Bulla Gastrobar — Restaurant in Doral

I was excited to try Bulla for the first time and unfortunately the experience was just OK and left me somewhat disappointed. I had a friends in town this weekend - we were driving from all directions so Doral was a nice equidistant spot for everyone. The restaurant is well-located with ample parking options and they validate. We noticed Bulla had a solid brunch menu and bottomless mimosas so we made a reservation for when they opened at 11 am. We arrived on time and the restaurant was empty. We had 5 people in our party and they sat us at the smallest high top table in the most awkward spot of the restaurant with heavy waiter/patron traffic. I thought that was odd, but I didn't speak up or ask to be moved. Not a big deal. We opted for bottomless mimosas which you must order with juice - they only had passionfruit (why?). Clearly not the best sparkling was used and I think they were trying to mask that with the juice, but again, I committed and moved on to ordering food. I ordered the Huevos Bulla with the Iberico ham upgrade for $25, a tad spendy for me, but I don't see that special ham offered in the US often. I usually only see it when I'm traveling. I also ordered the ham croquetas. My friends ordered the burgers, octopus and the stuffed dates. The croquetas were mushy, not the typical texture of a Spanish croqueta that I'm used to, but we ate them and they were OK. The dates were overdone and chewy, nothing special. Octopus was OK - we ate it. The burgers looked solid but I did not try them. The guys at the table did not complain about them. The Huevos Bulla - beware of ordering this. This was one of the weirdest things I've ever eaten. The base of the plate was cold, stale potato chips - then the "potato foam" was just a heaping pile of potato puree. The huevos sunk in all that mess and I had to fish them out one bite at a time. The ham was dipped in truffle oil... I usually love truffle oil, but paying and extra 15 bucks for special ham and only tasting truffle oil - it was a disappointment. I did not return the dish because I was starving and everyone was mostly finished with their food - I picked at it and gave up after 4-5 bites. The service was slow for the restaurant not being busy. My friends had to ask for their drink orders several times - we were right next to the bar and somehow forgotten. We decided to just try to enjoy a few more rounds of mimosas which got weaker with every round. And, we kept constantly being asked if we want to order dessert and we just nicely said no each time, just bring us the drinks we ordered 10 mins ago. We were very nice despite the subpar service and still tipped well. You win some and you lose some, but with a bill of $300+ I expected better service and food experience. It really just solidifies my decision for no longer eating out at restaurants when I can cook better...

This past Saturday night, my friends and I (a group of six) dined at Bulla Gastrobar in Doral, and unfortunately, our experience was severely impacted by poor service.

Our waiter — I believe his name was Yasniel (skinny, blue eyes, Cuban, dark hair) was by far the worst part of the night. From the beginning, it felt like he wasn't interested in providing good service. I asked for a pineapple margarita and was immediately told they didn’t have any pineapple at all which was surprising, considering how common pineapple is at any restaurant or bar.

Trying to be flexible, I then requested a mango margarita, noticing they had "mango syrup" listed on the menu. Instead of checking with the bartender or offering to try, Yasniel told me that in his alleged 9 years of experience, he had never heard of that combination, and if I didn’t like it, it would be my fault , extremely unprofessional. Isn’t the whole point of good service to meet (and exceed) the customer’s expectations rather than blaming them?

The issues didn’t stop there. A few minutes later, my husband ordered an Espresso Martini without Baileys. Yasniel brought it with Baileys and, again, blamed the bartender rather than acknowledging his own oversight, despite carrying the drink to the table himself without noticing the obviously creamy texture and color Baileys gives. Not once did he apologize. Instead, he even pulled out the Toast POS system to "prove" he entered it correctly, which felt defensive, awkward, and highly unprofessional. A guest should never be shown backend systems; it only made things worse.

Later, my husband ordered a Paloma, and the waiter bizarrely claimed they didn’t have grapefruits because they were “seasonal.” This felt like another excuse grapefruit juice is extremely easy to find year-round, especially in Miami where you can find it on practically every corner.

Throughout the meal, he barely checked on us and came by a full 15 minutes after we received our food, pretending to check in. At no point did we feel welcomed or cared for as guests.

Overall, it was a disappointing experience. Bulla Doral is known for lively energy and good food , but service like this ruins the entire evening. A server should take pride in making guests feel accommodated and valued, not blamed...

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, this place is My HAPPY place. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the coral gables location and the Doral location and wow, excellence just has to be part of their core values because it is what gets delivered each and every single time I visit.

I had the pleasure of going to the Doral location this time around and from the moment I stepped in the staff was beyond friendly and accommodating. We were able to call in advance to reserve our seats so the moment we walked in there was 0 wait time(Great pro tip right there).

The moment we sat down I noticed that each table was well over 6 feet apart, I would even go as far as saying that some tables were ever 10 feet apart which was great. In order to allow for spacing between tables and still make it a comfortable environment they even expanded to the outside and built a beautiful tent that has additional seating which is genius!

Almost every door in the restaurant was open which made it feel like you were still outside even though you were sitting indoor.

Ok enough about the interior, let’s talk about FOOD!

I ended up ordering the classic! HUEVOS BULLAS if you’ve never had it, please drop your phone, get in your car, and come here to try it, I promise it will change your life. I also got an order of the “Ham Croquetas” which come with this sweet dipping sauce that goes perfect with each other. Followed by AVOCADO TOAST, where the bread is toasty enough where you get that crunch but you don’t find yourself fighting with the bread to rip off a peace, and the guac was fresh with an olive oil drizzle that was sent from the heavens.

Overall, this has become my GO-TO spot whenever I’m feeling like celebrating, hungry, bored, tired, or excited... so yea pretty much when ever lol

Hope this helps

-The...