Solar Do Minho
“Warming it up a bit would have made it perfect, even though eating bread before the Rodizio here is not recommended!”
“The large pitcher is so big there is no way you will finish it unless it's four people or more at your table.”
“Great place for a big group – a little loud but not as loud as some of the Portuguese places in Newark.”
Solar Do Minho
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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Outstanding rodizio! They had a nice variety of meats and I liked that they asked what temperature you prefer the meat. Most of the time they catered to my rare tastes but sometimes the item had no pink to spare. Randomly I found their sausage to be one of the best items. The sides were also good as was the sangria. The non-rodizio entrees were enormous and received good reviews. Services was overall good although sometimes amiss. They have valet parking which is nice because you have an easy time finding a spot.
Rodizzyyyy!! I haven't had rodizio in over a year and boy did I miss it! We had a party for 18 and each one of us had the rodizio and split pitchers of tasteful red, white and even blue sangria (the strongest). This place was busy, loud and bustling with people celebrating something. Cool thing about this place is that I thinks it's open til 2 am. We ate like kings from 9 pm til 12:35 am.
My favs: skirt steak, filet Mignon, short rib, rib eye, top sirloin, sausage, pork tenderloin….
Those "ehhh it's okay" meats (either a little dry or too salty): turkey wrapped bacon, baked ham, chicken, ribs
There were definitely a few more that I can't even remember, so much meat (pause)! All this came with sides of tasty French fries, rice and fried plantains. The plantains were especially delicious!
One of the things I was disappointed in was they came around the table giving out ribs and ran out when they got to me, and when I asked for some the server told me 25 minutes!?!?! Also if I could recommend any changes, I would say spread out the time of meat delivery. I feel like we were bombarded all at once, which lead to a feeling of being rushed and overwhelmed.
Overall I'd give this place a 3.5 stars rating.
We came here for my mom's birthday and I thought there were pros and cons to the place. This place does get extremely packed, so make sure to make reservations. There is a valet service but you can also find parking on Washington St. Ok so the deal- well i'm Portuguese and ive had some amazing Portuguese food. This place was good but I've had better.. I did love the passion fruit sangria- that was great! I also enjoyed the warm bread. I buttered some up, and did a little bit olive oil, salt, pepper- and it was a good little pre-treat. For my meal, I got the skirt steak b/c I was craving it all week. It was ok- it was a bit fatty and I feel like it could have been seasoned better. My sister got the chicken princessa which was really good. A few of my family members got the rodizio and also enjoyed it. For dessert, i got the tiramisu and it was ok- didnt seem very fresh to me. THe cookies and cream pudding dessert was pretty good. I did feel like the prices were a bit high for what we were getting. The atmosphere was really cute- i loved the setup and how the waitresses dressed up like traditional Portuguese women.
Sorry, this place does not even compare to somewhere like Fogo De Chao. Thankfully the group of people I was with provided good company. First, valet parking is confusing and crowded and they do not treat the cars with respect at ALL. Each car was revved up and you always hear tires screeching. Second, there is always a wait even with reservations. Space is extremely crowded, which probably leads to the very slow service. Service is not only slow but inattentive and apathetic. As for the actual food, we got the rodizio. Meats were not bad but not very good either. They do not ask for the cuts you want. No salad bar and only starcy sides (fries, rice, "plantains" which are actually more bananas) We encountered very undercooked meats as well. At times they bring out the meat extremely slowly and tables around us were all asking if they had stopped. Personally, I would not come back and gladly shell out the extra $ to go to fogo.
Once i pulled up to the place their was parking out front, as i approached the place i seen their were outside dining as well as inside, i settled for inside, dinner for 1!…place is pretty nice, i was helped by two gentlemen, one handed me my menu, the other took my order and braught me my meal…..i did browse thru the menu but i already knew what i wanted, i went with the chicken princessa with a coke to drink….as i waited for that i devoured the bread that was served to me while waiting for my main course….the food came in a huge plate which consisted of chicken with mushroom and shrimp on top, gravy sauce on the plate surrounded by mash potatoes with a stuffed mushroom…so0o0o good! Price came out to 28$ and change, not to bad for a fancy restaurant a must try if you are into good portugese food
I took the girlfriend here for halfiversary. I was originally thinking rodizio, but I didn't have the appetite for it, so I figured I'd try some of their other fare. Moral of the story: come for the rodizio.
