Em Chamas

I have dined at various brazilian steakhouses in different cities. Brazilian Steakhouses from the very popular Fogo De Chao chain to a lowly local restaurant in the Indiana countryside. We dined a week after the restaurant official opening. We got there around 6pm without a reservation. They told us the wait was an hour. So make sure you make a reservation before you go or you'll be waiting a very long time.
The people who came after us were told the wait would be one and a half hours. So after waiting a very long time (2 hrs) we finally sat for dinner. You have a choice of either the full buffet for $29.99 or the gourmet salad bar for $15.95. The salad bar was bad but limited. Hopefully in the future the salad bar would be expanded. It's really not worth it to just get the salad bar so please go with the full buffet. So the buffet works like this, gauchos walk around carrying large skewers of different meat. You have a small disc on your table that you flip to yellow when you want the gauchos to come by and offer you meat. When you get full or need a rest you flip it over to the otherside so you won't be bothered. The meat was very tasty and plentiful. You are also served with side dishes. This part of the meal was very disappointing to me. The side dishes are mashed potatoes, fried carmalized bananas and brazilian bread (small balls of bread). The side dishes didn't taste bad, but the amount they gave you was very very small. You get two small balls of bread and two small slices of banana. Ok I thought maybe the server gave us a half empty basket of bread. So I asked for more bread. She came back again with the basket and there again was just two small balls of bread. Sad. Fogo de Chao and Amor de Brazil would give you a basket of bread full of bread and they constantly came back to replenish your side dishes. You just don't get a slice of bananas, you get a whole banana. This was the most disappointing part of the meal. So that was our experience at Kansas City very first brazilian steakhouse. I don't think I'll be coming back until side dishes get improved.

I have dined at quite a few churrascarias around the world and i have dined at Em Chamas three times since opening in February. In their first few months of operating i would agree with the first two reviewers. However, they have made many great changes in expanding the offerings on their salad bar. I counted around thirty items and i believe when they opened they had only a dozen or so. These offerings are fresh and many are prepared salads not like Fogo de Chao or Texas de Brazil where they have many offerings but they are simply large plates of simple veggies that don't taste as fresh. THE MEATS AT EM CHAMAS ARE UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!! and for $34 where as all the other churrascarias of this level are charging $45 or more. Cooking over wood makes a huge difference in the taste of the meats where as most all the other places cook with gas. The service staff is well trained and the environment is very relaxing. In such a restaurant where there is so much happening they have done very well in creating a calm environment. I would highly recommend Em Chamas they are up there with the big chains and I think their meats and Chima (ft. Lauderdale) are far better than any other churrascaria i have been too. Now that i know they are locally owned and operated that makes it even better!

A few friends and I recently decided to try the new Brazilian restaurant in town--EM CHAMAS. We were pleasantly surprised with the atmosphere and the quality of the food, especially since it is a brand new, locally-owned restaurant!
I am relatively familiar with (and thoroughly enjoy!) the churrascaria concept, as I have eaten at others (Fogo de Chao, Chimas, Texas de Brazil) in the past. The all-you-can-eat meat menu--with salad, potatoes and other sides as complements--is unlike anything you will experience at a normal steakhouse. For just a little bit more pricewise, you can not only get the filet mignon, but also an array of cuts of beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, and pork. My preferred meats at Em Chamas were the beef ribs (a MUST TRY) and the flank steak; a companion loved the parmesean-coated pork and the bacon-wrapped turkey medallions. While my visit to the salad bar was not as impressive as some other churrascarias, I still found some great things to go with the meats. I especially liked the buffalo mozzarella/tomato combination and the Brazilian black beans. Also, the server brought out some hot cheese bread (you have to try this!!), yuca flour topping (a Brazilian tradition, but I don't really like it), fried bananas and excellent mashed potatoes. If you're looking for something good to drink, I suggest the caipirinha (a Brazilian rum and lime concoction), or, if you like something a little less potent, go for the vodka version that my server suggested. We didn't have any wine that night, but I recognized a few of the Argentineans as excellent choices--we'll be having those next time!
IN SUM: Em Chamas has not yet achieved the efficiency the churrascaria corporations, but it does offer some things that the others do not:
(1) A calm atmosphere. Unlike my experience at Fogo de Chao, I was actually able to hear what my dinner companions were saying while dining at Em Chamas.
(2) A relaxing experience. At other places, I felt like the dinner was pushed along too quickly. At Em Chamas, the server seemed more willing to let me enjoy the food and beverage, and wasn't concerned about bringing in the "next table".
(3) They don't try to fill you up on the salad and side items. While the bread, salad, potatoes, etc are good, they are not as distracting from the best part of the meal--THE MEATS! (Who wants to pay $30 for salad, anyway!?)

Give it a shot, Kansas City! It's about time a Brazilian steakhouse came to the area!