Corazon. by Baires — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

In town from New York City, where some of the best restaurants in the world are — where my friends whom own Michelin star restaurants have dedicated their life to restauranteur-ship. I have experienced all gambits of the hospitality business and full well understand what sells a restaurant sometimes more than the food — is that of the staff: their attitude, accommodations and understanding. That being said, I would say I very much so comprehend what top level service is and what it should be. I’m not here to disrespect the principal owners or the business as of this establishment. However, I do hope ownership does see this review personally and take it very seriously. This is the review that matters because I’m not complaining about less polarizing and impactful reasons (cold food, expensive bill). This is about discrimination, poor policy, poor verbiage or lack thereof, the idea of turning a patron away based on their clothes not being pants vs. pleated dress shorts (business casual). To ownership, fire your current manager and host. They are not meant to do this job. As a fellow business person, please hire nothing but the best and most competent; socially intelligent and kind staff, and the most sophisticated and easy going people. That is the true shining star of hospitality. A rude and pretentious staff member can ruin your entire business.

For context, yesterday, it was my wife and I’s anniversary — and our great friend recommended this restaurant to us. Our friend is not only a Michelin guide, a very kind and understanding person — but he is also a direct descendant of The Ming Royal Family (The Mind Dynasty) — he has massive sway in tourism, fine dining, various resort relationships from chair persons at a variety of hospitality groups, including hotel, restaurant and leisure, and golf conglomerates. His family left Beijing to retire in Orlando, so, him being restaurant go’er and tastemaker in the scene is essentially unparalleled with many important people. That being said, him being our local tour guide for the evening and having eaten at all nine of Orlando’s Michelin rated restaurants — he was never denied a table he booked for wearing pleated dress shorts. This restaurant is not even on the Michelin guide, let alone busy.

All being said, the host denied us our 9:45PM reservation on May 11, 2025, due to my guest wearing shorts (it was his reservation, not mine). On the reservation description, business casual is stated. However, subjectively in Central and South Florida, where I regularly do business — if I am attending a brokering of Kentucky Derby Race horses or the acquisition of a $166M yacht out of the port of Miami — business casual has always been and always will include shorts. Especially $600 Lora Piana Bermuda straight leg, pleated and cuffed dress shorts! The manager is wearing an off the shelf all black Men’s Warehouse special suit that is tailored for someone thirty pounds heavier, accompanied by a tacky red tie as if is scar face in the club during a 70’s disco. More comedic, the host is wearing a fashionova dress that you can see through — as if the restaurant was doing burlesque shows in the back. Yet, they deny a VIP wearing all white with a knit sweater around his neck? Silly. Low class. Lacking in sophistication. I took this very personally as the very people setting the standard totally lack the standard of appearance for the atmosphere ownership created. The restaurant went from an appearance of cool/swanky to a glorified Chipotle real quickly.

I asked the manager, “We are from out of town, it’s our anniversary and my best friend recommended the restaurant. Please, there are only a few tables here and it’s 9:30PM. Can you accommodate us this one time?” His response was, “No I cannot, I will not.” I replied, “You do understand that there is no specification as to what ‘business casual is?’” He replied, “No shorts,” and I stated, “But it does not say that on the res!” (we pulled up the reservation and nothing more was shown). Message me for the rest of the...

