Copacabana Toronto Downtown is located at 230 Adelaide Street West, just west of University Ave. and a short walk from Osgoode subway station so is very transit-accessible. I received a gift certificate for my birthday so Mishy and I could enjoy dinner here. We've been to and reviewed two locations before (the Eglinton and Vaughan locations), so I was looking forward to this one.
AYCD pop is available for $4; we went on a Saturday night which is probably the most expensive time, and was priced at $60 each which includes the rodizio and buffet. (Surprisingly, just the buffet is $52 whereas without the most expensive component of the grilled meats I would have expected roughly $30 or so.) It had a very nice interior and although my brother liked it the best of all of the Copacabanas, I didn't like the fact that it is on two floors forcing you to walk up and down stairs far from the buffet. This was also expected if you wanted to check out the entertainment, you would have to change floors for that as well. Not the most ideal setting as far as we thought.
Some of the buffet items were pretty good but would not remotely be worth the cost of $52 had we not also had the rodizio. The pickles were not bad but pretty much like jarred ones and not kosher. The chicken and beef lasagna was excellent, tasting like homemade or like very good a la carte. Feijoada was also very good -- better than the other Copa I was at. The Brazilian vinaigrette was delicious, very fresh and with a light flavor that I enjoyed. Chimichurri was delicious with plenty of cilantro, and although piquant was not too hot, but rather it was enjoyable. We were already 15 minutes into our meal and finally one of the first "Gauchos" started arriving with meat on skewers. The shrimp was excellent and buttery, with plenty of savour. Unfortunately the first piece of sirloin steak Mishy thought was gristly; we both agreed it was too salty and neither one of us enjoyed it. The flank steak was much better, as it was both more savoury and less salty. Chimichurri steak was delicious with just enough flavour and seasoned with cilantro. We both agreed the Parmesan steak was absolutely the best so far, but as would be expected, the bacon-wrapped filet mignons stole the show with explosive beef flavour.
Lamb was all right, but I am not big on this meat as it has a gamey flavor and I don't like eating baby animals. The waitress brought around some cheese bread which was filled with cheese and not just flavoured with it. The cheese steak was also equally delicious, though we both liked the Parmesan steak better. Grilled pineapple was of course fantastic with plenty of cinnamon. Mishy did not like the grilled chicken at all saying that it tasted like it had gone off, I was pretty sure it was the flavor of the marinade and I didn't mind it at all for the first couple of bites, but then I started agreeing and it became very difficult to finish. Thankfully, we both loved the spinach and cheese Greek pie. I liked it a lot too especially with tzatziki. Albacore tuna salad was quite good although a little bit sweet but with plenty of flavor and I like the fact that it advertises it is made with albacore rather than skipjack tuna. We were both very impressed with the ribeye steak, which was bursting with flavor and very savory and spiced well.For dessert we had the fried banana which we both liked, preferring it to the fried banana at Japanese restaurants. Overall Mishy was underwhelmed as she felt it was quite overpriced. I enjoyed it but there were definitely shortcomings... at the very least salt is such a basic and noticeable seasoning that there is no excuse for dumping that much on prime meat and ruining it. The chicken may have been bad, either that or hung too long. And I didn't like having to go up and down a flight of stairs for the buffet either. The buffet-only price is obscene, and even with the rodizio $60 is excessive by about $10 considering the shortcomings (which doesn't even include pop) considering Touro can charge half that on Sunday brunch and still stay solvent. Definitely won't be returning at this price to this location; we both preferred the Eglinton and Woodbridge Copacabanas.
Rating: 6.5-7/10
