My wife and I were just discussing which were our favorite restaurants on one of our exercise walks in the neighborhood and the most memorable place I could think of was Baleen at the Grove Isle Hotel (
http://www.groveisle.com/default.aspx?pageid=dining). It was her birthday and I requested a table right on the water, good food, very nice secluded atmosphere on the water, nice service. And, afterwards we strolled along the water of the isle and found ourselves lounging and swinging on a hammock (where I ended losing my cell phone). It was a nice evening overall. If you are the romantic type, this is a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of South Beach. Its not in South Beach but its got the flavor. I guess its similar to eating on the water at Rusty Pelican and Big Fish but these restaurants arent considered fine dining. We have been to pretty much every restaurant in South Beach. My wife said she liked Tantra (
http://www.tantrarestaurant.com/index2.html) the best. It was one of our first restaurants we dated at. We got a nice table IN a fireplace and ordered a selection of appetizers for dinner and ended up drinking ourselves to oblivion with 2 bottles of wine. All I can remember after that was the floor was carpeted with real grass and we dined in a fireplace.
The 2 particular restaurants that seemed to be hot at the moment (September 2005) were Vix at Hotel Victor (
http://www.hotelvictorsouthbeach.com/hotelvictor_1024.html) and Prime 112 (steak place
http://www.prime112.com/main.lasso) on Ocean, just south of 5th.
Vix had good service, good food, but the atmosphere wasnt as pleasing as I would like it. There were a bunch of small jellyfish you could stare at in a small aquarium but that was pretty much the wow factor in the restaurant. Go upstairs on the roof afterwards and have a drink if the weather is good, there is a relaxing lounge under the stars.
Prime 112 was just OK for me, VERY crowded and loud when we went and seemingly predominately an older crowd.
Our every day restaurant that we went to on Sunday nights was Soyka, by Mark Soyka, the owner of News Cafe and Van Dyke Cafe. Its on Biscayne Blvd. Its got a New Yorker, warehouse, somewhat loud atmosphere with comfort food, you can get away from the loudness by requesting a table in the alley area, which has the feeling you are eating in an alley in Rome. I suggest the Mussels appetizer with Crabcake dinner (and ask for sour cream on the side with that, it was on their old menu).
For Sunday brunch I suggest Blue Door at the Delano or Ritz Carlton in Key Biscayne. Hefty price tag per person -about $65 per person- but alot of seafood and good service. I preferred the Ritz only because it was unlimited Mimosas, great Ritz service, and they have an entire room tucked away filled with 20-30 desserts. Delano always has the cool factor (especially at night) but I think you only get one Mimosa and dessert is sparse for brunch.
If you are Stone Crabs nuts like us (in season from like October to April) I would ditch waiting in line for 40 minutes at Joe's Stone Crab and just shell out $55 per person at Monty's restaurant upstairs and eat all the stone crabs you can eat until you puke. We always swear never to go back but you know how that goes. Oh, order a bottle of wine with that, it gets your gastic juices revved up before you start munching on those crabs.
:tongue: