Circus

Wandered in while waiting for our room to be ready. Cute place with great food and friendly service. At the waiter's recommendation my husband had the camaroa na moranga, which he really enjoyed, and I had the coconut shrimp which was light and delish.

I order from Circus for our corporate lunch occasionally. I have never actually set foot in the restauarant, though I have tried many things on the menu and have worked with the staff many times. The food is always yummy, and everyone in the office seems pretty pleased with it. I will say that they make the best slider I've ever had. So delicious. The service is also incredible. I've worked with so many restaurants in the neighborhood when coordinating office lunches, and Circus is one of the easiest to deal with. They're also very nice and accomodating. The deliveries are always prompt, which is unfortunately pretty rare. I will continue ordering from them.

This restaurant has a lovely airy and whimsical atmosphere. Unfortunately, the atmosphere is a facade to the overpriced, below-average food. I ordered one of their specialties, the Feijoada. For $26, I thought that the black bean stew would be quite flavorful with braised meats and sausage served with rice, collard greens and farofa. The stew reminded me of something one could order from a street vendor, a street vendor who would charge a fraction for this peasant dish, and blow away Circus' version of Brazil's national dish. The braised meat in the stew was dry, overcooked, and unseasoned. The stew itself was unseasoned, and the sausage was a step below Jimmy Dean's frozen varietals. The stew was served in a pot alongside a rectangular plate that had me scratching my head. Three orange supremes were pointlessly added in the center, and just to the left was not collared greens, but some sort of an inedible chiffonade of greens. At 12 o'clock was the forofa, i guess, which was a molded heap of garlic flavored bread crumbs, which I can say is the most pathetic accompaniment to any dish I've ever had. On the right side of the plate was the rice, which was under seasoned at best. Everything on the rectangular plate was superfluous. The national pride and joy of Brazil, Feijoada, was an overpriced, borderline nasty take on Rio de Janeiro barrio food. Save yourself the money and order tacos from a street vendor.

Circus has good nouveaux Brazilian food, meaning there is very little on your plate, but what there is has been most artfully arranged. The absence of any sound-absorbing materials in the room makes the place quite noisy, especially if you're sitting near the bar, which is popular with gray-haired, fur-wearing matriarchs from the neighborhood. I'm sorry, but at these prices I would like to return home after a meal and not feel compelled to raid the fridge to sate my hunger. If you're an x-ray on a diet -- as many of the regulars here seem to be -- this won't be a problem for you. Those of us who yearn for a tasty AND sumptuous repast, however, are well advised to take our appetites elsewhere.

We had a surprise 60th birthday party for my husband at Circus and it was wonderful. The table was set beautifully and my guest raved about the food from beginning to end. The staff was really friendly and attentive; when I asked my guest to quiet down so I could make a toast the staff was filling wine glasses in a flash in preparation for the toast. Thank you Circus for helping make this occasion one to remember.

I took my adult goddaughter and her boyfriend here the other night for her birthday. I decided on Circus based on the reviews, the cuisine and the location. The wait staff couldn't have been nicer and we spent about 3 hours there. The food was just OK. She and I both got the red snapper and it was overly salty and other than that pretty bland. It wasn't awful at all, but I expected better. The Brazilian drink (can't remember the name) was great - reminded me of a Mojito, but without the mint. Maybe the chef had an "off" night, and I might try it again. But as I said, the atmosphere and wait staff were great.

I really enjoyed my dinner at Circus. I had the crab appetizer - I can't remember the name, but I remember being a little surprised it was like a soup. It was tasty. the real highlight was the snapper, which came with grilled tomatoes and this fruit salsa infused with olive oil. It was INCREDIBLE. I have been dreaming about this entree ever since I had it! The tomatoes looked ordinary enough, but they were grilled perfectly, and the seasoning was fantastic. I loved it. The salsa on the fish is what really sends me back for more -- there was a light sprinkling of shredded cheese, mixed with the fruity salsa. The olive oil at the bottom balanced well. So good!