mcmomx4

My husband and I will be staying here over Valentine's Day Weekend. I am REALLY unfamiliar with the territory. I would love some advice on local art galleries and "not too loud" restaurants where the food is the scene not the people.

emcash

I can't help you with art galleries or gansevoort reviews (your title suggests you want that) but I can recommend Casa Tua and Sardinia for restaurants that fit the bill of what you're looking for. Casa Tua is walking distance from your hotel- high end italian with the price to go with it. Sardinia is more of a neighborhood place that is a very short cab ride away from your hotel. It is still very nice and the food is spectacular.

mark99

I would recommend the Wolfsonion on Washington. Also the Britto Gallery on Lincoln Rd has an enourmous collection of his work, and is his main gallery in the US for the Brazilian artist.

As for food, Casa Tua is a beautiful restaurant, but the price is very expensive and I would never walk away saying it was amazing food.....good yes...amazing no.

They used to have the coolest bar upstairs but now it is private, however I do believe that you can get in if you have dinner reservations. Perhaps emcash knows?

Good food..."not too loud"...now that is a tall order in Miami!

Then again what is "too loud" for you?

I might steer you to my favorite China Grill, but it can be a bit noisy with dance music in the background...not shout across the table noisy, but a pretty good pulse.

emcash

too each his own of course, but China grill is the last place I'd steer mcmom to-- very loud and, IMO,and the food isn't what it used to be. perhaps I went on a bad night, but when we went last year, it was the worst meal of our trip to florida.

Not sure about the bar at Casa tua-- didn't go upstairs when we dined there.

mcmom, you're staying at a pretty "Scene-y " place. DH had dinner at Phillipe at your hotel and wasn't crazy about it.

BartonG is supposed to be very good, but I havent personally been. The theme there, I believe, is a bit "food as art"-- the food being somewhat over the top.

mark99

As I indicated it can be noisy. Sorry to hear about your bad experience, I would love to know what you had that was not up to par. I eat out 3 or 4 times a week, and at least 1 a week at CG and it is the most consistent restaurant in town, and gets rated in the top 10 in Miami.

I can't imagine having that bad of a meal there under any circumstance, but if you did, I hope you talked to the manager, because they would have taken care of the situation.

I would suggest that if anyone is looking for a "quiet" vacation....South Beach is NOT the place to go period.

Asside from Casa Tua, the only real quiet romantic restaurant I know of closed down over a year ago....Pacific Times on Lincoln Rd.

The only other restaurant that I can think of is Azul, but that is off the Beach.

Remember this is South Beach...you are either in the "scene" or you have come to play.

I love the bustle and the noise, and I love the noisy restaurants....but...at the same time it is exactly why I moved off SOBE to Bal Harbor because too much of anything is too much!

emcash

not to hijack the thread from mcmom, but mark, I do remember what we had, and i was especially disappointed b/c CG had always been a favorite of mine (I don't live in the area, but have been to south beach many many times). I used to LOVE that place.

In any event, a review of their menu reminds me what we had: the cracklling calamari salad, the sezchuan been and something else that i can't remember.

mcmom- I would definitely look into Sardinia- truly a wonderful spot, and it's received great reviews.

emcash

I think the other dish might have been the lobster

mark99

Looks like we are taking it over!

Well personally I would not do the lobster and the beef is not one of my favorite dishes.

About the only place I will order lobster out is in Maine right off he dock!

The calamari salad should have been good though, that along with the duck are my two favs. SOrry to hear you meal didn't cut it.

Here is a list of what I think are their top dishes.

Lamb Spareribs
Grilled Garlic Shrimp (Black Linguini shrimp pasta in a red curry sauce)
any of the sushi dishes,
lobster pancakes
duck and calamari salad
spicy beef & scallion dumplings
wild mushroom profusion pasta
wassabi mashed potatoes

and the best martinis in sobe!

I wonder if the night you were there was a busy night. The only times I've had a bad meal there were quiet nights. Restaurants never seem to perform well when they are not busy.

emcash

It was a very busy night. This was my third time there, but the other 2 were years earlier. thanks for the suggestions, but i doubt i will be going back there!

butnotrmpt

How expensive are places like China Grill and Sardinia?

GoTravel

I'm not a fan of China Grill either.

Agree with mark and emcash that you are definitely staying at a hipster hotel.

I like:

Prime 112
Marks
Barton G
Nobo

I know I'm leaving something out but the really good restaurants in South Beach are going to be the scene.

emcash

here's a link to Sardinia-- you can check out the menu and its prices:

http://www.sardinia-ristorante.com/

emcash

Wish - if it is still open- you never know these days! - is also very good, with a cool scene but not sceney.

GoTravel

Yes, Wish is definitely still open but they've had different exec chefs roll through. Don't know if it is still as good.

sanibella

Food is definitely the scene at Barton G. It is a complete show!