F&F: Asia de Cuba (Miami Beach)

December 16th, 2009 by abbe diaz

01asia_de_cuba

PX This presents THE F&F REVIEW

Hey, sorry we couldn’t make it to "Friends&Family," we were out of town/ had to work/ not invited. We’re really glad we finally managed to come by, though— it’s so nice to see you!
What’s that? You would still like us to take the time to fill out the F&F survey, because you’d love to take advantage of all our vast experience, knowledge, insight, and expertise as long as we’re already here? Because you invited 75 people to F&F, and afterward all you got was 41 "Congrats[es]!" 22 "Awesome[s]!" 3 "Ciao[s]!" and 9 "Best of lucks[s]!" ?
Of course, we’d be honored. Oh ha, yesss, we’ll be honest— brutally honest even, ha ha! After all, that’s what friends & family are for!
No no please, don’t send anything more, we’re stuffed, we can’t breathe, you’ll have to roll us out of here, ha ha ha… !

 

Asia de Cuba / The Pool Bar @ The Mondrian (Miami Beach)

What was your first impression?
it’s 24 degrees in new york— this looks pretty damned fine to me.

Please rate the Bar:
there are two bars inside the Mondrian Hotel. the larger one is nicer and far more comfortable.
there’s another bar poolside, and that one isn’t quite so nice. the stools are very uncomfortable (plus, 82 degrees or no 82 degrees, i will never ever ever learn to appreciate drinking from plastic "glass" ware).

Please rate the drinks/ cocktails/ wine:
all the bartenders seem sweet enough, but clearly appropriate wine service isn’t in their repertoire. thank goodness the californian pinot noir is decent, or he would have just completely wasted the entire drink (i would have had no qualms reminding him i DID say, "i’d like to taste" it first).
the mixed cocktail list tries a little harder, but if this is fresh lime juice in the margarita, well then i’ll be damned.

02asia_de_cuba

Please rate the Dining Room:
it’s very umm… white. and very loud in the evenings. which only makes me doubly glad i chose brunch instead of dinner.

Please rate the BOH:
evidently dinner is served "family style," and i didn’t bring my family with me— so again brunch and lunch prove to be better options for me. overall, i had four breakfasts and one lunch, and i’d say the BOH is somewhere between fair to good.

How was the staff?
informal and relaxed (this is miami beach after all) but very amiable and responsive. ultimately, probably better than i had expected.

03asia_de_cuba

What did you eat?/ How was the food?
eggs benedict: pretty good. the hollandaise is slightly spicy. essentially my favorite dish of them all.
"custom" tomato, onion, and cheddar cheese omelette: eh. perhaps a bit too much cheese and not enough tomato. also, personally, it makes me a little nutso when i see people cook red onions.
bowl of fresh berries: i was a little taken aback by the $10 pricetag at first, but now that i see the size of the bowl, okay. the minced fresh mint strewn over the top is a nice inventive touch, but i’m not entirely sure i actually like it very much.
smoked salmon and bagel "new yorker": it would be so much better if the salmon were sliced thinner. otherwise, it’s fine.
jerk chicken sauce wings (thePoolBar): not bad. slightly overcooked, but i suppose over is better than under. the sauce seems more sweet than spicy to me.
caesar salad with grilled shrimp on flatbread (thePoolBar): the flatbread is so ridiculously pointless, but it could have been better (and less pointless) if it were flatter and crisper. the shrimp were okay, but i can’t quite discern the justification for— what was it?— a $15 some odd upcharge? but whatever.
kobe sliders with "mojito fries" (thePoolBar): ordered medium-rare but they arrived raw in the middle. returned them, and of course they came back medium and dry.
the mojito fries look like they could have been great conceptually, but why are they so soggy? and is that green stuff supposed to be mint? because it tastes more like lime and oregano.

04asia_de_cuba

What did you like?
the weather.

What did you dislike?
one day, the hotel tested the fire alarm for over two hours and that really really irritated the ever living shit out of me.

What was your last impression?
it’s very cute and nice and all, but i would think twice about returning (i would not have visited the restaurant so often had i not been a guest in the hotel).

05asia_de_cuba

Would you come back?
i haven’t quite decided yet. i’ll likely try a different hotel on my next visit, but if it isn’t satisfactory, i might return here.

Thank you, and hope to see you soon!
thank you, i had a wonderful time.

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

Leave a Reply

[in an effort to avoid "spam," comments with URLs are subject to pre-approval]

Filed Under: EAT THIS