Tuna tartar was the perfect balance of flavor and freshness. Empanada filling was nicely seasoned and tender. The soup, I would love to recreate although we ordered two and only one came so waited for my husbands soup to come out which was about 15mins later maybe. Soup was cold by then but the flavor was good. Ginger something. If someone could tell me the name of it. My husband swapped his soup for mine so I could have hot soup but it was luke warm. Question is if the soup of the day was supposed to be more of a gazpacho, why did it take so long for it to get to our table? In truth? Probably they thought it was a good idea to give bartenders tables on a busy Saturday night and he either didn't hear us say it with the noise (cause him not hearing us call him happened a couple of times when he was right next us) or he forgot to place the order. Ordered the $110 tomahawk. I don't know if you can tell by the picture but the piece on the far side can be somewhat of an indicator. We ordered medium rare and got a medium well to well done. If you know how steak cooking works, you know that once your steak gets to medium to medium well it keeps cooking up once taken off the heat. Especially so if its sitting under a heat lamp which we did wait quite a while before it got to us even after our soup was delayed so maybe it was sitting under the heat lamp. Gave us time to people watch and observe which we do for fun from time to time. That might be a bad thing if the night is starting to go downhill. If they are eating and talking, they aren't seeing mistakes happening around them. Like the fact that they were somewhat discreetly kicking out a table next to us cause they were taking too long to leave. It was a birthday and looked like they were friends catching up. We were half greatful for that because the child they had with them was getting impatient and jumping around on our joined seats. At one point he knocked the pillow sitting next to me which almost slid my phone to the ground cause I had it on the seat between the pillow and myself. Anyway, we ate half of the steak because at least the few pieces in the middle was at least tender and edible. We paid for it cause we ate part of it and didn't want to wait a long time just to get another if we didn't touch it touch it at all. We had already waited a long time. For an expensive cut of steak, get it right the first time. Things happen but there are probably at least three to four people between it and myself who should have spotted the mistake before it went out. And someone could have come out and explained the situation. No amount of dim lighting can hide and overcooked steak. The bernaise sauce helped to flavor. The creamed spinach was good as well. The updated old fashioned was delightful and loved the presentation. And to top it off, it was my husbands and my 18th year anniversary. Do thank the bartenders Alex for taking care of us while we waited for our table. And thank David for taking care of us until he was too busy. For such a nice restaurant though, you should probably leave the bartenders to bartend and not give them tables on a busy night. I don't believe it is their fault when they can't check on you sincerely. I have worked in hospitality as a manager that served steak as a specialty and it was customary to give bartenders tables but only on slower nights as we knew they could give the best service to both only on those nights and still be able to make money. David did take care of one round of our drinks and offered champagne for our anniversary and even also boxed up our meals but in the end, we left the rest of the steak cause I don't think I could have doctored up the steak without ruining it from overcooking. We don't go out to eat very often at such places so when we do, we make it count. Unfortunately, we won't be back and will stick to our usual spot Linda's Cantina which has really great steak and we try to make it a couple if not a few times a year. Their ribeye might be actually cheaper if you compare...

Here's my honest review: ✨Location✨ The location is amazing. The Icon Park area has a ton to do and has a lively vibe. The bar in the building is absolutely popping on the weekends

✨Price✨ The price is outrageous for the quality of food you get. It's an upscale restaurant that screams mediocre. They made me pay a deposit and did not apply it to the bill. The prices have changed in the past 3 months and the website was never updated.

✨Ambiance✨ I think the ambiance would be great if there was more consistency. The bar gets better service and happy hour. It feels a bit of a betrayal to have people a few feet from you getting 50% off. It creates a segregated energy. Spoke to the manager Juan and he was completely indifferent

✨Drinks✨ The passion fruit lychee martini was great, we enjoyed the mezcal drinks. But I will say that the drinks are NOT worth the price.

✨Recommendation✨ Don't eat here. "The Eye" across the street is way better. The potato royal was dry and for an upcharge, it was a disappointment. The filet mignon was tender and the gravy was savory. The short ribs with the yuka puree was very good. A savory delight. The mashed potatoes were also delicious. The meatball appetizer was inconsistent. We got two and one was tender and one was dry. The empanadas were great. The chimichurri sauce was awesome. The salmon a la plancha was delicious. It was a symphony of flavors. Perfect fusion of sweet and savory The sea bass was flaky and melted in your mouth. But the seasoning was lacking. The rossoto was delicious. The Cabernet pear Salad was delicious. On the sweet side. The blue cheese did not offer enough balance for savory. The ribeye was a bad cut. It's supposed to be a fatty cut but all the fat was on the edge and the steak. The actual steak was dry. The chimichurri sauce made it edible but I left half my steak and half my potato royal on my plate. Definitely not worth the cost. Check out my reviews for places that are. The Eye across the street is way better.

✨Customer service ✨ I would say the customer service was not great. Anthony was a good server but other than that, the experience was mid. He managed our allergies well and checked on us frequently. Our server heard us discuss happy hour and didn't correct us that it was only offered at the bar. The 20% forced gratuity on 5 people was misleading. On their website it says that's only applicable to parties of 10 or more. We tipped well but honestly they didn't deserve it. When I didn't eat my steak he didn't even question why. ( It was dry for a medium ) He just threw it out. That's bottom bar service in my books. I asked repeatedly to see the Kialia room and I kept getting told "later" and they never showed it to me. As someone who does reviews for sincerity I would say that I felt like the customer did not come first. Once I told them I did reviews, the toon changed but it should not require that information for good service. I've been all over the world and I wouldn't say, in any way, that this was a fine dining experience besides the decorations. The resturaunt is pretty but I would never go back. The dress code was not enforced either. We dressed up to go out because it said business casual but there were people in tshirts and jeans. Not fine dining at all. The upcharged us for all of our food as well. Honestly deceitful and shady. My steak was supposed to be $52 and they charged me $56 for the ribeye. False advertisement all around...