Amara at Paraiso — Restaurant in Miami

We've been to Amara about 8-10 times over the last few years so I feel leaving such a negative comment is warranted. Short review. Almost $200 for a handful of small plates with not very good food and poor service makes this place a hard pass for anyone reading the review. If you're visiting Miami and want waterfront dining, I get it, and I suppose there aren't many options, but be warned service is lackluster, the menu is unclear (they won't explain it), expect long wait times and there are random charges on the bill so be prepared.

We went again yesterday and now, consecutively, we've had three different service issues on each of our last three visits. Yesterday we arrived a few minutes early to our reservation. The hostess asked us to wait off to the side near the bar. It was already not a good sign when people were backed up in a cue to be seated with many open tables outside. We waited about 15 minutes before we realized other people were being seated who arrived after us (also off to the side). I called it out, politely, and some guy came over, who I presume was the manager, and asked if everything was ok. I explained and he didn't seem all that apologetic until another girl, perhaps a server came over to take us back to the front check-in again. Turns out, the hostess didn't check us in. It's these careless mistakes I've witnessed on the last few visits. To the manager on duty - you know what would have been a classy thing to do in that situation? Send over a glass of prosecco on the house for my GF. We dine out a lot and while we don't have many issues, from time to time when we do, it's always a classy gesture to send over a drink on the house. Which brings me to the next point.

This is not a classy place - at least no longer it is. Look not to sound like an a-h, people make mistakes and we're generally very patient and understanding people (hence look at my Google reviews, if any, and none are negative). I only leave negative comments when I feel like I am being scammed and honestly, this Amara place is on its last life. It's a total scam at this point. Dealing with an issue here or there you let it roll off - but at the rip-off pricing that you now have, you better be ready for such criticism if your service is subpar. And no please don't fire anyone or do any internal investigation. They're not the problem. Your problems are the operator, owner, and menu. If you have those things in order, the staff training should be a breeze. And as mentioned, most people are generally forgiving to younger kids working restaurant jobs.

I ordered some Mexican pancake type of thing and the server didn't clarify how it was prepared. It was a corn pancake with no fillings (supposed to have bacon) and some pico on top. $40 for that when you factor in tips and taxes (more on that). Total rip-off.

Overall the menu is confusing and sparse. Eveyrthing and I mean everything seems to go up 20-30% in price every time we go - while at the same time, as mentioned, service seems to be diminishing.

To the operator of this place. We've been to your other restaurants. All fine. This place is making you look greedy and incompetent. Perhaps you've coasted on extremely wealthy people looking for a waterfront food experience and as a business owner myself, I get that, but the place was not full (hasn't been on the last few times) on a day when every other place in Miami was at full capacity. This should tell you something. It's time for a redo.

As for the extra charges, please don't do that - I'll probably take that up with my CC as it's probably pointless to highlight my issue with...

I never take time to review a place, but this was such a terrible brunch that I feel that I have to save other readers the trip. I went with a friend who was visiting from Hong Kong yesterday for brunch yesterday. I had heard great things about Amara so I was very excited to go there for brunch. I have to say that it has been the worst brunch I have had in Miami in my 12 years living here. Here is my experience: Parking: you arrive to a place not very convenient to park. The white stones make the tires dirty. Walking around with black shoes, it is very easy to get white powder all over. However, I could live with this although for the price you would expect a better valet service. Servers are very cordial, nothing to say about that. Same about the entrance host. Our food order: we chose the avocado bowl, half a dozen oysters, two eggs over medium with crispy potatoes, short rib empanada, a giant prawn and churros for desert. I will go over each item: AVOCADO BOWL: it was just uneatable. The chips were literally covered in salt (see photo). I cannot understand how the chef would put so much salt in these chips. The avocado itself was just meh, nothing special but those chips could not be eaten at all. OYSTERS: despite the explanation from the server that they are "boutique oysters" (whatever that means ...) they had sand and little pieces of the shell in them. Basically you had a crunchy oyster. After two of them, we did not want to continue in case with chipped a tooth. EGGS: I ordered them over medium and they came super well done, like someone had burned them in both sides and then put them in my plate. I looked at the server and I said "this is over medium?" without hesitation he said "I am sorry" and took them back as it was ridiculous to serve two eggs like that. I only wish I took a photo! The eggs came back over medium a bit on the over well done side, but they were ok. CRISPY POTATOES: nothing crispy about them. Just boring, nothing special about them and too big to serve them whole. We ate just a couple of them. SHORT RIB EMPANADA: delicious, thank God one item was good! GIANT PRAWN: this came from the cart that has grilled items. What a terrible idea this cart is. It may sound cool, but why would you have a prawn over grilling till is so dry? They should be cooked to order. No flavor, just terrible. Again, extremely dry. How did the restaurant think this is a good idea? CHURROS: the dipping chocolate was so spicy. How can you go wrong with churros? Well they had way too much sugar and the chocolate, again, was way too spicy.

