Giving a 3 star review but it's really more like 2.5.
We came here on a Wednesday night for my fiancées birthday. We had an 8:30 reservation and arrived at 8:20, and our table was not ready. (That's not a problem.) We sit at the bar to wait and have a drink. As for previous reviews stating that the drink/wine prices are crazy, I have to disagree. They are "high" for Hollywood maybe, but as someone who frequently dines in Miami and works in hospitality, I assure you they are standard for upscale establishments in South FL. My glass of wine was $12, Black Label on the rocks $14. If those prices are offensive to you, don't dine here. Definitely not the place to penny pinch when pasta dishes are in the $20+ range. Moving on...
Once our table was ready (about 20 min later) the hostess took us upstairs (via elevator) to the dining area on the second floor. (The downstairs dining room was pretty packed, considering it was a Wednesday night. I took that as a good sign). We sat down and were given menus, and that was that, for about 15 minutes. Finally a waitress came over and greeted us with her sunny, upbeat attitude. (I'm being sarcastic). Honestly I'm not sure if she was having a bad day or if she is just a victim of RBF(refer to Urban Dictionary for the meaning of that acronym). Regardless, we didn't feel very welcomed. It seemed to pain her to even mention the specials to us. We placed an order for 2 appetizers and she hurried off. We had the calamari and the arugula salad, both very good but the arugula was out of this world good. The salad was pretty big and I wanted to save my appetite for the main course, so I asked for the rest to be boxed to go and got some attitude for that... I rarely take leftovers to go but this salad was soo GOOD. I didn't need her attitude over it though. For our entrees my fiancée ordered the Rigatoni and I got the Linguine Carbonara. Cue more attitude on her part when I asked if they had whole wheat or GF pasta. She told me (smugly) that they never have whole wheat and as for GF she said she "didn't know" and I'm like "ok...." with a confused look. I guess she picked up on me about to lose my patience with her so she goes "do you want me to find out for you?" I said yes and she walked off. About 10 minutes later she informed me that they had GF pasta and asked if we were ready to order. At that point we ordered entrees and waited to see if she would ask us if we needed drinks... (we brought our cocktails with us from when we were waiting at the bar, but by this point both glasses were empty)she never asked. Some time before the entrees came out, a gentleman brought out 2 soups "compliments of the chef", I believe it was a cream of carrot soup, very tasty. Our entrees came shortly after, and when they did I had to flag our waitress down for fresh black pepper and cheese, and finally some drinks because SHE NEVER ASKED that whole time if we needed beverages. By then I was over the idea of alcohol because she killed the whole mood and so when we asked for a Coke and Ginger Ale, she seemed annoyed... I didn't care. The food was tasty, at least. We got full fairly quickly considering the appetizers and bread we had.
Now this is the best part: imagine you're on a date with your significant other, dim lights, nice dinner, music, etc... and suddenly you hear the lovely sounds of... tables and chairs screeching across the floor LOUDLY. Not for a quick second, or a quick minute but repeatedly, and you are the only ones left in the dining area, still eating, trying to have an intimate conversation. The restaurant closes at 11pm, and it's only just about 10pm. How. RUDE. Mind you, this was my fiancées birthday, which I told the hostess when I called to make the reservation. No Happy Birthday, no nothing. No one even mentioned it, and the service we got just really ruined the experience. We sat there, feeling so uncomfortable with our plates in front of us (we were done eating) and no one even acknowledged us. When our lovely waitress wasn't dragging chairs around and rearranging the restaurant she was on her cell phone. Needless to say, we just wanted to get the hell out of there, and fast but we were pretty much held captive until she finished doing whatever it was she was doing. I had to ASK about dessert, and again another dry interaction with the server. We just said no to whatever she offered (she said they only had Cannoli and Cheesecake) and got the check. It took everything in me to tip her 20%, and I did it not because she deserved it, but to basically make her feel stupid for profiling us the way she did. I've spent $250+ on dinner and didn't regret it but $150 here pained me. I would've spent way more had she actually made us feel welcomed. All in all- I may place a to-go order for that Arugula salad in the future but that's as far as I'll go and that's a big maybe. For special occasions in the future I'll take the long drive and my money elsewhere, such as Prime Italian. read more