Espetus Churrascaria is a Brazilian steakhouse serving Rodizio style food. They focus on meats straight from the fire brought to your table continuously. You can stop the meat parade by flipping the table card to red. They have a salad and hot plate bar with lots of different options including asparagus, bean salad, eggplant, rice, beans, cod, and much more. Do not eat too much of this stuff otherwise you wonder have room for all the meat.
They have locations in San Francisco and San Mateo. We tried the brand new San Mateo location for dinner. It is all you can eat, with lunch going for $24.95 with 7 meat options. Dinner is $49.95 with 14 meat options. Kids are 50% off.

Interior

Bar Area

Kitchen

Salad Bar

Decor, Vibe - Brand new interior with high ceilings, beautiful lights, and modern touches. Stylish bar and lounge area with separate menu. Families, couples, and lots of people in their 30’s and 40’s were dining when we were..

Menu Pictures

Wine List

Cocktail menu

Dessert Menu

After Dinner Drinks

Brochure

Food Pictures

The cheese bread, fried plantains, and fried polenta were very good.

You are served 14 different items from the skewer; Pineapple, Shrimp, Sirlon, Lamb, Lamb chops, Sirloin with parmesan, Cubed Marinated Sirloin, Filet Mignon, Pork loin, Flank steak, Bacon wrapped chicken, chicken breast, and Ribs on a cart (You can ask for a rib). Many were cooked to medium - medium well.

The best items were:

Pineapple - lightly roasted, still juicy and a nice contrast to the meat.

Chicken Hearts - Tender and flavorful. Many tables avoided it and missed out!

Lamb - Slightly Gamey but tender and tasty.

Sirloin - Very Juicy and good flavor.

Filet Mignon - Very tender meat.

Caipirinha ($10) was a very good, well balanced drink with lots of fresh lime flavor. Not much punch though.

Mixed Berry Panna Cotta ($8.95) was a huge portion and tasted average. Not very delicate or smooth. Yes we were pretty full but someone has to test dessert.

Other Average Meat

Ask for the Rib

The service was above average then faded a little as the place got busy. Espetus Churrascaria is a fun place to dine at. It is one of those places that people need to visit at least once to try out the experience.
You will stuff yourself with lots of decent salad bar options as well as endless stream of meat. The quality of some meats was not high. As far coming back, that is a different story as prices are pretty high and I’ll remember a meat coma for a while. Vegetarians should avoid this place! Save money by coming for lunch.

Also at:
1686 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-552-8792
Online Reservations

Epic Roasthouse is a steak house located strategically on the San Francisco waterfront. It has extra ordinary views and is next door to the seafood restaurant Water Bar. They are both part of the vast Kuleto Restaurant empire. They dry age their steaks for 28 days.
Decor, Vibe - Pat Kuleto is a master restaurant designer and has created Boulevard, Jardinere and many other restaurants. This place has an old school clubby atmosphere with a seawater pump house theme and an upstairs bar area. Well dressed businessmen and others in their 40’s - 60’s were dining.

Menu Pictures

http://www.epicroasthousesf.com/food.php

Picks:

Large Platter of Oysters ($2.50 each) - We had a variety of oysters, all were fresh and came with several dipping sauces and some flat bread.

Wood Oven Roasted Rib Eye for Two 32 oz ($42/person = $84) with Horseradish and Black Pepper Crème Fraîche was super expensive but the best dish of the night. It was huge, tender and juicy, so come hungry

Fried Onion Rings ($9) with Anchovy Tomato Ketchup. How could someone screw up an onion ring?

Epic Mac and Cheese ($9) with Orecchiette Pasta was very good. Real cheese, good pasta, and not just for kids.

Warm Scharffenberger Chocolate Soufflé ($10) with Caramel Sea Salt Ice Cream was a classic dessert. Takes a while, but well worth the wait. Salty Ice cream takes getting used to, but ultimately works.

Apple Puff Tart ($10) with Ice Cream looked great and tasted very sweet. A good balanced mixture of tastes.

OK:

Platter of House Cured Meats ($25 small) had several different types of meats. All were of good quality. It seemed out of place at a steakhouse though.

Grilled Broccolini ($9) with Chili Flake was average.

Steak Fries ($9) were of average quality, but very big. Gotta have some starch.

Pans:

The EPIC Prime Rib ($33) offered nightly until 8pm. JB Cut, 10 ounces was disappointing. It even looks bad. Not very warm and too chewy. Expected a lot more for $33. House of Prime Rib and Harris’ is a lot better that this. Should have sent it back.

Epic Roasthouse service was above average but could have been more attentive for such an expensive place. They have a 4% service surcharge for health care. The food is very good, but we feel the red meat at Harris’ is even better. Obviously prices are inflated by the expensive architecture and the views. Wine starts at $9 a glass with corkage a high $25.

A cheaper option would be to come for lunch or hit the bar for a burger or drinks and dessert.

Town is a steakhouse serving American comfort food in downtown San Carlos. It opened in 2006 and has gotten positive press, so we figured we would see how it stacks up.

Decor, Vibe - Modern, good looking interior, Sidewalk seating, big oval bar area, counter seating by the kitchen. Couple families, lots of local couples in their 40’s, 50’s out on the town.

Menu Pictures

Website Menu

Dessert Menu

Kid’s Menu

Picks:

Prime Rib ($32.95) 16oz cut rubbed with garlic & spices, slowly spit fire roasted, served with creamy horseradish sauce and au jus. It came with 2 sides, Asparagus and baked potato. It was tender and very good even with very little au jus.

Kids BBQ Baby Back Ribs ($8.95) with mashed potatoes had good tasting BBQ sauce. Decent sized ribs made it a great value.

Kids Sundae ($1.50) was a cool make your own one. Kids will want to drag you back for only this reason.

OK:

Rasberry Mojito ($7.50) with cruzan st. croix raspberry infused rum, lime juice, fresh muddled mint, cane sugar, splash of sparkling soda tasted fine but had way too much ice.

Bone-in ribeye steak ($36) 18 oz of black angus steak, salt and pepper crusted and seared at 1400 degrees with a red wine demi glace. It came with baked potato and a huge portion of sauteed brussel sprouts. It was huge but quality was average and it was not too tender or flavorful. Nice bone-in cut.

Kids Mac and Cheese ($4.95) was good enough to satisfy kids.

Pans:
None

Town serves up high end food in the suburbs with San Francisco prices. At these prices, I would not hesitate driving up to Harris’ in San Francisco instead. The value proposition here is not good.
If I lived nearby and wanted to enjoy their atmosphere, I would order cheaper items like the Chicken Enchiladas or Skirt Steak. They have a kids menu.