CVI.CHE 105 South Beach — Restaurant in Miami Beach

Whoa! This place has over 12,000 reviews. They don't need my help.

On my way home from exploring the National Parks of South Florida, I stopped by Miami to experience some Miami cuisine. Doing my research, it seems like CVI.CHE 105 was a good place to start. I drove through South Beach, people watching of course, and found some street parking and came on over.

I got seated outside, because the South Beach weather was absolutely perfect this early March. We browse the menu, get some complimentary chips and dips where the chips were all made of different things, including plantains, and had some little things that reminded me of Corn Nuts in there. A fun snack while we browsed.

I can't remember exactly which ceviche I ordered, but it was amazing. It had some white fish, some scallop, some octopus, all floating in their leche de tigre. And there were some little dollops of pine nuts and corn kernels there as well, for some excellent added texture. This seafood was so tender, oh my goodness. Such a pure presentation of the seafood, really letting you taste what it naturally tastes like. I was a big fan.

I also got to eat the Parihuela Amelcochada (All the essense of our Parihuela fused with a risotto mixed with squid, shrimp, mussels and clams. Topped with our perfectly pan fried catch of the day).

This dish was amazing. It was a soupy risotto, lots of sauce, which I loved, it really packed a punch of nice, Peruvian flavor to it. The seafood itself was inherently a little over, but the flavors represented more than made up for that. The dish also just looked fun, with little curly Q's of peppers, the clam shell right there front and center. A very well made dish.

Overall, this place was beautiful, the service was exquisite, and the food was dynamite. I would highly...

I am Peruvian so coming here from NYC was a big deal for me. So did it live up to it's hype? : no.

I asked for a recommendation from my waiter but he seemed in a rush so I felt pressured to go with his first rec but later regretted it.

My dish was a ridiculously Mediocre one with too chewy steak and underwhelming flavor of the pasta, I could have made myself from a trip to the grocery store at 5x less the mark up.

For being a Peruvian restaurant my food didn't have the flavor I was looking for. I even asked for aji sauce to enhance it myself and it tsted much better after that.

Shrimp also tasted freezer burned and there was barely any to enjoy. I was dissapointed I took the trip out. However the people next to me had amazing giant ceviche/ lobster bowl which looked like a very nice experience for a group.

My drink was okay, had a maracuya pisco sour. Would have liked a bit more foaminess for my liking but it wasn't bad.

My server had a bit of an attitude when I asked him to take a picture, and mixed my drink order up, etc. probably because I was dining alone because he had no problem giving great service for the large group next to me.

Wouldn't recommend this for solo diner experience.

I did love the ambiance though which is why despite the staff laughing and shaking their had at me for taking my photos 📸 I made sure to make my trip out worth it 😉

Still tipped though out of courtesy but felt cheated of an experience I thought I would have. I couldn't recommend this place for...

I came for happy hour (4–7 PM) and it was actually great — solid drink options and tasty bites that were surprisingly filling for the price. I sat at the bar, enjoyed my beer, and everything seemed perfect… until I witnessed something that really put a damper on the experience.

One of the bartenders (not mine, thankfully) was pouring wine when he realized the bottle was empty before he could finish the order — maybe three glasses total. Instead of just opening a new bottle and using what was left of the first one, he poured the wine back from the glasses into the bottle — not ideal, but okay, I get it. What really shocked me was that he then added tap water into the wine bottle. I was sitting directly in front of him and saw it clearly.

This bothered me enough that I told another bartender. At first, he thought I was concerned about pouring the glasses back, and he replied something about chilling the wine. When I clarified that my issue was with the water being added, he seemed surprised. After I brought it up again, he quietly moved the bottle out of my sight — which honestly made it feel even worse.

I didn’t call a manager, but I left uneasy. I’m just glad I was drinking beer. If you order wine by the glass here, I’d be cautious — unless you see it being opened in front of you. For a place like Ceviche 105, which isn’t exactly cheap, this is unacceptable.

Great happy hour, but not sure I’d come back for...