My Rio Travel Guide lists the best mid-range restaurants next to your hotel in Rio de Janeiro, plus what type of cuisines and traditional dishes you can find as well as beverages you can try such as caipirinha, guaraná, açaí berry smoothie, sugar cane juice and other alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

The restaurant guide on Chapter 6 of My Rio Travel Guide e-book lists mainly restaurants where locals eat in the main neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro such as Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, Leme, Urca, Downtown and Santa Teresa. These are the districts that are worth walking or taking a taxi to, and experience the best places to eat.

On Chapter 6, “Recommended Restaurants in Rio de Janeiro“, in My Rio Travel Guide PDF e-book you will find:

The types of Brazilian restaurants as well as cuisines found on the beachside neighborhoods of Rio.
Some carefully selected restaurant options for lunch and dinner, representing various cuisines and price ranges. (The number preceding the restaurant represents its location on the neighborhood maps in Chapter 4.)
Food- and beverage-related words translations.
A listing of some of the most popular and traditional dishes and drinks as well as the restaurants (listed in Chapter 6) where you can try them.
Visual guide to beef cuts at Brazilian steakhouses

Types of Restaurants in Rio de Janeiro

You’ll find all sorts of restaurants in Rio, including Thai, Italian, Japanese, Arabic, and pizza restaurants, but most restaurants are one of four varieties:

1) À la carte (“standard menu” restaurants)

● Daytime: serving an executive lunch menu (noon – 4 p.m., Mon. – Fri. except holidays). An outstanding value. Price range per person: R$17-25; US$8.50-12.50; €7-11. Standard menu service also available.

● Nights/weekends: serving a standard menu, slightly pricier than the executive lunch prices.

2) À kilo (per kilo restaurants)

High-quality buffet with a great variety of food, where the charge is based on the weight of the food. Excellent option since you select exactly what you are paying for. How to proceed: 1) help yourself to whatever you want, 2) weigh your plate, 3) sit down and enjoy your meal, 4) pay at the counter before exiting. Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 as often as you wish.

Price range per kilo (one kilo = 2.2 lbs): R$35-60; US$17.50-30; €15-25 (price per kilo varies from restaurant to restaurant).

Average spending per person: R$20-45; US$10-22.50; €8-20 (it depends on the combined weigh of everything you have put on your plate).

Food weight range per person: 400 to 700 g (0,88 lb to 1,54 lb). Men’s plates are usually heavier than the women’s ones.

3) Churrascaria Rodízio (steakhouse)

Fixed price all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouse. Generally less frequented by locals, except on weekends and special occasions. See visual guide to beef cuts in the end of chapter 6 of My Rio Travel Guide.

4) Galeto (grilled chicken restaurants)

Serves delicious galetos (small charcoal-grilled chickens) with various side dishes. Customers sit on stools surrounding a central counter.

About the recommended restaurants

The restaurants recommended in Chapter 6 of My Rio Travel Guide share the following characteristics (unless otherwise noted in the description):

● Good value for the price

● (Most of them) located in close proximity to another café, bar, or restaurant

● Reservations not needed

● Accept credit cards

● Popular with Cariocas (natives of Rio) for both quality and price

● Easy to take a taxi: A) a taxi can be hailed right in front of the restaurant, or B) the waiter can call a taxi for you, or C) there is taxi stand in close proximity, if not in front of it.

● Open daily, from noon to midnight

● On weekends, tables may not be available at peak lunch and dinner hours (1-3 p.m. and 8-10 p.m.)

Most hotels serve breakfast, but if you are looking for a restaurant that serves breakfast, you can find it on the neighborhood maps. Locate the map (in Chapter 4 of My Rio Travel Guide) of your hotel area, then locate the “BP” legend, which indicates the exact location of a breakfast place.

Note: the listing on Chapter 6, “Recommended Restaurants in Rio de Janeiro”, focus mainly on good quality mid-range restaurants since your hotel will gladly (probably eagerly) recommend and book a table for you at a high-end one. However, some 5 star restaurants have been listed.