Rio Brazilian Steakhouse - Middlesbrough in Middlesbrough

Extremely disappointing visit tonight. Was excited to bring along someone to what was usually one of my favourite restaurants for something new and the standard of meat being served was so far below what I'm used to at Rio. Even the fillet was tough and rubbery! Felt like they'd cheaped out on lower quality produce to cut costs for the Restaurant week offers. Good drinks and salad bar as usual, but that's hardly worth the money when the meat is below par. Honestly, don't think I'll be in be a rush to visit again if this is the standard to be expected of the meat that's supposed to be the star offering.

It's a really beautiful restaurant, I love the ambience and the customer service is great. The steaks are delicious. Great service

Love this place , it can do no wrong in my eyes ...never had a bad experience and it's head and shoulders above other similar venues I've visited, be proud and keep up the good work and excellent food

Rio has always been a go-to for us, a favorite for business lunches with colleagues and special outings with my daughter. I’ve recommended it countless times and even left glowing reviews in the past. However, yesterday's experience was deeply disappointing and frankly humiliating. I took my daughter and her friend for lunch yesterday, and while the restaurant was busy, it seemed understaffed. We struggled to get attention from the staff, and when it was finally time to pay, it took far too long. But the real issue came as we were leaving. After settling the bill, we were stopped in the doorway by a waitress who questioned whether I’d paid. Without giving me the benefit of the doubt, she asked us to wait in full view of other customers as she ran around checking with the team. Standing there, I felt completely humiliated, as though we were being publicly accused of trying to leave without paying. I’ve been a loyal customer for years, yet yesterday, I was treated with suspicion and disrespect in a way that felt both uncomfortable and unwarranted. My daughter and her friend, who normally love coming to Rio, looked embarrassed and uncomfortable as we stood there, effectively being held until they could “verify” our payment. Your guests deserve to feel valued, not embarrassed and questioned as though we’re trying to pull a fast one. This experience has certainly made me rethink our loyalty to a place we once loved. I have contacted Rio directly by email, but received no response.

We are frequent customers and every time we go we are wonderfully well served by Natália and Caio! Congratulations to the entire Rio staff for the wonderful food and for making us feel so special! Thank you very much 👏🏻

Food is amazing, staff are fantastic, the salad bar is epic

food was amazing, staff were very polite and attentive, venue was very clean definatly would recommend and will be returning

Always amazing food staff amazing

Was a beautiful experience! Salad bar had loads of options and it’s buffet style so it’s a great place for salad lovers. The endless serving of steak was great. Drinks were absolutely fantastic too. Would certainly be coming back!

Lovely steakhouse with great food and friendly staff.

Beautiful food - unreal experience

Salty, really salty, it kills me

The food is good, they close at 3am and only reopen at 5am again so if you arrive after 3am they won't let you in.

Amazingly delicious food will be going again.

We were here for dinner on 26th August and the food was great (all the meats were so perfectly cooked!) and amazing service by all the staff, and our server Soph! :) they were all very helpful.

Very good food and good service. It is recommended to book a table here as it is a very popular place.

I'm a vegetarian but the meat looked great. Salad bar brilliant so much variety. I had salmon one of the best tasting pieces I've had. Friendly staff and great atmosphere.

Beautiful food and the service is amazing. The salad bar isn't your standard salad bar and you could fill up on that alone. All the meat is prepared to perfection and is beautiful. They do add "optional service charge" onto your bill - which is a bit cheeky but in all honesty the service is worth more than the optional charge and I left it on there.

Amazing summer menu £20 for delicious cuts of meat. As much as you like salads, meat and chips. You really cannot go wrong and the service was attentive and brilliant too. Thoroughly recommend

Love this place. Food is amazing, staff super efficient and friendly.

Very good but price a little high.

Ate here a week ago and had a lovely server called Sophie who just made our experience. She was a lovely girl and was on it with her service. Food was lovely also and would definitely come back here for sure!

Very tasty food I will be coming back again. Tiago complimented the meal with excellent service.

