02/21/09

REALLY BAD SERVICE, DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HOSPITALITY-ARROGANT

by juec

As a gourmet couple (regulars and WELCOME at Masa, Craft, L'atelier Robuchon,Per Se, French Laundry,Fat Duck Tetsuya, Il Bulli Le Cinq,Guy Savoy, etc) that just moved from NY, we used to enjoy very much the food at Michael's since is one of the restaurants in Miami comparable to the ones in NYC. However, last night our experience there was AWFUL and it shows how they DO NOT CARE about service or loyal clients there(we go there usually every friday ordering bottles wine average U$150) . They seated us on our table and, 1 minute later, made us stand up- my wife being 9 months pregnant and on her DUE DATE, to change for another table that wasn't ready nor available!!! - Making us wait outside - not offering a chair or drink or ANYTHING- for 35 more min to seat us on the other room, while the table we seated initially was still EMPTY.(PS: on a courtesy call from Alia in the morning I expressed my concern about waiting time-mentioning my wife's pregnancy- and she guaranteed me I wouldn't have to worry) .To our surprise, the chef's WIFE- TAMARA SCHWARTZ- was the one orchestrating the mistake-after-mistake process and didn't seem sorry or concerned about any of it since our original table was probably to some friends of her. What they should think about is that clients that come every friday, ordering expensive bottles of wine and, most importantly, with a 9 months pregnant lady, they should be more careful since we have other restaurants options and they will have less and less clients like us, specially in economic times like this. REALLY BAD SERVICE. They don't know anything about restaurant management and hospitality, maybe they should try surviving in NYC, they wouldn't last a month.

07/08/08

Great lunch place

by janesneed

Best lunch in town for business or casual. Affordable menu with lovely atmosphere. you cannot decide what to get, so share little plates and try it all. Definitely get a dessert especially the chocolate with rock salt, yes rock salt...too die for !!

• Pros: Great prices and location
• Cons: parking tickets handed out liberally

Locals flock for the fresh and simple contemporary American cuisine at this restaurant headed by chef and owner Michael Schwartz.

by Rick Munarriz

In Short
Can you bring a farmers' market approach to a bistro setting? Fans of Michael's nod in agreement, as they chow down on locally-grown comfort food. The weekday lunch crowd consists of Design District locals, giving way to a broader audience as the dinner menu kicks in. Choices are grouped by size, from small (crabcake with carrot ginger) to extra large (snapper with roasted fennel). The quality isn't grouped, though; no matter the dish, it's always fresh.

06/03/08

Some of the rudest service I have ever experienced

by bosterwind

When Michael's first opened up, I very much enjoyed going as it was one of the first decent restaurants in the neighborhood. As the restaurant became more popular (mainly because of it's status as one of the few close-by, decent restaurants), the service deteriorated to such a below par level, that myself and everyone in my circle of friends and co-workers will not step foot into the restaurant anymore. This includes restaurant crictics for some of the major magazines and newspapers in Miami and extended area. The food has remained decent, but with such subpar, rude service, there is no point in going to Michael's ever again as the staff destroys the dining experience. Unfortunately the owner appears to have a very non-caring attitude about his actual patrons and the service, which he has expressed many times over to anyone who has complained to him as a past regular guest.

You are much better off spending your money at one of the many other wonderful restaurants in Miami who also have decent food, but actual friendly service that warrants the above average prices.

• Pros: A pro used to be the food
• Cons: Extremely rude and uncaring staff

05/24/08

Don't bring a date

by kevin2221

My fiancee and I dined at Michael's upon the recommendation of many others who have dined there as part of a group (4 or more). It is not the same experience if you go there on a date. On our night, which was very busy, couples were seated right next to each other at tables that should be combined to sit a group of 4. From what we could tell, there's about a 50 percent chance that, if you go here as a party of 2, you'll be seated very, very, very close to another party of 2. Perhaps I could understand if the seating were actually 2 separate tables with 4 chairs, but one side of our table was a booth, so we had to stand up every time the other group wanted to leave, go to the bathroom, or whatever. My food was OK, and my fiancee loved her food, but our night was ruined as there was nothing romantic about the seating arrangements. We will not return.

• Pros: New hot spot
• Cons: Bad seating

03/19/08

Incredibly Rude Management that Cannot Handle Situations

by sunflower234

I like the food at Michael's (although the steak is never cooked properly). I used to be a regular at Michael's and would go about every other week. I had two incidents there though that have caused me to ban the place for life. In the first, we were eating outside one evening when it started to pour. Our food was ruined, and the rain came down so violently that it splattered sauce from the food all over our clothing. The management would not let us change or physically move our table to a more protected area. They said something along the lines of "This is Miami and it rains here. Deal with it." They comped us our desserts, which basically covered the dry cleaning bills. We were unhappy about how the situation was handled but we still kept on going back to Michael's.

The second incident: New Year's. They charged $175/plate plus mandatory tip. Came to about $220 per person. Obviously very expensive. We decided we would do it, but only if we got an outside table because the center of the activities was going to be outside. We called and were told we'd get the last table. When we showed up that evening our table was NOT outside and it was as far removed inside from the party as possible. The coordinator told us he NEVER promised us the outside table. Look, they screwed up. We were promised this table and that's the end of the story. The manager said she was sticking with her coordinator and would do nothing for us. The coordinator said we could leave and he would not charge us (they had our credit card info on file). We verbally confirmed with him this point a second time. We discussed and decided to leave, because it was never our intention to have this incredibly expensive evening turn out this way. When we said we were indeed going to leave, he CHANGED his mind and said if we left he would charge us something ridiculous, like $700. So we were forced to stay. And we had a bad time. And I will never patronize this restaurant again.

• Pros: overall good food, nice ambience
• Cons: Rude management, inconsistently prepared meat, inconsistent service

03/09/08

Horrible Service !!!!!!

by elliotrand

Service is rude and awful. the wait is ridiculous. Food is very good and half did not show up, but hard to enjoy because staff was very rude. Do not waste your time or money at this joint !!!!!!

• Pros: Good food
• Cons: Everything else sucked !!!!