My wife and I live in Solana Beach so what would possess us to drive 46 miles to Novo Brazil Brewing in Chula Vista ? GREAT BEER . . I love their IPA’s and have been drinking every variety I can get my hands on locally for years. AND LUNCH because my wife doesn’t drink beer and I gotta keep her happy ! Now Chula Vista is just not on our road map so when we jumped in our car on Saturday morning to head here . . it was only the 2nd time we have ventured to Chula Vista since we moved from Australia to California.
We arrived at the Otay Ranch Town Center around 12.30pm and drove around the streets within the open air shopping mall for a short while looking for a street parking spot….no such luck. We found a parking lot not far from Novo Brazil Brewing and walked here. FIRST IMPRESSIONS . . it’s bloody huge ! A sweet hostess named Natalia at the front entrance greeted us warmly and showed my wife to a table inside while I farted around taking pics for my review. And then I finally entered the vast building again being greeted by lovely Natalia who pointed me to the table where my wife was seated. You could definitely play a footy match inside this place. I noticed 2 guys at the bar having a chat so I introduced myself.
I STRUCK GOLD as these 2 guys were Leonardo the GM and his right hand man Paulo the head bartender & server. I explained to these friendly guys that this was our first time here and that I have been a HUGE FAN of Novo Brazil Brewing IPA’s for years. I introduced both guys to my wife at our table and from then on we received about the BEST SERVICE in living memory. Paulo our server had to be one of the coolest nicest guys we have ever met and he looked after us from A TO Z during our incredible lunch visit.
Their lunch menu was pretty vast so we asked Paulo for help and he explained a few of the dishes we were interested in. In the end my wife chose their MAC N’ CHEESE ( with Brazilian Sausage ) while l liked the sound of the STEAK AND FRIES ( Picanha ( prime sirloin ) with egg bread crumbs, pico de gallo and regular or yuca fries ). Now Paulo explained that the Picanha is a Brazilian style fav and that I would like the yuca fries. I went with medium rare for the steak !
Paulo also gave me a few free samples of different beers and I asked him to select a flight of 4 for me. Our meals came out in RECORD TIME and OMG what huge serves. My wife totally loved her Mac n’ Cheese with the flavorsome Brazilian Sausage . . very creamy cheesy and the sausage was very tasty. My Steak and Yuca Fries was a real winner . . tender juicy steak and the huge yuca fries tasted great ! In the meantime I was getting through my flight of 4 IPA’s ( MOMO HAZE, COCO HAZE, STRAWBERRY HAZE & THE MANGO ) which all tasted great because I love their beers. DESSERT DESSERT ! My wife chose the MOLTEN CHOCOLATE CAKE with Vanilla Ice Cream and I had to have the CHEESECAKE.
Lovely Natalia the hostess / food runner delivered our desserts to our table and they looked amazing ! My wife thought her Molten Chocolate Cake with 2 huge dollops of very creamy Vanilla Ice Cream tasted fabulous. My well made Cheesecake adorned with sliced Strawberries & Strawberry Sauce tasted very good. I decided to grab a couple of 4 packs of IPA’s to take home and with Paulo’s help I selected . . 1 x 4 pack of MOMO HAZE and 1 x 4 pack of IPANEMA Double IPA. We had a a really enjoyable time here with all the great food, top craft beers and delicious desserts. But the warm & friendly service took it to another level. We can’t wait to come back. Thank you so much !
