07/03/09

Cabana Dining for Valentine's Day

by lcosta02

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

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

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

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

11/18/07

Very Romatic

by nmvranian

Two options for dining at this very upscale restaurant in the Delano Hotel on South Beach. Inside seemed very noisy. Outside on a warm Miami night overlooking the famous pool and gardens of the Hotel was wonderful. Service and food was excellent (and pricey) but worth it. It got crowded as the night went on and I think the service would be worse after 8 pm.

• Pros: food and setting
• Cons: Price

08/26/07

Drenched in sweat and embarrassment

by fangwayne

This place is embarrasing and the service is horrible! This was my birthday weekend and I thought celebrating it at this restaurant would be the way to go. Boy, was I wrong. Instead of a nice dinner, I was embarrased by the staff of the hotel. I don't know anything about their parking rules but from what I gathered, you can request valet parking if you have a reservation. However, I had a reservation but when I pulled up to the valet, they wouldn't park my car and we argued for minutes before they got loud and embarrased me in front of many people outside of the hotel. Although the food and the atmosphere is okay, but pricey, we were sat outside. By the time I finished with my food, I was drenched in sweat. We paid $300 for two people and in the end we had to go back to the hotel to take a shower. Go figure!

• Pros: food
• Cons: everything else...

Hangout for the hip serves five-star food with impeccable service.

by Contributor

In Short
Located in the ultra-swank Delano Hotel, this hot spot is frequented by Miami scenesters. The door isn't blue, but the food lives up to the hype, melding Florida ingredients with haute cuisine. The results yield creations like a foie gras "burger," blue crab cakes served with guacamole, slow-roasted duck with bananas and passion fruit crepe souffle.

08/04/06

Super cool!

by ctac

We love this place! This year we went to Miami twice, and both times we managed to get there on Saturday night. Ambiance is out of this world, great menu and drinks. Prices are a bit higher then at regular restaurant, but hey - it's at Delano! I know for sure we'll dine there again next time we're in Miami.

07/17/06

Atmosphere, decor YES-Food NO

by pmgd75

An energetic trendy environment, nice surroudings and decor, interesting people to look at...BUT the food is not at all at the level of the reputation; on top the servers are obnoxious if you are not a Star. The prices are above expectations for what you get: the cuisine of an upscale, trendy restaurant chain more interested with food cost than customer satisfaction....!!!

Go to the Bar inside, outside stop at the sushi bar (correct for what it is) but skip the Blue Door and go next door to Nobu at the Shore Club!

• Pros: Atmosphere, Philippe Starck decor
• Cons: Service, Cuisine

12/16/05

Superb Service

by dimankikk

Our waitress went out of her way to please us. This is so unheard of on South Beach! The food is usually quite fresh & tasty here, but my fish was dry & overcooked. She insisted that I return it & show the chef. The others in my party had delicious meals & I didn't feel like sending it back. I'm glad that our lovely waitress insisted. I took the fish home (the Cobb Salad & crabcake were more than enough!) and sure enough, it was delicious for lunch the next day. Better that the first time around!

• Pros: Excellent Service, Variety, Comfortable