Fogo Vivo @ Ocean View Hotel

Aw, not so good photos with my S3 in dim light 🙁 Sorry.

Fun week with our dear guest K in town 😀 Decided to use the photo above as she was conveniently censored by the meat, ha ha.

So last Thurs we cabbed to JBR, to try out their new Fogo Vivo experience. We had been to Le Rivage few weeks back and had a great afternoon out with the bunch. Figured it would be good to head back there 🙂

Unfortunately, aw, service wasn’t as we had expected. I’ll start by saying we overall had a great night nonetheless – good company, a lot of laughter, good food and drinks 😀 It’s just that it could have been a little better. Here’s a little blurp – which I really hope can be consider constructive criticism… :

a) Our first drinks came after a wait of about 20 minutes. I had to go up to ask them about it. Not too sure what’s up, as it really wasn’t that busy.

b) It was really difficult to ask for topups. We struggled to wave the waiters down, so I had to walk up to the counter to ask for drinks. 2nd time walking up now. We figured they might have taken the hint – i.e you should never let the guests walk all the way to the counter to order drinks at a brunch/buffet?

c) And I did this again, for about another 2 times over the night. No one came over to check our cups if they were empty, if we need more, or something else. It was pretty bizarre actually.

d) No one came to clear our empty plates so by late it was stacked with dirty dishes. Came to a point where we had… no space, so we asked them to assist and it was cleared, aw.

e) The place was nearly empty and we had asked for dessert to be served. Think they might have forgotten about it so we had to remind them much later. Bizarre, just bizarre.

Again, like I said – we had a fab night. Think we were the last to leave, the live latino music was awesome. Talented guitarist, the lady in white was great as well 🙂 The meat was good, salads were buffet-style (soup was very watered down though), sides served to table.

I couldn’t help but compare to Toro Toro in Grosvenor House and would definitely stay that Toro Toro tops this by miles when it comes to food, atmosphere, setting, and service. It is only 50AED more exp (400AED inclusive of selected beverages), as opposed to 345AED in Fogo Vivo…. but hmm, it’s still got a long way to go.

Ah Lan’s got a special 2 for 1 this month, so it’s 345AED for 2, inclusive of drinks which is pretty good! Go buy the magazine and check it out yourself 🙂 Again, maybe we were just out of luck that night.