Tropeiro Review – Nottingham – Quantity over quality?

The rise of the all you can eat restaurant has been noticeable over the last number of years. In Nottingham there are a handful of Chinese examples, carverys, as well as “World” buffets allowing diners to consume sushi alongside pizza and curry, a scary prospect. A more recent addition to this culinary portfolio of sorts has been Tropeiro. Tropeiro is a Brazilian meat restaurant which now has 6 UK locations, for reasons unbeknownst to me there are two in Nottingham. There is one on King Street on the site of the old Hard Rock Café (more recently Vienna) and a Lace Market offering. Two in such relatively close proximity is a surprising decision and in my experience the Lace Market location is often at low occupancy.

I have dined at both sites, they are well kitted out with various South American effects. The Tropeiro model is to offer various meats cooked on skewers which come in waves and are carved at tableside. The all you can eat costs £21.95 of an evening with a lunch option at £9.95. There is also a salad bar included in the price, another favourite of the buffet restaurant. Its best item is a pork stew with black beans presenting a profound flavour, salt from the pork, subtle earthyness from the beans. Other options include spiced potatoes, fish & vegetable stews and rice. These are mostly adequate but that’s not really what anyone is here for, on to the main event, meat.

The choice is of 10 meats and ranges from cuts of beef, lamb, pork as well as sausages and chicken. As a friend of mine commented – “it is a good place to eat if you have an iron deficiency”. Quite. Chicken marinated in a spicy chilli sauce arrives moist with good flavour. Pork belly is its usual pleasingly fatty and salty self and a gammon joint is well cooked. Unfortunately this is about as good as it gets. Sausages are of average quality lacking that meaty punch you might expect. The beef options come as the biggest disappointment, an impressive combination of over seasoning and, frankly, poor quality meat. One addition to the array which will divide opinion is chicken hearts. I admire offal on any menu and like the promotion of eating as much of the animal as we can. The heart’s, are comparable to liver in terms of taste and texture, but novelty aside failed to overly impress.

With any all you can eat restaurant you will almost certainly go home full, and this is no exception. Sadly, I was full, but not satisfied. The lunch menu is good value and if you want to see what this restaurant/experience is all about then the is the way to do it. The cost of an evening meal seems, to me, poor value for money. £22 is by no means cheap despite the amount of food you are able to consume. By comparison, close by you can get much better quality steak from Soulville or The Larder on Goosegate. I would choose either every time.

Overall rating – 4/10

Food – 4

Value – 5 (7 at lunch)

Service – 5

Website: http://tropeiro.co.uk/welcome-to-tropeiro-nottingham-king-street

Opening times: Monday – Friday:  12:00 – 15:00 / 17:00 – 22:00  Saturday & Sunday:  12:00 – 22:00

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