Chuck's Grill

|

Grilled chicken fast-ish food joint.


What we had:


I had a chicken bowl thing with rice, black beans, chicken, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. My DH had a chicken wrap and a side of mashed potatoes. The chicken was well grilled, the available side sauces were really good. The wrap was quite tasty. The mashed potatoes were really good.


Décor
:


Not much. It was clean, though.



Service:


Nuveau fast food.


Overall impressions:


We'd go back. The guy behind the counter was really nice and helped out when we were confused by the menu. He even threw in a couple of plantains since it was our first visit. (They were really really good). There is a lot more to explore on that menu.


No company website; Google can't even find it. The restaurant is on 186th in Sky Lake right across from Skylofts in the Publix plaza
.


Rating:


3 out of 5 salamanders

Moe's Southwest Grill

|

Huge burritos, tex-mex style. Fresh ingredients.


What we had:


Big-ass burritos with chips. A Homewrecker (rice, black beans, chicken, lettuce, pico, cheese, guac, sour cream & cilantro) and a Joey Bag of Donuts (the same, minus sour cream & guacamole). All of the ingredients are fresh and there are 6 varieties of salsa to choose from.


Décor
:


"fun" and bright.



Service:


Nuveau fast food.


Overall impressions:


Moe's is one of those places we go to over and over. We love Moe's. Moe's makes us happy. To us, it's the best of the crop. Chipotle is nice, but Moe's just has more selection. Not as many meat selections, but it's just.... better.


Welcome to Moe's! ; what
Google says.


Rating:


4 out of 5 salamanders


***We have subsequently gone to the Sunrise location. We still love Moe's, and this one is closer to our place, but the guys behind the counter were terrible. The burritos were wrapped waaayyy too loose, the chicken was too wet and at least 2 out of 3 of the counter guys were standing around with vacant looks on their faces. Not the best experience.

I also tried something new; the Chicken Club Burrito. Ick. The bacon was undercooked, low-quality and too salty. The ranch sauce really didn't add anything to the equation.

I would skip it. Hopefully they'll bring the fish taco back!


Cheen-Huaye

|

Southern Mexican cuisine, with a smattering of Yucatanean dishes.


What we had:


I had the Sea Bass special. The sea bass was breaded and fried and came with rice and plantains. The breading was a little oppressive. The waitress said lightly breaded; lightly breaded this was not. Other than breading issues, the meal was pretty good. Not lay down and die good, but definitely eat there again good. My DH had some sort of steak tacos. The steak was tasty, the tacos light but satisfying. The salsa was fresh and featured grilled tomatoes.


Décor
:


Trying to be elegant in a strip mall style. Dim lighting, candles. The place was tiny, though.



Service:


Not bad. The chef (or at least one of the cooks) came out himself to ask if the special was good.


Overall impressions:


Not bad. We'd go back. The menu is huge, with a large variety of tacos, dinner plates, soups and appetizers. It wasn't quite the trip back to the Yucatan we were hoping for, but that just gives us another reason to hurry up and book a vacation.



No company website. ; what
Google says.


Rating:


3 out of 5 salamanders

Twenty-One Toppings

|

Gourmet burger joint.


What we had:


Sirloin burgers. I had goat cheese, avocado, applewood smoked bacon, grilled portabello mushrooms, mixed greens and the house remoulade on mine. My DH had bacon, avocado, provalone and garlic mayo. Both cooked mid-rare. We both had fries. The burgers were pretty good. The patties weren't huge, but with the toppings added I was a bit frightened of my burger. The fries were cooked nicely in fresh grease.


Décor
:


Minimalist vaguely "street" decor with a grafitti-style mural.



Service:


It's a nuveau fast-food joint.


Overall impressions:


Not bad at all. I liked the variety of toppings. You can really build any kind of burger you would like from egg or ham-topped to portabello and eggplant topped. The "fixins" were fresh. The burgers themselves aren't bad in price ($7.95 for a build-your-own), but the fries are extra. Keep that in mind. We ended up paying $25 for two burgers, two fries and two drinks. Had we realized, we would have split the fries.



They have a website, but I can't find it. ; what
Google says.


Rating:


3 out of 5 salamanders

Pasha's

|
Mediterranean brunch/lunch/dinner place with fresh food & Starbuck's coffee.


What we had:


Omelets. We went during brunch, but nothing on the brunch menu looked good enough to justify the almost double price as a regular menu item. The spinach/feta omelet was pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of omelets, but this was pretty decent. I didn't even need hot sauce. I did, however, put sour cream on every bite. The side pita was fresh, whole wheat and delicious. As was the fresh lemonade. I did like that after eating a 3-egg omelet, I didn't feel drowned in cheese and grease.


Décor
:


We sat outside.



Service:


Decent.


Overall impressions:


I'm just not sure on this one. I'm wary of anywhere that proudly serves Starbuck's coffee and bandies about their Zagat rating. That just smacks of pretentiousness. The menu was really large, though the brunch selection was disappointing. If you don't like omelets, don't want eggs with a pita (no bacon, it's a kosher restaurant), you're pretty much out of luck. I'm not sure what I expected/wanted, and to be fair my opinion might be slightly biased because my DH and I were having an argument while trying to decide what to eat, but I just wasn't that impressed. There were a few things on the menu I wanted to come back to try, but I'm in no intense hurry to do so.



Company website ; what
Google says.


Rating:


3 out of 5 salamanders

Fuji Hana

|
Chain sushi/Thai place based out of Atlanta.


What we had:


Sushi. The rolls we had were decent. Not top of the line, but entirely serviceable. The sushi chef was at medium skill; most of the rolls didn't fall apart, but they didn't have the grade-A tight roll either. Prices were decent, $5-13. Sushi selections are a tad pedestrian, but it's nice to see something other than the same 10 "specialty" rolls offered by every chain that does sushi. I'm interested to see if the lack of roe offered is typical of Miami. The hot tea came by the glass.


