured meat board. they did have some hot dishes on the buffet, but that would draw the focus away from the meat (focus man!), but they did have fejouada (sp?) - the national dish of brazil with black beans and pork, but that is a true gut bomb and although delicious and for many brazilians a true taste of home - it is like eating concrete... albeit delicious concrete. after eating most of noah's ark - my daugher still managed to have a craving for dessert. we ordered a chocolate mousse that was truly outstanding - incredibly rich and had that "we used really good chocolate" taste.

overall - it was excellent. was it cheap? no, but considering that i've paid well over $100 for the 3 of us to go to what turned out to be a marginal restaurant, paying $42 per adult an $16 for a child (plus drinks and a dessert) - it was not cheap, but it was a quality meal and a very nice experience and it was worth it in the end. i would have spent close to that on a dinner (apps, entree, dessert) at the grand concourse and eaten a crap meal amongst a bunch of bluehairs on a tourbus from ypsilanti, or worse yet, gone to a red lobster.

on a constructive criticism note - the place could use a little sprucing up in the decor. it hasn't been updated since i first came there years ago.

eat here. the food is great, different, and it is truly worth that extra couple of bucks. starve yourself for a couple of days and get your meat on. you will not be disappointed.


-----24 jun, 2009-----

all hail the meat! definitely an experience as the servers wield large swords of meat fulfilling your carnal desires. my favorite cut is the skirt steak - the cut often unavailable at the local giant eagle (unless you want to head to whole foods and pay way too much). it is a little on the pricey side but the quality of the meat is well-worth it. a day of fasting prior to visiting is a good idea - clean mind = tastier meat.

where's the beef??. the beef is here! so is the lamb, pork and chicken.

i like this place. it was delicious, plentiful and clean. i have no issues with this place whatsoever. although i would suggest that if meat isn't your favorite dish, you may want to consider some place else. and yes, the beef comes rare - but i overheard others asking for well done, and they prepared it for them. the pork, chicken, ribs, etc were cooked appropriately - but i love the rare beef.

i also liked the cold food selections, the seafood, mussels, clams, shrimp and salads galore. along with the never ending parade ofmeatsand the cold selections - they also have chaffing dishes with hot sides. they were tasty as well.

in my humble opinion it was all fresh, and the place was clean. and possibly, it's not as good as the churrascaria in texas or brazil, but this is penn hills after all, and most of us aren't heading south anyway.

i suggest waiting for the groupon, it essentially gives you a bogo.

carnivore heaven. my husband loves this place. loves it. i like it but i'm not a fan of rare meat (which is how many of themeatsare cooked). there are too many types of meat to sample them all and the cold bar has a nice variety. i think the overall experience is worth the expense.

amazing dining experience!. this isn't a restaurant, it's a food experience! my friends warned me ahead of time, and i am thankful. they said, "drink lots of water all day, but don't eat anything..." they were right. i have always been the carnivore's carnivore, but i must say, i have never eaten so many deliciousmeatsin one meal as i had at the green forest. i was ready for the meats. what i wasn't ready for was the vast array of other foods that were prepared and waiting on a monstrous ice bar and in hot chaffing dishes. bring your own beer or wine, and prepare for the food experience of a lifetime! when they ask you if you want dessert, just laugh and try to burp. (you'll probably be too full to do either!) amazingly enough, even after some of the best roastedmeatsi have ever tasted, my favorite part was the brown sugar-encrusted spit-roasted pineapple! wow. you might want to bring a dolly so somebody can wheel you out of there when you finally say uncle.

best meat restaurant in the pittsburgh area - period!. our first time there last night and we were blown away, totally authentic- themeatsare outstanding - forget morton's or ruths chris - this is even better, and more variety. the raw bar, and hot foods are also to die for - and the service - they are all over the guests like white on rice, and very helpful, friendly courteous, but never intrusive. and the owners are contsantly viligant -tending to every detail. a culinary delight in every way - we shall go back again.!!
only one complaint - they should be located downtown pittsburgh around market square - !! please!!!!!! thank you for a fantastic experience!

more red forest, though you'll need plenty of green when the bill comes. this isn't really a place to go for a quiet meal with friends or a loved one; it's where you go when you want to eat plenty of red meat. and you do get to eat plenty of red meat, and then pay for it. the quality and preparation ranges from reasonable to outstanding, the staff are friendly and pleasant.