Visited with my son as a treat. £30 Per head. They ask how you prefer your meat to be cooked.. I said medium to well.. nothing came to the table but medium rare.. I questioned this and they brought out a very well done piece.. horrible... All scraps of meat were put in a tissue to take away and the manager came and stated we were not allowed to take it for the dog... couldn't believe how rude..

Love this place.... Yeah yummy steak..

Been a few times before and loved it, but this time we were left with a bitter taste in our mouths. This was alarmingly from the manager. I have to say all staff were lovely and friendly. The manager, not so much. He was a bit rude, cold and unwelcoming. Looked like he didn’t really want to be there and I felt he wasn’t dressed appropriately and needed smarter attire (like the rest of the staff). In the end, he was blunt with us and we agreed we sadly won’t ever return

Small cuts of meat for the price would have to be in there hours to have a meal size portion, lot of customers wearing track suit bottoms no dress code it seems, not much atmosphere

This was my 1st experience at a steakhouse, and Rio was a good choice. My family and friends joined me at Rio to celebrate my graduation and birthday, and it was worth every penny paid. The staff are super friendly and well trained. They engaged our table with attention and good service. We all enjoyed our meal, and no one had any reason to complain of the choices of food.

Steak and chicken was delicious. Couldn't eat for 24hrs after too full😀

Been here 20+ times over the last 2-3 years but recently has gone down hill unfortunately. In particular our meal today, the service was so slow servers really only went to bigger tables there was 20 minutes between meat for us at one point. Had to ask for chips which are usually brought straightaway and had ordered some extra water that was forgotten about. Barely any meat today felt like a complete waste of money. A shame really because used to be our favourite Restaurant but has gone downhill and after todays trip we won’t be in a rush to go back after going at least every month

It was a great experience altogether, the bottomless lunch was the best 😊

We went for brunch for husbands birthday lovely food lots of meat and lovely cocktails staff brought happy birthday ice cream too

Way overpriced. If you can eat loads then probably good place for you. Regular peeps it cost £170 for three of us with just one wine, one beer and a Fanta. Buffet - the prawns were old to the point of tasting fishy = not a good sign. Meat -ok, just totally overpriced. I know Middlesbrough struggles for good restaurants but I feel these guys take the micky. £16 service charge also added to the bill! Edit - what an arrogant response!

It was a very nice place with nice atmosphere and decor. The service was excellent. The food was great, they have a fix charge and you eat as you want. Open salad bar and the waiter pass with sticks of meat and serves you in your plate as much you want, of course with different kind of meat.

Service so quick, food very good

Food was amazing. Staff excellent at their job. 🤩🤩

Update, Been afew times since my first review, always a nice meal. Be aware if they run an offer get it signed in blood as they don't honour them. Because of this they have lost my custom, but only taking 1 star off the review Love this place, staff are great, sides are really good and of course if you like meat just wow.

Just amazing 100 percent recommend and also if you are visiting you must try it at night

Delicious salads and steaks, restaurant week so paid £30 per person. Definitely reccomend 😋

Great place attentive staff and beautiful food. Looking forward to my next visit soon

Food was great and gentleman serving and cutting the meat were fantastic. However in terms of service I received from waiting staff it drastically declined after a young man called Lewis (who was great)who had been our waiter went home. After this point neither of the two young women approached our table with any form of service I felt this massive decline in service disappointed us to such a point we removed the service charge( something we do extremely rarely at restaurants)

I had the pleasure of my disabled friend joining me the staff were exceptional the food was memorable and the establishment on the whole was fantastic I especially liked the disabled would highly recommend this venue.

I have never given a 2 star ⭐ review in my life. But unfortunately when a restaurant charges you what they call an " Optional Service Charge" automatically charged to your card ** even after you have given the man charging you a rather large cash tip in his hand !!! Then unfortunately I will not be returning to this establishment, even though the food is lovely. ( not cheap) £108.00 for 3 people with 1 X beer and 1 X glass of wine! I really don't like being scammed and it left a bad taste in my mouth ☹️

I visited for my birthday and although this place is not cheap it is worth every penny. The staff are engaged and very friendly, the food is excellent although you must, like me enjoy your steak rare. The salad bar is excellent and varied. I will be visiting again.

