The Amalfi Llama - Miami — Restaurant in Aventura

Too much reality for a Friday night!

My wife and I arrived to this newly opened wing at the Aventura Mall full of new restaurants impressed by the new open design concept. We came for an early dinner on a Friday night to Amalfi Llama, a promising looking new circus in town which surprisingly was still relatively empty that Friday evening. We were impressed by the cozy design and different ambiances offered inside and outside the facilities. Strike One: The hostess asked us to sit at the bar and wait for our table to be cleaned. We ordered two drinks: a mojito and a dirty Martini while waiting at the bar long enough to have had the drinks prepared -had it being any other bar in the Miami area- we were asked to be seated by our table and I reminded the bartender to have our long awaited drinks delivered to our table. We reminded the hostess who seated us about our drinks as well as to our designated waitress, with whom we ordered fried calamari as appetizers, hoping to ingest them while our long awaited drinks arrive to our table. Our waitress came back to our table with the calamari and we reminded her one more time about our overdue expected cocktails. She promised they were on their way. On their way from where, Patagonia or Amalfi, Italy?. They had been ordered about half an hour ago!. Disconnected restaurant staff members such as bartenders, kitchen personnel and waiters is a sign of poor management and is the first thing that affect the clientele, a cheff told me once. Forget the drinks, please, I politely requested. Timing is everything. Strike Two: The thick breaded calamari were salty and over-fried as if they were pork chicharrons. We gave up hope on our cocktails and requested Coca Cola instead to have with a Positano pizza accompanied by a Cesar Salad still hopping to save the night considering that things were not as good as they seemed. The Coca cola was from the fountain, not bottled but refills were part of the deal like in Pizza Hut. The thin crusted pizza was so attractive looking but loaded with red hot peppers that made us think of a tacit vendetta against us from management for having rejected the drinks. We were never explained by the waitress how hot the Positano Pizza was supposed to be, as expected when different levels of spicy food is served even at the must humble Mexican, Indian or Thai restaurants anywhere in North America or as suggested by the American Heart Association. There I was, still silently trying to defend what was left of my Friday evening dinner removing, from the pizza surface, tons of finely shopped Habanero peppers which took over other flavors a delicious pizza was designed to have offered. The Cesar Salad hardly had any lettuce leaves as expected, but consisted mostly in clumsy cut chunks of unsavory lettuce stalks pampered in strong Kraft Cesar like tasting salad dressing. Strike Three: Perhaps because we were good kids and silently ate our food, the restaurant graciously tried to compensate the flaws we had with the delayed drinks by offering free desserts as we never complaint about the excess of Habanero peppers on our Positano Pizza or the Cesar Salad that seemed to have been made with lettuce stalks pulled out from a charity donation box. The Chocolate Capri (see the dessert menu) tasted like old burned bread pudding made by the spinster aunt three days before a family gatherings and the Tiramisu was tasteless to say the least. The Pistachio ice cream accompanying the Chocolate Capri was just average tasting. It is almost impossible to ruin a pistachio ice cream unless the nuts are rancid. We were charged 18% gratuity/disservice on top of the bill to enhance the aggravations. The place is cozy and casually luxurious looking though, and is still new since opened to the public by the end of January 2024. I hope Amalfi Llama's management smartens up and brings their food quality and customer service to match the beauty of this new wing of Aventura Mall targeted by so many tourists attracted by the new and ambitiously well designed facilities.

You...

A Disaster From Start To Finish.. disappointed is an understatement.

My boyfriend and I have been talking about trying this place for MONTHS, so he surprised me last night with Dinner here for Valentine’s Day! He had made reservations 2 or more weeks ago for their Valentine Prefixed Menu. This was prepaid online (keep note of this).

Our reservation was originally at 7:15; however we requested to have this pushed to 7:30 since Miami Traffic got in the way. They said no problem! We arrive at 7:30 and are waiting about 10 min to speak to a hostess. She eventually tells us to wait off to the side for 10-15 min until our table is ready and if we’d like we can wait at the bar and she’ll come get us.

My boyfriend was reluctant to wait at the bar for fear they’d forget us, but me being naive was like “Nooo let’s go get a drink! She’ll remember us, don’t worry”. We were at the bar for 40 minutes.

