Khoi D.

My wife and I have been coming here for years but this place has gone south. I purchased another groupon for 4 people two month ago. The groupon was for a 4 people dinner valid Sunday-Friday. I used those groupons many times for lunch in the past and called before to make sure it was ok eventhough it indicates dinner on the certificate. So yesterday, we had a reservation for lunch. My wife had family in town so we invited them to Samba. We got there right on time, at 11:45am. First bad sign, no one was at the front desk. We waited a few minutes and started saying "hello, anyone there?". The host finally showed up and without apologizing asked us "how many?". I said that we had a party of four. She then asked if we had a reservation. And said yes. She asked if everybody was there and I answered yes again (all 4 of us were standing right in front of her, no sure why she even asked). I then gave her the groupon, she looked at it and then took us to the table. For those who are not familiar with AYCE brazilian bbq, once you sat at the table, you usually wait until the waitress comes to the table to order the drinks before going straight to the salad bar. So we waited, then waited, still no waitress. Suddendly, the host comes back with the groupon and says out loud, "that groupon is for dinner only, we now have a newer groupon, you can use the old one but it will be an extra $12.99/person because we have our Sunday brunch and it comes with Mimosa, Champagne and Sangria is that ok?". I told her we never had a problem using it before and the last time I called, Sambda told me it was fine to use it for lunch on the weekend. What other choice did I have? Tell everybody "hey let's leave?" So I said fine. The waitress then finally showed up and asked us what we wanted to drink. I went for a Mimosa. Nobody else went for alcohol because they don't drink alcohol. My sister in law asked what kind of juice they had. The waitress named a few drinks but added in a somehow rude way "Those are not included. You will have to pay extra for those". My father in law later asked for a coffee. Took about 15 min and when he inquired about the coffee, the waitress replied "I said I will be back....". No you didn't. Now as far as the meat service. There were 2 guys serving the entire place! They split the place so we only had one guy serving us and this is on a Sunday at noon. The restaurant was not full, but busy. We could hear other tables complaining about how slow the meat service was. Within the first 45 min, the guy stopped by our table 4 times. We had garlic beef, pork sausages, fish and tri tip. 4 times within 45 min... The guy was very nice though but the management should have more people working. The service did get a bit quicker after the first 45 min. We would come to the table every 5 min but don't expect the good old days of Samba where you barely have time to finish one piece of meat that another guy is asking if you want another cut. During the meal, we asked if they had the chicken. It took about 25 min to come out. We asked for it 3 times and keep hearing "it will just be 5 min". When the bill came, the amount was over $80. So I basically paid $64 for the groupon and on top of that there is $13 x4, soft drinks, coffee + tax on (128 which is the value of the food we paid with the groupon + the extra 52 and drinks). I decided at that point to have a word with the K. the hostess. I told her that it was very unprofessional to come to the table and in front of my guests to discuss $ and tell us that if we wanted to stay it would be an extra $12.99/person. If she takes the groupon, accepts it, and take us to our table, she should not come back to the table and insult me by disussing prices in front of my guest (some people may disagree but I take that as an insult). I asked her what she would have done if she invited people out and after everybody got sit at the table, the management comes and change the price. That was just unprofessional. She just kept repeating in a rude way"I told you about it" and said that because she was busy, she didn't get a chance to look at the groupon. Sorry that should not be my problem if you didn't take a minute to look at the groupon. We enjoyed eating here for many years but that was our last time eating at Samba. Our friends, family and coworkers often asked us for restaurant recommendations. This place is definitely no longer on our list. There are better churrascarias in the south bay area with better service.