I really cannot understand how people like this place. Yes, the views are great but the food? Maybe I am so picky because I just came from Spain where I ate incredibly well anywhere for a fraction of the price of Amara. My friend from Hong Kong and I kept saying that a restaurant like this would not survive a month in Asia nor in Europe. I don't understand how people keep coming here. The manager was gracious enough to take off the oysters and the avocado bowl from our bill since we barely touched them.

Oh, we then waited 20 minutes to get our car from the valet. We were just laughing about this whole experience. Complete FAIL, never,...

We were in Miami and decided to have dinner in the area. My husband wanted to take me out for my birthday dinner. We were looking at different options and decided on Amara since it was on the inKind app list and it’s on my bookmarked list as well. We had an InKind coupon for $50 off $150. Yesssss!!! Plus their gorgeous outdoor area sealed the deal for us. The weather outside was perfect.

Went on a weeknight around 6:30pm and it wasn't too busy. although the bar was busy and the patio was busy. There was nobody sitting indoors.

Our server was Nathalie and she was very nice. We started with cocktails. I got the Jalisco by Night and hubby got the Lupe Martini. My drink was good with Reposado tequila and habanero but didn't taste too much tamarind. Husband didn't love his drink, but also felt bad about returning it.

We decided to try several different dishes and got the following:

Yuca Cheese Puffs with Truffle Amara Ceviche Aged Provolone & Caramelized Onion Empanada Chicken & Poblano Empanada Steak & Green Olive Empanada Chorizo Sampler: Rojo, Lamb, Seafood Squid Ink Torchio

Food was good but didn't blow our mind. Especially at the high price point. Surprisingly, our favorite dish was the cheese puffs with shaved truffles and white truffle oil. Quite delicious actually. My second favorite was the Amara ceviche although my husband thought it needed more flavor. I personally thought it was super fresh and had a good balance of flavor and texture.

The empanadas were incredibly fresh and so good! You can taste the difference with the high-quality of the empanadas compared to little shops that sell them. The steak empanadas were my favorite. The aged provolone and caramelized onions empanadas were a close second. I think the chicken empanadas were a bit dry but tasty.

I like chorizo, but I don't love it as much as my husband, which is why I agreed to the chorizo sampler. Lol. I will say the rojo chorizo was the best one, so juicy and quite good actually. Lamb chorizo was just ok and seafood chorizo was meh in comparison to other two options. We really enjoyed the sauces that came with the chorizo and empanadas. I loved the green sauce best which looked like a pesto or chimichurri. Turns out it was a tomatillo sauce. We asked. So freaking good with everything!

We were looking forward to the squid ink pasta. Unfortunately, it didn't wow us as much as we had hoped. The sauce was lacking and didn't love the shape of the pasta as it tasted dense. Wasn't a fan.

All in all, the ambience is what won us over along with the excellent service. The outdoor patio vibe is where it's at. Incredibly romantic and just magical with the lighting and waterfront tables. I forgot to mention that our food runner was very good as well, she was very informative as she put each food item down. Did not get her name.

Amara is pricey but having the InKind discount of $50 off $150 made it worth it. The menu prices are quite steep for the food. Maybe we just need to try different food items. They have a distinctive menu which I do like. Definitely come here for the whole vibe though, you won’t be sorry. Beautiful neighborhood all in...