Great way to have a bit of everything, accompanied by a high quality salad bar. Service was also excellent.

Nice enough restaurant. Different to the norm, you self serve from the salad bar and the servers continuosly bring you the meat to the table, usually carvjbgbit at the table. Interesting.

Always had amazing food and amazing service every time I've been!

Really enjoyed it , food delicious .

We went to the Rio Steakhouse for the first time the other week. We got the all you can eat meat feast where they come around every five minutes with different cuts of meat. Depending on what time of the day it is, there are more or less options. They give you an hour and half to be in there plus an unlimited salad bar which has a lot of choices. The food, service and restaurant were amazing. The only bad thing is probably the price, for two people during the day it's £29 each, at night it goes up to £39 I think.

Fantastic place and the food is amazing. Service is fantastic

We had a really good night here , food was exceptional , Jess and Gabby were great, they really looked after us, nothing was too much trouble , they are an asset to the company , will definitely return

I was here in February and there was beautiful food and it was a great place. All the meat is cooked beautifully to a medium so you need to like it like that but it's all amazing. You should be hungry going here because they keep coming out with more food. The salad bar is also great and so much options to choose from. If I am back I will definitely be back to this restaurant. The cocktails were also nice, a little expensive but worth the price for the taste.

A one off experience that must be tried

Great meal out for the experience but, for the price, I've had better steak elsewhere.

Excellent service and staff are brilliant. Thanks Rio.

I've been there a few times on different occasions. Every time we visit, it's been great!! The quality of food and service were amazing! Never had such an issue at all. Would recommend to everyone if they want a special day or night out.

Fantastic as always, garlic mushrooms were out of this world. Definitely be back again soon. Thank you.

As first time guests,this was indeed a wonderful experience.

Def recommended especially if yr a steak eater of the rare/medium variety. Starter/sides/salad bar was really amazing. 'Mains' - I had to stick to the chicken as I only had one opportunity to have 'med/well done' steak. Lamb served was so fatty I couldn't eat it. Personal experience as a party of 5 & other 4 had a far better choice. Service/staff were very good. Wine is over priced at average £30 a bottle. Still had a great time & well worth at least one visit.

Used this restaurant a few times and always been really happy. It seems to be losing its shine. At one point I wouldn't take a customer anywhere else. One of the servers was really good and saved a poor review. She was helpful and friendly. We will probably explore other restaurants too see what is available.

First class food, the meats were superb and there's as much as you want to eat. Nice atmosphere and very friendly staff. If you go don't forget your appetite.

This was actually, surprisingly great, as I am vegetarian!! I wouldn't normally go into a steak house, but was away from home. Rio accommodated me beautifully. The salad bar was fresh and had loads of choice and the mushroom risotto was lovely. I would absolutely recommend

Been to a few restaurants with this concept and apart from one in Aruba this is the best so far in the UK. Quality of meat was fantastic and the Salad bar had some great relishes / sauces to go with the meat. Highly recommend

This place was an eating experience. The salad bar was amazing. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The meat on skewers was so tasty and well presented. I applaud this place as excellent

Very friendly staff, very welcoming. The food was outstanding and I can’t wait to come back. 10 out of 10!

Fabulous food, fantastic staff, perfect.

Gorgeous food cooked to perfection as always

New experience having food constantly brought to table. Top quality meat options, sampled everything available and no complaints, absolutely stuffed at the end of the meal

First visit went well, will go again

We've eaten here several times now, and there's a reason for that. The food (you really need to be carnivorous) is consistent and to a very good standard. The salad bar is probably the best I've seen, too. Decent selection of drinks and the coffee is delicious, as you'd expect.

Brilliant service from the get go, as soon as I turned the mat to green for more meat the staff came over instantaneously and couldn’t be friendlier. They made sure we had enough to drink throughout also. The atmosphere was really festive and the Christmas music was a nice touch this close to the big man coming. The quality of the food was brilliant, I tried a lot of the options from the buffet and a lot of different meats and I never had a bad one they all impressed, though the beef ribs were probably the best I’ve ever tasted they were so tender and tasty. Would definitely recommend and will be going back.