i couldn't eat here more than once a year but i always enjoy it when i do go as much for the awesome variety as the quality of the food itself. one note of caution though; it's not for people who like theirmeatswell done.

meat meat meat. all of themeatsare overwhelming. it was all really good though. make sure you are hungry because it is pricey. i'd go again.

green forest. i ate here on new year's eve for the second new year's eve in a row. the decor of the restaurant is nice upon entering but is not nearly as nice in the seating area. regardless of that both the bar and buffet are impressive.

i started off by going up to the cold bar which had a wonderful selection of different foods. it contained everything from savorymeatsand fresh parmesan cheese to crab legs and even some sushi and sashimi. honestly, i could have been happy with just eating from the buffet the whole night but the best was yet to come. if you have ever been to a brazilian steakhouse before then you know the ridiculous selection ofmeatsthat they have. everything that they brought out seemed to be cooked perfectly with my favorites being the skirt steak and the parmesan encrusted filet. the meat servers were also very much on the ball and newmeatswere arriving at the table almost every minute that i had my card turned to green. overall it was probably the best experience i have had here and i have never had one that was not pleasurable.

the bottom line is that this is the only brazilian steakhouse in pittsburgh which is ok because it is a good one and i will definitely be back in the future. don't expect to get off cheap when eating here but it is still well worth the price for all of the wonderful cuts of meat that they have.

good for pittsburgh. overall, the food was pretty good. i was very impressed witht the seafood/salad bar (crab legs, shrimp, oysters, mussels, cheeses/meats, olives, mushrooms), as well as some pre-made hot sides (rice, brazilian potato dish). however, that was probably the highlight. while themeatswere good, the selection on my particular night was somewhat limited (out of the 18+ varieties they offered, we probably only had a choice of 10 of them on this night). that's certainly a lot of choices, but when you pass on a couple of chicken/turkey options, your choices are ~7 now. the service was excellent, however, and they came by fast and often. overall, it was a fun experience, but for $40/person (pre-tax and tip), i'd rather have gone to a nicer steakhouse, paid a little more and ordered the surf and turf. glad i went to experience it here in pittsburgh, but likely won't go again as i don't want to drive all the way to the penn hills for steak.

endless meats. my first time at this type of brazilian restaurant, but i am sure that it will not be my last. as previous posts indicate, it will really cater to meat lovers, and those with large appetites. as many have stated, it is rather pricey, but really not bad if you eat a lot, and especially for the quality of food. desserts and drinks are not included, but it is byob. many different beef, some sausage, chicken and a few lamb. the lamb was excellent, and the parmesian beef (tenderloin, i think) was suprising tasty and tender. their salad bar is underrated, i think, as most come for the meat. it has nice olives (including red olives), seafood salads, some tuna and salmon sashimi, curedmeats(i think decent prosciutto, salami, and sopressata) among others. the black beans were also good - very smoky flavor. i have now been here twice, and my second visit was better than the first. themeatswere all cooked medium rare (with some a little more on the rare side), while at my first visit a few were well done. the parmesan steak was wonderful both times - the parmesan flavor really comes through, much more than one would think. the flank steak was very tender, and the filet had a great crust on it. my piece was half crust, and it was awesome. the leg of lamb had quite a gamey flavor/grass fed flavor - which i love. the lamb chop was also great.

meat lovers delight!. i've never been to a place like this before. a brazillian bbq. there is a buffet style appetizer bar and salad bar. my advice: don't fill up on this, you'll need the space later.

you have this little wood spool that looks like it was filled with thread at one time. one side is red and the other green. when you turn the green side up, people start to come to your table with a variety ofmeatson spits. about 20 of them! - beef ribs - short ribs - chicken - flank steak - lamb -tenderloin w/garlic - pork loin - pork ribs - prime rib - rib eye steak - sausage - skirt steak - top sirloin - turkey - filet with bacon - lamb chops.

each one of them was excellent. they don't have alcohol but you can byob. expect a corking fee. i would also recommend the lemon sorbet for dessert. light but very flavorful. the light part is important after all that meat.

remember - pace yourself and take small samples. there's plenty of food and plenty of time.

the golden corral of churrascarias. if you've ever been to a churrascaria in a larger major city, this place will blow your mind. to say that it doesn't meet expectations is a real understatement. the cold buffet items and most of the hot are unmarked so you don't know what you are getting. themeatsare good but the atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired. one of my tablemates had sugar cube tongs as his tongs for the meat, lol. the restrooms are smelly too.