Our Anniversary Dinner - Review of Sabor

It is not my intention to review restaurants but this one could not be passed up. I received a gift certificate from my co-workers for my birthday to a new restaurant in Milwaukee called Sabor. Sabor can be described as a steakhouse but what makes it different is that it is a Brazilian churrascaria type of restaurant that is found in New York and Miami. The people of Milwaukee should love this concept considering it is all-you-can-eat.

I made reservations for 7:30 and the gentleman taking my call asked if it was a special occasion. I told him it was our anniversary. When we arrived I was surprised to find the placed packed for a Monday evening. We were greeted by a hostess who took us to our table and said, "happy anniversary, enjoy your meal." I was impressed.

The decor was contemporary and beautiful. Very relaxing. We were welcomed to Sabor by a host who asked us if we preferred tap water, bottled water or sparkling water. He also gave us our extensive wine list. Sabor has a wine room filled with over 2000 bottles of wine. We watched our server go into the locked room to retrieve our bottle that we ordered. Our server, Alex, gave us the details on the unique dining experience we were about partake in.

Our first course began with a trip to the "salad bar" which is not your typical salad bar. It was filled with fresh vegetables prepared all different ways, scallops and couscous, salmon, cheese, fruit, stuffed artichokes, the best grilled and marinated portabella mushrooms I have every had and so much more. When we arrived back at our table we had cheese bread waiting for us. It looked like little balls of dough and was warm and melted in your mouth. So good. My husband was very antsy for the next course. He loved the salad bar but wanted meat.

Ready, set, go! When you are ready to partake in the second course you turn over your little stop and go card that is placed in front of you. We turned our cards to green and within minutes one person was clearing our salad plates, another was giving us fresh forks and these huge steak knives and yet another sever was bringing out mashed potatoes, black beans, rice, fried bananas and more cheese bread. Then came heaven - the Gauchos (Brazilian cowboys) came out of the kitchen with large skewers of meat, all kinds of meat. Pork, sirloin, lamb, tenderloin, chicken, filet. 12 different kinds of meat in all. My favorite was the Picanah which is a sirloin seasoned with garlic and sea salt. My second favorite was the Filet Mignon. Who am I kidding, everything was fabulous. We stuffed ourselves. It was the most incredible meat I have ever had.

It is a little on the pricey side ($42.50/person) but all the food in included. (There is a salad bar only option for vegetarians that runs $32.50.) I know some restaurants in town where you will pay $30+ for a steak and if you want a salad or potatoes you are up to $40+. In essence, it's a good price for the quality and quantity of food. Bottles of wine start at about $25 and run up to $300 or so.

I highly recommend this restaurant to people, especially if you like your meat. The food combined with the service and atmosphere made Sabor one of our favorite restaurants in town.