our sobe september food experiences..... so on a recent week long break in miami (6 to 13 september 2014) wedinedin various restaurants including il sole by barton g, pied a terre, the restaurant by barton g and cafe prima pasta (dined in casa tua previously). in terms of service, quality of food, ambience and overall experience we would rate them in the following order (***** = our star rating)
1. pied a terre *****
2. cafe prima pasta ****
3. the restaurant by barton g ***
4.il sole by barton g. **
pied a terre was excellent. the food was exquisite, wine list exceptional (for such an intimate restaurant) and service by young staff attentive, knowledgeable and efficient. we love french food and would rate there dishes as highly as any as we have eaten in france. the sommelier and manager (i think) was very knowledgeable and he briefly showed us around after we haddinedwhich was a lovely and unexpected treat.
wedinedat casa prima pasta on september 9 and were very impressed with the menu , greeting, service, food and overall ambience. thanks to giuseppe marino (gm) for the complimentary drink on arrival and his interest in why we had choosen to dine at the restaurant. very personal and attentive service, coupled with delicious food.
our dinner spend was fairly high in the barton g restaurants. the restaurant was fun, and a one off experience. the service, food and experience was good and we had a lovely evening, smaller deserts are needed as they are so big they could serve 4-6 people easily.
we were very disappointed by il sole where the service could at best be described as haphazard (got the wrong wine, conflicting information about what was and was not available on the menu, asked if we wanted pre drinks in the cocktail bar, then we were not even served them before we were instructed to go to the dining room, snobby hosts and door staff, are a few issues that you should not expect in such a restaurant). havingdinedin michelin star restaurants all over the world they are a long long way off attaining any accolades in my opinion. we would not return , nor recommend it as it is over priced and badly run. the highlight was of course to see inside the former versace mansion which is an experience but not worth the money given all the issues they have with their service.
oh and got a great breakfast at finnegans way, south beach, great canadian bacon!