Serena — Restaurant in Miami Beach

First impression of Serena is going into an exclusive restaurant. You venture through the lobby of Moxy Hotel into a courtyard lined with eclectic sofas and chairs. In the center sits a staircase with the name SERENA etched in hot pink neon lights. The floral decor turn this small restaurant into the perfect hidden gem. Even on a Monday night, this place stays packed. Our hostess, Romana, worked with us to honor our reservation and with a little maneuvering we managed to find a good spot.

While you wait, you can grab a drink at the bar or lounge on the sofas. However, for the sofas, you must go to the bar to order food and drinks. Also service at the bar is a wait and the bartenders are busy filling orders. Unlike our hostess, the bartenders are rude for no apparent reason. So keep in mind, like most places in Miami, this place is not for those in a rush for time. For reference it took us 30 minutes for a drink, another 30 min to order food, and another 30 minutes to pay. This is all while standing at the bar.

We also discovered the menu is different than what's on their website. They only have bar food and other basic dishes. We tried the guacamole and it is bland, but the salsas were good. The chips were half stale, almost as if they combined an old batch with a new one. There is a lack of drink options and drinks are limited to basic tequila mixed drinks. The bartenders tend to over pour drinks which just makes the taste and drunks worse.

BEWARE this place is geared towards crowds wanting to party and take liquor shots. I'm not sure why they take reservations, because this is not a reservation sort of place. Music is random and it has more of a club atmosphere than the luxe persona promoted online. Picture lots of free liquor shots and vulgar club music. Five minutes into being there the EMT was called to assist a woman who fell out of her bar stool. I also saw 4 people fall out of the swing chairs they have sitting around the bar. Also, since it is outdoor dining, there are people smoking marijuana vape pens AT MOST TABLES, so this place is not for you if you're sensitive to smoke/smells.

Overall, if you're a twenty something looking for a club like place to party without the need for food, this is for you. For those that want a date night dinner atmosphere, AVOID THIS PLACE! There are plenty of other options well worth the wait and the price. This place has so much potential, but it fell so short of the mark. We ended up leaving to find...

While the food was good, although small portioned for the price, my group experienced a very rude male bartender which killed our vibe and enjoyment. Potentially the 20% automatic service fee prevents any motivation for kind, considerate, and efficient service.

During the day there is no host, and you must oder at the bar. Despite it being dead and maybe 2-3 other people sitting at the bar, it took nearly 10-15 mins just to place our order. As we ordered all at once for 6 people, we even asked the bartender who was not writing anything down or on-screen if he had our order. The entire experience of us just ordering at a near empty bar and empty restaurant made us feel unwelcome and as if we were disturbing the bartender who appeared to be too cool to care about working.

While it took nearly 30 mins to get our drinks and an hour to get food. We were in no rush, however, one plate (a hamburger was missing). We notified both the server and then went up to notify bartender after the food did not arrive. Again had to wait, 20-30 mins just to get the bartender's attention while standing at the bar, which he assured the Hamburger was coming but seemed a little surprised and confused as if he forgot to put the order in (not a shock due to his reluctancy to take our order).

After another 30 or so minutes pass, and I was offered a free drink. I had to notify service for a 4th or 5th time, which kept assuring the burger was on it's way.

Then nearly 2 hours after placing the order, the server came to notify me that they could not make a burger as they ran out of burger patties! Even with the bartender forgetting to submit a request, how could it take so long for this restaurant to realize they could not even start on preping my order 2 hours and multuple reminders after ordering?

While they offered any other free lunch item to make up for their error our entire party was annoyed at wasting 2 hours in an empty and dead restaurant so we declined and left.

I came back a few nights later (as I was staying at the hotel) only with the mindset to sit at the bar and order drinks and chips to avoid waiting hours. There was a lovely female bartender who was fast and always checking on us so I guess it depends on the server. There was obviously a clear lack of care and hospitality by other bartenders/servers that would keep me from going back for anything more...

This was the worst restaurant experience we had in Miami Beach. My partner and came here for our anniversary dinner. We had reservations, but were a bit late because our Uber was late. We called and told the restaurant we are running late and they said it was no problem. Upon arrival we were told our table was not available anymore, that we could wait at the bar, get drinks and appetizers while waiting and we'd get a text when our table was ready. While at the bar, we were completely ignored for at least 15 minutes and had to flag someone to give us water, then 10 minutes later to order a drink, then we had to ask to have a menu, and after our appetizer arrived, we had to ask for silverware and napkins. The place is clearly understaffed, and the staff undertrained. We should have left right then, but we were hungry. I got a text that our table was ready and three minutes later I was by the hostess, who then told me that they just gave our table away! Because I didn't sprint there, I guess. We had to wait again! Eventually we finally got a table. Guess what? Do you think we got service? Nope. I flagged a disinterested waiter who was passing by, he looked at me as if I was bothering him. I asked if he knew who our server was. He said he'd check and left, never to be seen by us again. In fact, we saw noone by our table. No water, no order, nothing... It was like an SNL skit, except it wasn't that funny. Finally we came to our senses and decided to leave. I asked for a manager before we left, and told him how we were treated. He didn't seem that interested, and instead of an apology, offered that we "let's just start over, ok?" No, thank you. As for the food- guacamole was so so, although the portion was large. The drinks were ok, nothing to write home about. If you want an enjoyable dinner out-...