Forte dei Marmi — Restaurant in Miami Beach

Located on the southernmost tip of Ocean Drive, this Italian import brings its quality cuisine and slow food values to South Florida. The original Amalfi Coast location, 2 Michelin-starred Quattro Passi, continues to be the inspiration for this father and son team: Chef Antonio and Raffaele Mellino. Coming from dinner at another high-end Italian newcomer the previous night, it took me a while to acclimate to this experience. I thought both restaurants would compare, given their Italian roots and similar awards. I expected white tablecloths and formal service, but that’s not the direction my night took at all.

I arrived on time for an early Sunday supper reservation that started off in typical SOBE fashion. The valet attendant’s rude demeanor didn’t charm. Neither did the first Forte staffer I encountered. The restaurant had just reopened after, what I gathered had been, a busy brunch. Our waiter finally appeared, after an extended wait. Confused and not sure what to make of his nonchalant and dismissive attitude, the Forte dei Marmi journey began.

The longer I took in my surroundings, the more the full picture came into focus. Locals (mostly Italian) popped in from time to time just to say hello to the staff: animated hugs and kisses ensued. The energetic kitchen crew and front of the house spoke mostly in Italian throughout the night. Growing increasingly beautiful as it darkened outside, the modern and chic vanilla interiors glowed with a magical amber hue given off by the many lit candles. The waiter’s demeanor morphed from an “attitude” to more of an Italian “temperament” I didn’t initially pick up. The more he spoke to us, the more it made sense. I can only compare it to when my Cuban friends and family engage in passionate conversations that involve flailing arms at dangerous decibels. Naturally, everyone else around us always thinks we are arguing. But nah, it’s just “our happy way of engaging,” I always say.

Once the first appetizer appeared, things started to look up significantly.

Every dish served solidified my newly-found admiration for Forte. The citrusy and well-balanced Thinly Sliced Octopus with artichokes in lemon oil was the perfect sharing size. Topped with Petrossian caviar and lemon zest, the delicate Calamari “Tagliatelle” nest ranks highly as one of the most interesting dishes I’ve had all year. And also one I hope to have often. Hint: it’s not really traditional tagliatelle pasta. The Veal Loin “Milanese” Style, sat pretty as the belle of the ball among wild arugula, tomatoes, and hazelnut mayonnaise. Crisp homemade breading surrounded the exquisite veal while the nutty sauce and greens added depth of flavor. Quale grande festa! Bravo!

Decadently sauced, the Linguine “alla Nerano” dissolved any remaining tension I still felt by then from my initial arrival. The grand finale, Forte’s signature Honey Onyx Pistachio Gelato for two, sealed the deal, fireworks and all. Priced at $30, I honestly didn’t think it would be worth it, but it was. The rich gelato arrived festively topped with pistachios and hiding cookie crumbles underneath the generous serving. I’m definitively guilty of spooning more than my fair share of this dessert; I couldn’t stop.

By dinner’s end, I had to admit I initially stereotyped the restaurant because of its prime South Beach location and the history attached to that space. But with a one year anniversary fast approaching, I’d say Forte is well on its way and staying on course.

Chef Raffaele, while briefly chatting with me after dinner, mentioned it has not been easy dominating Miami Beach, but he’s determined to stay focused and keep the restaurant genuine. He will ambitiously continue to do things his family’s way no matter what; molding to Miamisms isn’t an option. His passion and deeply rooted pride took center stage, as he spoke.

Forte dei Marmi is different and in a league of their own. The vibe, refined but approachable. Service, casual and unpretentious. The food, unapologetically...

I’ve never been so offended. The treatment we received on my wife’s 30th birthday was completely appalling!

The experience started well. We enjoyed our drinks and appetizers and placed our main course orders. The trouble began with our ribeye order. When the steak first came out half of it was decently cooked but the other half was very undercooked to the point of it leaking blood all over our table. We had to send it back. Then when they brought it back the steak was over-cooked/well-done.

This happens sometimes, it’s unfortunate but we really wanted the steak to be right, especially considering it was my wife’s birthday and so we sent it back again.

After 5-10 minutes, the head chef (Estefan?) shows up at our table, heated. He wants to know how it happened that we sent our steak back twice. He hears our explanation, then proceeds to yell at our waiter in an uncomfortably aggressive manner for messing up our order and says he will give us the steak for free. Great, you’d think, that’s a good outcome!