We go to the hostess requesting an update to which she said “you can wait at the bar” to which I said “No. We were just there. Where is our table?” She said “let me look” looks at her iPad and does absolutely nothing then walks away to seat other people. She comes back eventually and does not acknowledge us so we get her attention and she says “10-15 minutes”. So I’m pissed at this point because it’s over an hour waiting to be seated for our RESERVED table. I tell her no, you’re gonna find a table or you’re gonna refund us. We’re seated at 8:45pm.

Look at this novel I’ve written and we haven’t even gotten our food yet - crazy! We get sat, the waiter comes over he takes our orders and leaves. We get our first course after something like 30 minutes (empanadas - they were alright. Nothing to write home about). Our second course, salad, - couldn’t tell you how it is because it never came to our table. Third course (the main course) we waited over an hour and a half for after already waiting for our salads for god knows how long. My boyfriend got the filet (he asked for Medium - it was medium-rare definitely leaning more towards rare; however, he did say it was good but his dad cooks a better steak.) I ordered the Branzino - delicious. My chili broccolini was good and his potato purée was excellent. I will say - we’re starving at this point so I really would’ve eaten anything. Fourth course - dessert. We wait again for some ridiculous amount of time. Tiramisu and cheesecake - mid, could’ve done without.

In allll of this, the manager comes over TWICE to our table to apologize for the wait and offers us a free bottle of Prosecco and to comp our drinks. The bottle never came. The drinks were not comped as you’ll find shortly.

It’s time for the bill! Thank god get me out of this place we’ve been here for houuurssss!!! They try to charge us the whole bill - remember, this was prepaid. We show our online receipt to the waiter - he walks away???? He comes back waiting for payment and we’re like …we already paid. We need the difference for our drinks. Mind you, we already closed out our tab at the bar from earlier so we could only be getting charged for 1 glass of wine, a lychee martini, and espresso martini. They come back with a $130 bill for the difference. Our drinks are not $130 so pleeeease explain to me where this fake number came from?! We ask for the manager - we wait like 30 min for this manager and it’s a different one than before. She offers $20 off the bill for the inconvenience of not getting our salad.. girl bye. She ends up comping the drinks and we are asked to pay $22 for tip & tax.

The whole meal should’ve been refunded to be honest with you. We were leaving the restaurant at 11:45pm when they brought our salads boxed up for us to take home. LOL I DONT WANT YOUR FREAKING SALAD!! THE SALAD WASNT THE ISSUE! We left the salad. We left the restaurant. We spent 4.5 hours at this restaurant NOT by choice. This was horrific on so many levels.

Oh yeah, my fav part was when they told us to come on a weekday when it’s not so packed. Buddy… I’m never...

I visited this restaurant on two separate occasions, and my experiences were markedly different.

On my first visit, the experience was quite pleasant. The ambiance was inviting, and the food was delicious, with no complaints in that regard. Although the service was somewhat slow, it was understandable given that the restaurant had just opened a couple of months ago, but come on, the restaurant was pretty empty. Considering the prices charged, however, I expected a more efficient service.

My second visit, unfortunately, was disappointing. I had been looking forward to returning, as my initial experience was satisfying. I brought some business partners along, but the evening quickly became a source of embarrassment. We had to wait 15 minutes for our table despite having a reservation. Initially, our service was handled by a friendly server, but she was replaced by another waiter shortly after we were seated.

The new waiter’s performance was subpar. Whenever there was a problem, he was nearly crying, barely holding it together. I have an understanding for human feelings if it is a one slip-up, but we witnessed his hysterical behavior more than two times during our dinner. The drinks took an excessive amount of time to arrive and were served at different times. He also forgot some beer orders and brought the wrong beer without explanation, which we had to address ourselves. It would have been preferable if he had informed us about the shortage and offered alternatives.

The food service was equally disorganized, arriving at staggered intervals, which meant that we ate at different times. Throughout the meal, there was a lack of hospitality and attentiveness. To make matters worse, the waiter spilled a drink on my lap, which, while unfortunate, could be forgiven. What was truly unacceptable was his behavior afterward: he took my phone without permission and recorded a selfie video apologizing for his mistakes, which was both unprofessional and inappropriate.

The compensation for this level of service, according to my research, is just under $10 per hour, which might explain the automatic 20% service charge added to the bill. While I understand that tipping is meant to reward good service, I find it troubling to be charged a substantial tip for such a poor experience.

In conclusion, the second visit was marred by inadequate service, unprofessional behavior, and a lack of respect for the customer. Based on this experience, I am unlikely to return to this restaurant and would prefer to spend my time and money at establishments where customers are valued and treated...