The Big Cheese of Miami — Restaurant in Florida

After living in Miami for 35 years I finally tried The Big Cheese for the first time. My husband said it was average, but I don’t think it’s fair to judge a place that you haven’t been to in over 20 years. We had not taken one of our children here, and I really wanted them to try it before going off to college. I would give this place 5 stars because the food was great. However, one of my biggest pet peeves is when my family’s food comes out separately. I ordered a Cesar salad and the waiter asked me if I wanted it first, or for it to come out with all the rest of my family’s food. I said I wanted it to all come out together, at the same time. First, we got some garlic rolls. I thought that they took a bit long to be ready, but when I tried them I realized they were fresh baked, fresh homemade rolls. They were super good. My family ordered an extra large meat pizza. Their pizza came out, but no salad!?! He said it would be right out. Well, it a Cesar salad, how long could it take? Even if he had ordered it at that very moment? Maybe 5 minutes? No! It took about another 15-20 minutes for me to get my Cesar salad that was supposed to come out with my family’s food! My daughters were both done eating and my husband was almost done with his second slice. So, my family got to sit there for another 20 minutes while I ate my salad, watching me eat, just as I had watched them eat. I will say, it was a huge salad! I mean, like the size I would make for my entire family for dinner. It was good, too. But I really, really hate it when everyone gets their food at different times. That’s not the point of a family going out to dinner. So, that was my first, and probably my last visit to The Big Cheese. The food is good, but there are plenty of good places to eat in Miami. They must be doing something right though, if they’ve been around for 35 years! It’s nice to see a family business survive...

I have visited The Big Cheese many, many times, and I have extremely mixed feelings about this place because the food is undoubtedly good, but the service is subpar at best. While some may blame the lack of care and service on Covid, I beg to differ. I went to The Big Cheese precovid and it was equally just okay. Let’s talk about the food: the garlic rolls are homemade with TONS of garlic and oil dripping down the sides of the hot rolls, the pasta sauces (red, white, and pink) they use are all delicious, and the pizzas are GREAT if you eat them in house. I do not, recommend that you take the pizzas to go and eat them at home because they will get cold and soggy quickly. The food, hands down, is delicious. Now the service? I can’t say the same. Our waitress was lost, our drinks needed filling up throughout our meal and she was nowhere to be found, the plates were taken off of the table while we were still eating, my mothers salad (which she asked them to bring before the meal) was brought out after the main dishes were on the table, the check took 20 minutes after we completed our meal to be brought to the table, and not once did our waitress bother to check in and see how we were doing. Instead, our waitress was very visibly just “hanging out” by the food counter area chitchatting and laughing it up with one of the line cooks. As someone who came from the service industry, I understand that the service industry can be brutal and customers equally so; however, this was one of those cases where the place was dead, there weren’t an over abundance of tickets going into the kitchen, you weren’t turning over a usual 8-10 tables, so why are you not checking in on the patrons? In all, while I will be eating at The Big Cheese for years to come (face It the food is good) I will be opting to take out as I have been doing because the in house dining experience is in dire need...

Flavorful, varied, and surprisingly affordable, it's no wonder The Big Cheese is so well loved by the Miami community.

Packed with more U of M swag than you can wave a ten foot garlic roll at, the interior is colorful and filled with cheerful energy.

Service is quick, friendly, and helpful.

When you first sit down, you'll have the chance to try their delicious garlic rolls with garlic sauce either on top of the bread or on the side. It's a rich topping with lots of minced fresh garlic, served with a sweet marinara sauce.

We tried out two items from their baked pastas menu: The meaty Art Kehoe Atkin Special and the meat lasagna. Both were excellent, although the Atkin Special is preferable if you're watching carbs. It's loaded with boneless chicken, meatballs, and Italian sausage and topped with plenty of marinara. No noods. The lasagna is layers of cheese, pasta sauce, and veggies or meat. There is a vegetable lasagna, but I did not partake.

We ordered some onion rings as an appetizer. They were good, but nothing particularly special (a bit better than average). We appreciated that it, as with several other things, were available in small and large portions.

We also ordered dessert. The triple chocolate fudge cake and "big" tiramisu. They were both sensible portions. Tasty. Moist. You might do better elsewhere on these if you're very picky about baked goods, but they're perfectly fine. A good, sweet end to a great meal

Bottom line: Definitely recommended. Come...