Décor
:


Decent. Quiet, dim lighting, nice patio seating area.



Service:


Decent. The waitress was confused when we asked for a sushi sheet. I'm not sure if that was just this restaurant or indicative of area trend.


Overall impressions:


I won't run back, but if I'm at Loehmann's plaza and want sushi, I'd go back.



Company website ; what
Google says.


Rating:


3 out of 5 salamanders

Dave & Buster's

|

Adult-style arcade with something for everyone from Trivia games to Skeeball to zombie shooters and racing games.


What we had:


The Monterray burger, horrible cocktails and a steak and cheese sandwich. The burger was surprisingly good; beef cooked medium-rare, decent cheese, mushrooms and a nicely-flavored bun. The steak and cheese was good as well. The fries were ho-hum, but not terrible. The apple-tini tasted like cough medicine. I've had an apple-tini at other locations, and it was pretty good. The replacement drink, a Tom Collins, was marginally better.


Décor
:


Loud, raucous and yet fun. The arcade games are where it's at.



Service:


Abominable. I went with a large party and half of the table got terrible service but appetizers and the other half got abominable service with no appetizers. The server was truly inept. I don't know if she had a bunch of other tables or what, but she was less than attentive and the food took half-way to forever to come out.



Overall impressions:


I'd willingly go back for the games, but I wouldn't expect a great dining experience. Think Friday's on crack. With zombie-hunting.



Company website ; what
Google says.


Rating:


2 out of 5 salamanders

Pita Palace

|

Local Glatt Kosher Israeli-style Mediterranean sit-down/take-out restaurant in the Loehmann's Fashion Island, Aventura.


What we had:


Shwarma and a side of fries. The shwarama (shaved turkey, tzaki sauce, hummus, green spicy stuff, cucumber, tomato, red cabbage) was very tasty. I could have dealt with more spice and I was in want of some pickle but it was very filling and very tasty. The fries were really good, too.


Décor
:


Typical pita place. No decorating budget, but it doesn't really need it. We sat outside.



Service:


The guys behind the counter were friendly, and the cashier was perhaps the nicest I've ever encountered. Beware: they don't take Amex.



Overall impressions:


The food was good, but not I must have it every day, but we will go back time and time again because the cashier was that nice.



No company website ; I couldn't even find them on Google. I promise it exists.



Rating:


4 out of 5 salamanders

Thai House II

|

A local Thai restaurant I really, really wanted to like better.


What we had:


A chicken wonton appetizer, Massamam shrimp curry and Saute chicken with chili paste. The chicken wontons were amazing; they were fried perfectly and the chicken was subtly nuanced and perfectly seasoned. They were served with a top-notch fresh duck sauce. The plating was attractive as well. The shrimp curry was disappointing. The dish had large butterflied prawns (overcooked, but the best part of the dish), huge chunks of sweet potato, huge chunks of avocado, huge chunks of onion, a scant few peanuts and a bland coconut milk/curry sauce. The dish would have been better with some spice (I requested medium, or spice level 2), and if the vegetables were in smaller chunks. Sweet potatoes the size of Reese's Peanut Butter cups are just disturbing. The chicken with chili paste (deep fried sliced chicken breast sauteed with chili paste, ginger, eggs, scallions and bell pepper) was great in the first bite and too sweet in subsequent bites. The chicken was nice, the bell peppers were especially well cooked. The ginger kept creeping up all in a single bite and there was an abundance of egg (which I'm not sure is entirely a bad thing, but in this dish the egg really didn't add anything taste-wise).


Décor
:


Beautiful wood carvings, decent (if noisy) ambiance and waitstaff in Thai-style dress.



Service:


Horrible. Our waitress was hostile at first, and it just went down from there. It was ridiculous. Our appetizer took over 15 mins. to come out, and the food was another 15 mins. after that. The drinks even took forever, and all we ordered was hot tea (Jasmine) and a Dr. Pepper. By the end of the meal we were fairly certain (at least we hoped) it was just our server; everyone else around us got their food in a near-timely manner. It looked to us like the sushi side of operations went much quicker than the Thai side.



Overall impressions:


We really wanted to like this place. We want to go back, if for nothing else but the decor and the Sushi, but we will definitely request a different server and we would like to sit in the Thai-style seating area.



The company doesn't have a website; what
Google says.


Rating:


2 out of 5 salamanders

P.F. Chang's

|

A chain Chinese bistro usually found in conjunction with an upscale mall. In N. Miami beach, it's next to a Morton's and someplace called Houstons.


What we had:


A really tasty seared tuni appetizer, I had a kick-ass sea bass dish, the brown puffed rice I've had dreams about, a really really really good key lime martini. I do seem to remember the sauce for the fish being a bit salty, but it was still nice and buttery and cooked well. My DH had a good regular martini and some chicken thing that was really good as well.


Décor
:


Open, Asian-influenced, modern, dark wood & painted Chinese mural. Big-ass war horses outside.



Service:


Always busy, but not lay down and die horrible.



Overall impressions:


I always forget just how much I enjoy this place. I generally avoid chains (or at least I try hard to), but this place does it right. The food is consistently tasty (at least the 3 times at 3 locations I've been to have been really good), and the price per satisfaction is right on. Especially in Miami (where a salad or a burger usually runs you $10), a fish dish for $18 isn't bad at all. Do be prepared to wait for a table, for the noise that comes with a large open plan, and tourists (it's Florida... they're everywhere!), but it's okay. You're right at home there in scrubby jeans or shorts or dressed for a nice dinner.



Company website ; what
Google says.


Rating:


4 out of 5 salamanders