Van Dyke Cafe

Recommends

liz f.

Joined 1 year ago

In the Heart of it all. GREAT location. food took a while to get but didnt really mind. Very crowded sat and watched people for a while. waiters were helpful with other hot spots. Try the samon

Recommends

black9971

Joined 5 years ago

Average streetside cafe. This cafe was personally recommended to us by a Miami local, and we saw it on a travel special on South Beach. We decided to check it out for the people-watching on Lincoln Road. Of all the restaurants on Lincoln Road, only this place and Nexxt Cafe were busy at 2 in the afternoon. The people watching was terrific. We sat at an outdoor table on the edge, which was nice even though it was very hot. We ordered a beer and glass of wine to start, neither of which was particularly cold. The menu is expansive, including breakfast, middle eastern, deli, italian, and seafood. How a restaurant can possibly do this many diverse menu items well is beyond us. We ordered the Cobb Salad, which wasn't good, especially not for $12.50. It took me longer to chop up the spinach, chicken, avocado, cucumber, bacon and egg than it took to eat it. The bleu cheese dressing was essentially Kraft from the bottle. I appreciated that the salad came on spinach, which is rare, but I wish the kitchen had chopped it all up for me or at least given me more than a dull cafeteria 2 cent knife for the chopping. My sister ordered the Italian grilled chicken sandwich, which was a panini. We really liked the sandwich, and the french fries were good too. The panini was fresh with a decent amoutn of brie. I wish there had been slightly more chicken to it. The fries were seasoned and not just a standard french frie. It wasn't that busy while we were eating, but our server never refilled our water. She also didn't get around to asking about a second round of drinks until we had finished our meal. All in all, we would not recommend this place. It wasn't cheap, and we would recommend going elsewhere for such average, mediocre food. We've been to plenty other cafes that have smaller menus with better results.

Doesn't Recommend

pinays

Joined 7 years ago

service was terrible. we thought that this would be a good place to people watch while on a recent visit to south beach. well, we were right about the people watching but the food was not good and the service was excuciatingly slow. after we were seated, no server came to offer us water or a menu for a good 15 minutes. a server finally came and said, "is someone helping you?" when we said, "no", he replied "i guess i'll take your order." "i guess"?!?!?! c'mon! food came waaaaaaaaaay later and it was not good. it took our server so long to get our drinks re-filled and another long stretch of time to get our bill.

Recommends

soulkind

Joined 7 years ago

So, So, So-Be!. Food...so, so. Music upstairs, superb! You'll soon forget the mussles are too saucy once you are seated before the most charming live enterntainment in SoBe.

Recommends

therealdiningdiva

Joined 7 years ago

3 Words: Cuban Meatloaf Sandwich. I vacationed in Miami over the summer, had an incredible lunch here. The place is great for people watching and is located in a promenade similar to Third Street - Santa Monica (to all my cali diners). When blessed with the opportunity to visit South Beach, please check out this restaurant. Try the Cuban Meatloaf Sandwich, huge and delicious.

Recommends

Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

It's all about jazz at this lively eatery, where pooches are as welcome as people.. In Short
Like the News Cafe, its Ocean Drive sibling, Van Dyke Cafe on Lincoln Road is one of Miami's premier people-watching outposts. Inside, it boasts hardwood floors, French doors and an upstairs jazz bar. Outside there's a vast outdoor seating area lined with trees. Van Dyke has a nearly identical menu to News Cafe's, including burgers, sandwiches, salads, omelettes, plus the delicious thin-crust goat cheese pizza. And for dessert they offer homemade cookies.

Recommends

seesamfly

Joined 8 years ago

Just O.K.. No doubt that the outdoor cafe is definitely a great place for people watching, and the live music scene is great, but that's about it. The food isn't all that great.

We went there for dinner late on a Friday night with a party of ten. Initially, we were told that we could sit upstairs and eat (where the musicians play), but what they didn't tell us up front was that there was a cover charge (I think that it was $10 or $15). So we had to wait [again] to be seated in the main dining area.

As far as the food went, my husband and I shared the paella, which we found to be good. But the oversized shrimp that topped the dish was mushy. My mother-in-law was not happy with the lamb chops, which she said were very dry. My brother-in-law said that the pizza was just O.K. My sister-in-law didn't comment on the sandwich that she had, although it looked dry. All in all, this was a rather boring meal and I wouldn't go here to eat again.