A Brazilian steakhouse known for tableside meat carving is set to take over the vacant restaurant space at South Shore Plaza, filling a spot that sat empty after Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse closed its doors on New Year's Eve. Fogo de Chão plans to open at the Braintree mall in spring 2027, marking the chain's first location on the South Shore.
Fogo de Chão will replace Davio's, which occupied the space for roughly a decade before its closure, according to The Boston Globe. The Brazilian chain, founded in southern Brazil in 1979, is known for rodizio-style service in which gaucho chefs carve premium meats tableside, along with a market table stocked with seasonal salads and vegetables. Davio's had itself moved into that same footprint back in October 2017, taking over space previously held by Joe's American Bar and Grill, according to Patch.
Amy Sullivan, the mall's director of marketing and business development, called the arrival a major milestone in the evolution of South Shore Plaza's dining offerings, the Globe's report notes. The mall has also refreshed its retail lineup recently, welcoming True Religion, Lululemon, and Uniqlo. Spanning more than 1.58 million square feet of leasable space, South Shore Plaza ranks as the 16th-largest shopping mall in the country, according to Wikipedia.
A Familiar Landlord for Fogo de Chão
This won't be Fogo de Chão's first rodeo with Simon Property Group, the mall's owner. The chain already operates a location at the Burlington Mall, which opened in October 2021 as part of a major retail and dining redevelopment led by Simon, per Northshore Magazine. Fogo de Chão also plans to open a location at Northshore Mall, and the Globe reports the chain already has restaurants at Providence Place Mall in Rhode Island, which it entered in 2023, as well as its original Massachusetts outpost in Boston's Back Bay, which opened in 2012.
Simon Property Group holds outsized sway in Braintree beyond its restaurant tenants. The company is the town's single largest municipal taxpayer, operating the mall near the junction of Interstate 93 and Route 128, according to Town of Braintree records. South Shore Plaza first opened in 1961 as a 30-store open-air plaza before being enclosed in 1976 and later expanded into a two-level regional mall during the 1990s.
Other Tenant Shakeups Underway
The steakhouse isn't the only major shift reshaping South Shore Plaza's tenant mix this year. Nordstrom's former department store footprint at the mall is being redeveloped to house a DICK's House of Sport store slated to open in 2026, according to a report relayed by NBC10 Boston. The mall's current anchor lineup includes Macy's, Target, Sears, and Primark.
Fogo de Chão itself has been on an aggressive growth tear since Boston-based Bain Capital purchased the chain from Rhône in a $1.1 billion deal in 2023. Bain also holds investments in Dunkin' Brands Group, Burger King, and Domino's Pizza, per the Globe's reporting. As of May 2026, Fogo de Chão operated 122 restaurants worldwide and was expanding by opening 14 to 16 new domestic and international locations during the year, according to Restaurant Online.
A Chain on a Global Tear
That expansion has included new restaurants in North Carolina and New York, plus two new locations in Chile this year, per the Globe. In May 2026, Fogo de Chão also unified its UK operations under its own brand following its 2024 acquisition of Fazenda Rodizio Bar & Grill, folding six UK locations into its global fleet. The chain launched its first-ever loyalty program, Fogo Rewards, in February 2025, and Restaurant Online reports it reached more than 10% guest engagement within its first year.
The Braintree opening fits a pattern Hoodline has tracked elsewhere this year, as Fogo de Chão has moved into a vacant Macy's near Daly City and into malls in Raleigh and Seattle this year, alongside an earlier suburban debut in Towson. Locally, the steakhouse's arrival comes as South Shore Plaza has drawn other headlines in 2026, including police warnings about a planned mall takeover event in February and the town's approval of a 752-unit redevelopment at the nearby Armstrong site in April.