After a full day of travel and starving, this was exactly what I needed. It was buffet style 'all you can eat'. Very delicious!

Excellent food just a bit expensive

Great evening in a very good atmosphere 👌

Food wasn’t for me, notified the waitress when we first entered I’ll be only eating chicken and throughout the whole hour of sat down was only offered 1 chicken wing. The only reason I’m still giving the 5 stars is due to the prompt response from the manager when making a complaint about the situation. Highly respect the response and help provided by the manager and waitress.

Salad bar included a wide variety of excellent appetizers. I held out for my favourite cuts of beef - delicious! Great staff, clean toilets. A bit too noisy for my taste but good music

Went here for the first time yesterday. Salad bar absolutely gorgeous selection. Service outstanding...meat being offered very regularly. Only downside...a bit too expensive for us. Would definitely go again but it would be on a special occasion.

Had an excellent meal at Rio. Meat quality was amazing and the salad bar was well stocked and fresh. All meats were served rare to medium (apart from the chicken and sausages of course) and fell apart in the mouth. Although optional, the service charge of 10% was automatically added to the bill however we asked for it to be removed as we didn't feel the service (frequency of the meats) was as good as before.

Fantastic service and delicious food

Fantastic food, the salad buffet alone was incredible let alone all the delicious meats being brought round very frequently. Never having to wait and often having to turn down the offer of more! Staff were very friendly and the atmosphere was great. Highly recommend and will be coming back

Excepcional for a meat place in the midle of UK!

Amazing photo. Would definitely visit again

I had an amazing experience at Rio Steakhouse! The meat was perfectly cooked to my liking, and it was incredibly delicious. The staff were friendly and attentive, ensuring that the meat came around quickly. The salad bar had a wide variety of options, making it a great complement to the delicious meat. I highly recommend Rio Steakhouse for a fantastic dining experience.

Tried tonight with friends not knowing what to expect. Really enjoyed the food, the attentive servers (especially Gabrielle) and the food. Thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Best Brazilian 🇧🇷 restaurant in the region … Used to drive up to Newcastle Jesmond before this branch was opened but now saving petrol and enjoying the best steak 🥩 closed to home … They do promotion week now and then and it’s best time to visit to save some £ …

Fantastic experience. The food was outstanding. Brilliant choice and quality of meats brought to the table. Excellent salad bar for the sides and a great environment. The staff were attentive and efficient but never in the way. Cannot recommend enough.

It's just a shame that there were barely an assortment of fruits and vegetables or a desserts selection.

Went for the first time this Friday and it was amazing the food was to die for hot and fresh and perfectly cooked! And the staff where fantastic verry friendly and service was amazing! Little pricey but definitely worth every penny!!! 😁

Good all-you-can-eat experience for meat eaters with a more limited selection for vegetarians.

Great food, nice concept. Complimenten!

A major disappointment. It is "all you can eat" restaurant but because the staff walks the same route all the time we barely got some food, mostly scraps or we were missed. This is rather surprising if you consider prices. The food was tasty but like I wrote before, we barely got some so we mostly ate salads. I bit pointless to go to steakhouse to eat salads.

The single best food experience I have ever had. The quality & choice of food are amazing. Excellent service & surroundings, worth every penny.

Great food, perfect for a meat lover. Bar service is very slow however.

Amazing. Place food cooked to perfection staff can't do enough for you especially Gareth we will be back 100%

Great food, atmosphere and service, one of the best in middlesbrough so made for a great spot for upmarket dining in this town someday city.

Spot on. Will be going back again soon.

Floors are very slippery, so take extra care. Food was ok things fet a little rushed. Staff were lovely and very attentive

First time today.great idea .food very tasty will be back

Brilliant first visit, thoroughly enjoyed the experience!

Very expensive considering there was 30% off that evening. Bill for 2 children and 2 adults was £120 with 30% off! Nothing special. Lots of cheaper meats ie chicken wings in evidence , pork , sausage then some beef. All good BUT e pensive for what we got.