After another 10 minutes the bus boy brings out plates and spoons. Now we are super confused, why are they bringing out dessert dishes to our table? We were still waiting on the steak! The bus boy said he was told to prepare our table for the cake that I preordered.

I go straight to the manager, who I later find out is named Donato, to ask what’s going on and why we are getting dessert dishes and not steak silverware. He says he’s unsure and that he will go to the kitchen to find out.

After another uncomfortable 5-10 minutes without explanation we are told by the waiter that we will not be receiving our steak, that when the chef told us the steak would be free he was just referring to removing it from the bill, not actually bringing us another steak. What did we receive for free then??

This is where it got insane and weird. The manager Donato comes over to tell us that the steak was actually cooked perfectly the second time and that we were disrespectful for sending it back and that we weren’t deserving of another steak. In fact, the chef was refusing to cook another for us. This was completely mind-boggling to us. What temerity!

At this point I expressed my displeasure to Donato for essentially wrecking my wife’s birthday dinner with this strange and off-putting behavior. I can only describe him as a particularly disagreeable fellow who really does not seem well-suited to be a restaurant manager because after I expressed my feelings he became extremely aggressive and rude towards us.

We asked for the check at this point, without receiving the cake we preordered because we just wanted to leave and not be around him, quite frankly. Amazingly, the man won’t leave the side of our table, actively antagonizing us because we mention we are going to leave a bad review for the insane treatment we have received.

After we have paid the bill, he once more comes over aggressively, disagreeing with our sentiments about the night, imploring us to take the cake we ordered for some strange reason and just generally bothering us for no good reason. Just then the Uber is arriving and I’ve had enough of his erratic behavior and so I stand up and leave the table to go to the Uber.

Somehow, this so-called manager finds it even more offensive that I won’t listen to his antagonizing and chases me out of the restaurant yelling at me to never come back, gesticulating wildly at me like he wants to fight and weirdly calling me uneducated. Everyone in the restaurant is taken aback (appalled?) and is very confused by the situation. Manager Donato was making a fool out of himself in front of all the restaurant staff and patrons.

Go here at your own risk. Donato should be fired immediately, he’s a liability! What a terrible way to celebrate what should have been a...

before you read my review please note that the hostesses at the front were the most professional and kind people i have experienced in many restaurants in Miami Although we waited a while for a table, the wonderful bartender, Nina, made sure that we had all the drinks and plenty of fun and engaging conversation at the bar. The drink choices were excellent (La Vie En Rose is the perfect cocktail if you like sweet tequila based drinks, but ask Nina for the Mezcal Nina Special, it’s one of the best drinks I’ve had in a very long time and I’m a bartender in New York City… that should speak volumes to her talent and ability) Once we were sat, there was no lack of staff coming to our table and making sure that not only our water glasses were full, but our cocktails and wine glasses. The attention to detail was absolutely pristine and polished. The food was incredible. I would HIGHLY recommend the Branzino Tartare and the Zucchini blossoms, which were both done beautifully, with a tremendous amount of flavor. After that, we had the truffle pasta served inside of the cheese wheel!!! (Huge because I live in New York and that is a HUGE up charge) But the price for a TRUFFLE caccio e Pepe was too good to pass up. It lived up perfectly to my high expectations, as I work in an Italian fine dining establishment. My friend didn’t even let me take a bite of his food because it was truly just so amazing (he had the octopus) and the Ahi Tuna Steak I had was beyond comprehension. Order it RARE!!!!! I didn’t ask if they could only have it seared, but I’m sure the General manager, Alessandro, could make it happen for you. At the end of our meal was the coupe de gras, the pistachio gelato. I work at Cipriani which has a very similar machine to make our gelatos but I will say that the pistachio flavor was absolutely to die for (not to mention it was a literal TOWER of ice cream. I mean seriously, who could hate that??)

Thank you again to the incredible staff and management that has gone into making such a special place where you can feel at home.

As far as the dress code, the only thing I would say is I would hope in the near future they would allow short pants as the patrons are mainly from Florida. Florida summer is intense and while the fans outside were on full blast, being able to wear shorts would have made me feel a lot more comfortable! This is literally the only criticism I would ever want to give this place. It is...