Blue Door at the Delano

02/01/10

Rip Off

by Will from NY at Citysearch

I live in NY so I am no stranger to expensive/small portion meals. However, this restaurant charged $48 for a pint-sized portion of paella (4 clams, 2 pieces of shrimp, 2 tiny pieces of lobster and a lot of rice and gooey gravy). I admired the owner's chutzpah. We also ordered a scallops appetizer which was well-conceived and presented but the scallops themselves were extremely undercooked. I also did not enjoy the atmosphere of the restaurant--I felt like I was still in the lobby of the hotel (bad acoustics) and the tables were laid across the room like at a wedding reception. Overall a big disappointment. The service was earnest and the manager did seem sincerely concerned when we expressed our opinions. However, I would not return.

• Cons: Food, Price

07/03/09

Cabana Dining for Valentine's Day

by lcosta02 at Citysearch

My wife and I did the cabana dining for Valentine's Day this year. The experience was great. The food was good, not spectacular, but good. Too expensive though.

• Pros: Beautiful setting
• Cons: pricey

01/10/09

No ordinary place

by ZailSolomon at Citysearch

Recommend making reservations, or you could wait some time to be seated. Took my husband there for his birthday dinner and it was very good. We tried the house special crab cakes and it was very good, with wonderful sauces. I had a crab chowder which could have been more flavorful - not to thick, though and that's what I prefer. My husband had the lobster, I had the pan roasted chicken - and they were both absolutely delicious. I give this two thumbs up! Attentive service, delicious food, a bit pricey on wines.

Pros: good, attentive service, delicious food

Cons:pricey wine list

• Pros: Great "Ambience"
• Cons: pricey wine list

08/14/08

Great food and service

by ROFLMAOPOE at Citysearch

Blue Door was truly impeccable in almost every way. The location of the restaurant was fantastic, the beautiful interior decor of the Delano hotel, complete with flowing white curtains makes simply entering the restaurant itself a luxuriously stylized event. Blue Door offers both inside and outside seating. The inside seating looked relatively conservative in terms of decorations and set-up whereas the outside seating was truly fantastic. Overlooking the Delano's pool, facing mile-high palm trees and surrounded by the infamous white decor, sitting outside at the Blue Door was one of the best seating arranagements I have experienced at a restaurant. People watching was inevitable as a constant stream of hotel patrons would traverse down to the pool, half a foot from the table at which I sat. Although it is always amusing to stare at strangers, perhaps the tables could have been pushed back a bit farther from the pool-going traffic.

The food itself was great and was quite an ecclectic selection. Their menu was also a testament to the inventiveness of the chef who was able to take two different duck dishes and make them both radically (and deliciously) different on every level. The service was great, friendly and knowledgable waiters who did everything from pairing side dishes to main courses to constantly removing and replacing ashtrays in between courses. There was really never a moment where I felt unattended by the service, and I was dining on a Saturday night at 11:00pm so suffice to say it was packed. The service was nice enough that I left a 30 percent tip.

It needs to be said that, while not cheap, the food was NOT overpriced. There are plenty of restaurants on the beach with far more extravagant prices, worse service and far worse food. I have been to plenty of such restaurants where the prices are through the roof, the waiters have bad attitudes and ultimately I leave feeling robbed and still hungry. This is not such a place, Blue door is worth it!

• Pros: Location, food, presentation, service
• Cons: sitting outside, people-watching may get old fast

11/18/07

Quintessential Miami scene

by marpop at Citysearch

Whenever I'm in town I always eat here for lunch & it's always a scene. Lots of tourists (it is a hotel, after all) and lots of people-watching (and believe me, these people WANT to be watched - ha). Depending on what you're in the mood for, you can choose the indoor area, which has more of a formal vibe with its high ceilings, white tablecloths and pastel-hued accents, or the fabulous outdoor patio setting, which overlooks the pool and has the cool wall of masks. Usually I order the salmon with the artfully presented Provence-style tomato (I think it's stuffed with cous-cous & topped w/parmesan). I've never made a reservation, but on the weekends, it gets pretty crazy so you might want to call ahead, especially if you have a large group.

• Pros: Great views, good food, people-watching
• Cons: Kind of expensive, but worth it for the scene