I tried Fogo de Chao's $51 all-you-can-eat steak-house lunch, and I wasn't hungry until breakfast the next day

• Fogo de Chão's $51 lunch special includes an all-you-can-eat rotation of more than a dozen meats.

• The meal also includes access to a buffet of salads, sides, fruits, and more.

• I didn't love everything I tried, but certain meats made the entire dining experience worth it.

Stepping into Fogo de Chão for the first time can be a bit of a daunting experience. Granted, each one of the steak-house chain's 75-plus locations has its own decor touches.

When I entered the Garden City, New York, location a few miles from my home, I was struck by its immensity. The dining room boasted seating for easily 200 people, though a much smaller number was there for lunch on a Tuesday.

Fogo de Chão serves diners an all-you-can-eat meal of meats, salads, and sides. With the rising cost of dining out (even at chain restaurants), I wanted to see if the Brazilian steak house could be a valuable weekday meal.

Here's what my $51, flat-rate lunch was like.

First, a server explained how the chain's lunch special worked.

After taking in the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows, wood paneling, unique lighting installations, and massive collection of wine and liquor bottles on display, my dining partner and I were led to our table.

A server explained that we would each be issued a medallion with green on one side (indicating that we wanted more meat) and red on the other (to prevent the skewers of meat from coming to our table).

Spoiler alert: I never turned mine to red.

Before the main event, I filled up at the buffet.

Next we were shown the Market Table, a spread of food I think would be insulted to be referred to as a salad bar.

There were four mixed salads with six dressing options, a platter of fresh caprese, a bowl of Brazilian street corn, various sliced cheese, potato and pasta salads, fresh fruits, rice, soups, and Fogo Feijoada (traditional Brazilian black-bean stew with sausage).

But I sincerely wish I'd known just how much meat was about to come my way before I approached the Market Table.

I was quite hungry when we got there, so I loaded up my plate with street corn, potato salad, cheese, mixed salad, a bowl of tomato-mozzarella soup, and more.

Before I knew it, I was being bombarded by delicious meats.

A minute or so after I returned to my seat and had a few bites, the first of the gaucho chefs approached.

And yes, the people who carve and serve the tableside meats are trained chefs. They were all skilled with their knifework and seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the meats they were proffering.

The first meat that came our way was a spicy pork sausage called linguiça. It was a great way to start — salty and savory with a delightful texture that paired perfectly with a bite of mashed potatoes.

Unwisely, perhaps, I asked for a double serving. A pro tip for Fogo de Chão is to try everything once before doubling up. Running out of stomach room is a matter of when not if.

But the sausage ended up being one of my favorites of the day.

I didn't enjoy everything I tried, but the highs outshined the lows.

The next meat that came my way was one of the few misses of the entire meal. It was a hunk of chicken that I found dry, tough, and a bit overcooked.

I eased it to the side of the plate after one bite and had some more street corn and soup to cleanse my palate.

Fortunately, the next gaucho brought total redemption in the form of more chicken (this time wrapped in bacon) and small, tender cuts of bacon-wrapped steak.

As is usually the case with bacon-wrapped foods, both the chicken and the beef were excellent — tender and flavorful with just enough fattiness.

Later on, the filet mignon was pleasant enough, but the beef ribs were outstanding. I'd never eaten a bite of meat that was so crisp (almost crunchy) on the outside but melt-in-your-mouth tender on the inside.

This trend of hits and misses continued throughout the meal.

I only had one bite of the lamb (I'm not the biggest fan), but I kept reaching for the picanha. The prime cut of sirloin was tender inside with a charcoal-smoked crust that was salty and rich.

It was no surprise to me that one server identified this as the restaurant's most popular meat.

I tried at least three other types of meat, but none of them were that notable. Nearly at capacity, I closed out the meal with another serving of picanha and a polite but firm rejection of dessert.

After my meal, I literally wasn't hungry for the rest of the day.

Everything I ate cost a flat $51 — even if I'd gone back to the Market Table again and again and asked for seconds on every rotation of meat, the price would've been the same.

I thought the pricing was absolutely fair, especially when you stick with water and skip dessert.

In fact, the lunch special at Fogo de Chão almost seemed like a bargain considering I wasn't hungry enough to eat much else for the rest of the day.

Read the original article on Business Insider