Atmosphere: Pretty nice. You have a choice to eat in or out when the weather's nice. Outside is a covered, cramped patio, while inside is nicely decorated and spacious, with a view of some of the kitchen. I recommend it. 4.5 stars.
Service: Pretty good. Water was refreshed regularly. Not a lot of communication from their side (at least for an English-speaking customer), so don't go in expecting your questions to get satisfactory answers. 3.5 stars.
I started with the potato soup. It wasn't very substantial in the potato department, rather watery like an Eastern European soup. Apparently it also has flour in it, which isn't typical/authentic. There was a bunch of minced collard greens (or kale? but I think collards) clogging it up, all sticking together in a giant lump. And there was supposed to be chorizo. I counted three paper-thin slices. Literally as thin as anyone could cut them. One star. Skip the soup.
The main course was hit or miss. The lady ordered the fish special, I forget what kind of fish. It came laden with vegetables and was pronounced excellent. (Which is all I needed to hear.) For her benefit, and since I didn't taste any of it, I'll go with 4 stars. I ordered the Portuguese steak. It was topped with ham, drowned in garlic sauce, and with "potato rounds" that are really just homemade chips. I don't LIKE potato chips. I like sliced rounds. These are chips. Getting past that, I did like the sauce, although it was rather thick and salty, and entirely too voluminous for the plate. Between the meat and the potatoes, anything else on the plate was just drowned out. 2.5 stars.
I'm going to skip to dessert for a second and come back. They make four or five desserts here, and the rest come from a bakery. The only authentic one is serradura, which I later looked up and found it's "the easiest dessert in the world to make." That said, it's hard to make anything delicious regardless of how easy the recipe is, and this was truly delicious. It tasted like I was eating mousse instead of cream, and the crumbled cookies tasted perfect inside. I didn't ask the price, and maybe I should have, because it's not worth the $7. Still, it was quite good, so 3.5 stars.
So far, everything pretty much adds up to 3 stars, especially for the price. But this is a strong 3 for one reason, and the reason I wanted to come back to: the meat. That steak was cooked perfectly. Perfectly. Rare to medium rare throughout. Superb char, unsurpassed flavor, artistically chewy yet yielding mouthfeel. I savored every bite of the steak and left it as my last bite on the plate – even after all of the potatoes, still warm and yet still medium rare. This place executes nearly impossible meat artistry. And that's why I'd come back for the rodizio. I have no doubt about their meat; I'm just going to pass on the rest.
3.75
It's located in the most random place in Belleville, but its sure worth a visit if Newark is just a little bit of trek. The prices are reasonable, the service is always friendly. I highly recommend the Portuguese Strip Bass special and Rodizio. Meats are their speciality. Definitely try the Ribeye; it's my favorite cut. Skip the vegetables; they're not that great and not that fresh.
The best part about Rodizio is the grilled pineapple with cinnamon. Be sure to save room for that. It's heavenly.
It's not the best Rodizio around but still very good.
I have gone to this location twice in the past four to six weeks and had a really good experience each time I went.
The first time I went I ordered some shrimp in a garlic sauce and my friend ordered the pork chops. My shrimp were excellent and those pork chops were amazing. They give you two very thick pork cops alone with potatoes and a whole bunch of peppers and onions.
I had dessert the first time I went and the tiramisu was pretty good. My friend had the pistachio cheese cake which I got to taste. Very good.
To drink I have had the blue and Red sangria. If it's three people or less get a small pitcher of sangria. The large pitcher is so big there is no way you will finish it unless it's four people or more at your table.
I also ordered coffee that came with some sort of cream that was truly amazing. I will definitely go back to this place.
On a side note- free valet parking!