Pizza Rio offers slice of Brazilian style and flavor | Grub Scout

As some of you may recall, I usually wait until the tourism off-season to try out new Sevier County restaurants. My first contender for 2026 was Pizza Rio in Pigeon Forge (there’s one in Gatlinburg too), a destination I chose in large part based on the novelty of its concept — pizza served in the same manner as Brazilian steakhouses. In other words, for a flat price, servers keep shuttling food to your table on an all-you-can-eat basis until you scream, “Uncle!”

The Pigeon Forge location is on Showplace Boulevard, just past Country Tonite Theatre. (You Sevier County long-timers will remember the site as the former home of Eddie’s Heart and Soul Café.) The Grub Spouse and I arrived on the early end of the dinner hour, and as it was still January, we were initially the only patrons on site.

The Brazilian option at Pizza Rio includes salad, Brazilian-style wings, meatballs, focaccia bread and crispy, cheesy crostini as appetizer choices.

Pizza Rio offers two different meal experiences — the Brazilian Way ($32.50 per adult) and the Savory & Sweet Way ($28.50 per adult). Both feature endless savory and sweet pizzas, but whereas Sweet & Savory starts off with a choice of Caesar or house salad, the Brazilian option includes a larger assortment of appetizers — choice of salad, Brazilian-style wings, meatballs, focaccia bread and crispy, cheesy crostini. The Spouse and I both decided to get a Brazilian. A Brazilian meal, that is …

On the whole, the apps were all pretty good. Of note were the marinara-based meatballs and the wings (I got the Parmesan garlic sauce, while The Spouse got teriyaki sauce). The Caesar salad was OK, but I felt the dressing lacked anchovy flavor. Though I’m sure the restaurant prefers that diners fill up on the less expensive starters, thus minimizing the consumption of pizza, we kept our sample tastings of the apps to a minimum so as to save room for the main attraction.

The steak-based picanha com alho and the quatro queijos (four cheese) are two of 16 savory styles of pizza offered at Pizza Rio in Pigeon Forge.

Once our server realized that we were only going to do minimal damage on the first course, she cleared out all our dishes and soon showed up with a large tray holding two slices each of six different varieties of pizza (the menu offers 16 savory styles in all). The Spouse started with one slice each of the steak-based picanha com alho and the quatro queijos (four cheese), while I dished out one each of the nachos, pepperoni and four-meat recipes.

Honestly, each had its merits, and of that first batch of five styles, the nacho and pepperoni stood out as best. Interestingly, the beef-and-cheddar nachos slice was topped with Doritos chips — too many for my taste, however — so I thinned out the pile before proceeding.

Our server cleared our dirty plates and handed us clean ones for round two. That consisted of bacon crocante and calabresa for me and brocolis com bacon for The Spouse. I enjoyed the sausage and red onions on the calabrese, although I admit that I picked off all the black olives. The bacon crocante comes topped with bacon, catupiry cheese and fried potato sticks (like the kind sold in a can). I wasn’t crazy about the cheese or the excessive number of potato sticks; I thinned those out as well.

We saved just enough room for dessert pizza — in our case, Nutella com morango (strawberries), beijinho (coconut-flavored spread topped with coconut flakes) and brigadeiro (Brazilian brigadeiro spread topped with chocolate sprinkles).

At Pizza Rio, the food is served in the same manner as at Brazilian steakhouses, where for a flat price, servers keep shuttling food to your table on an all-you-can-eat basis.

In all, we left half the possible savory options on the table. These included stroganoff de frango, Portuguesa, margherita, supreme, Hawaiian and mushroom. Pizza Rio can also make vegan, lactose-friendly and gluten-friendly pizzas a la carte, but if one person at your table chooses that option, the entire table is required to participate.

As we knew going in, customers are not allowed to take unconsumed pizza home as leftovers. So with tax and tip included, we spent close to $80 on a total of eight half-consumed slices of pizza and several sample bites of the appetizers. Based on that, I would never make this place a regular stop in my pizza rotation.

Bacon crocante and calabresa pies are on the menu at Pizza Rio in Pigeon Forge.

But if one is visiting the Smokies and 1) accepts the premise of paying inflated tourism prices and 2) is curious to try some unfamiliar flavors of pizza pie served in an all-you-care-to-eat format, then that person might find Pizza Rio to be a fun outside-the-pizza-box meal stop.

Pizza Rio

Food: 4

Service: 3.75

Atmosphere: 4

Overall: 4

Address: 140 Showplace Blvd., Pigeon Forge

Phone: 865-366-9990

Full bar service

Hours: 3 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays 3 to 9:30 p.m. Fridays; 1 to 9 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays

Bottom line: This Pigeon Forge pizzeria serves multiple appetizers and an unique assortment of savory and sweet pizza slices — offered tableside — on an all-you-can-eat basis.