Sala'o Cuban Restaurant & Bar - Live music — Restaurant in Miami

I would have loved to give this place a 5 STAR rating, but their true colors showed when the bill arrived. 1st off, I feel awful for the waitress’ that work here, ours did a fabulous job after she initially was “EH”.

So, we had to have them take back the SHRIMP/CHURRASCO STEAK because the steak was like “RUBBER”, the Shrimp, my GF liked very much so she obviously kept them and we replaced the awful Steak with another steak we knew was good, because someone else at our table had it. They conveniently left the dish on the bill, as well as charging us for the replacement as well. And this was after I politely told the waitress that everything else was absolutely amazing! But, you gotta take care of this one dish, and she did, but the bill still had it in there, and I can tell that it really wasn’t her that did it, it’s her boss, the manager that did it. This place is the quintessential “money grab”, which I’m ok with as long as the food and service is good, which it was. So why try to be sneaky and not take it off the bill to see if I didn’t catch it? Then, on top of that, and even more insulting and deceptive, they have the nerve to charge a SERVICE FEE, which immediately “comes off” as an inclusive TIP, which many restaurants do these days and it’s not a problem at all, but guess what?

It’s NOT A TIP, it’s a fee you have to pay without anyone telling you that this fee is coming. WHY??? Just charge more for the food, people like to know what the approximate cost of what their meal is going to be, some people order items specifically to keep the check low, I wasn’t, but many people do this and I have done this in the past, who hasn’t? But price was no concern to me, this was my GF’s Birthday and they did an amazing job bringing out her cake! It was so awesome! My GF Natalia was SO HAPPY!!! And, they had a female singer(who gave a shout out to Natalia for her Birthday)with 2 male singers and they were spectacular! Which is saying a lot because I’m not really into live music.

So, after the waitress comes back with the corrected bill, I give her 500 and the bill is now 436 and she was shocked I asked for change, she was so disappointed, I can see it her in face. And I’m thinking, I just gave you an 18% tip that is automatically taken, and when I got my change I was going to give her some more. She was expecting the 64 tip ON TOP of the service charge, so of course, I wasn’t a big fan of hers anymore. So I go up to her I give her an EXTRA 20, and I say this is on top of the 18% inclusive TIP I gave you and she goes, “NO, that’s not a TIP, that goes to the restaurant”. She felt bad as I gave her more money, she’s obviously dealing with this all the time and losing a fortune in TIPS, no one is going to TIP double. So take that ridiculous deceptive shady SERVICE FEE crap off, as well as any other restaurant that does this nonsense and hair raise the prices of your food, that’s ALL you have to do, customers have the right to transparency and the only people who are getting hurt by this are the waitress’, STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY, so disgusting, you’re essentially TAKING the...

Giving them a 0 since I am unable to give them a 0. Last week I had the unpleasant experience of dining at Sala’o. We were a party of 8 for dinner and celebrating two birthday’s. First as our waiter was bringing our drinks he accidentally spilled a bottle of Pepsi on my hair, face, beige blouse, skirt, table and some even splattered on the person that was sitting next to me and across from me. The waiter was nice and apologetic, accidents do happen and we were very understanding about the incident. Then our waiters shift ended, he excused himself and introduced our new waitress. From that moment on the service continued to go downhill. We had to ask for water several times, drinks, lemons @ least 3 or 4 times, our food was greasy and took forever to be served and the restaurant was not even half full. I could see from where I was sitting 4 or 5 of the waiters were all busy looking at their iPhones, talking, laughing and not paying attention to their customers. Then comes the real clincher, when I received the bill, I was charged for the coke that was spilled all over me. When I brought it to the waitress attention, her response, I’ll ask the manager.” When she returned, she said we removed the charge with no apology. But what made it even worse was that the manager didn’t even have the courtesy to come to the table. In most restaurants not only would that have happened, but they would have at least comped an appetizer, dessert or the persons dinner especially after seeing all the stain marks in my blouse. My suggestion to the management of Sala’o, instead of spending so much money in advertising your restaurant, you should use a portion of that to train your so called “manager” and “waiters” to a basic class in customer service and not be allowed to use their iPhones while working, that way they can focus on their job and do what they are paid to do. Lastly we were automatically charged 18% gratuity. May I add that I always give 20% gratuity or better (depending on service) bc I know their job is not easy, but in this case they were not deserving of a tip. This weekend I have family coming from out of town, we will be a party of 12 and made dinner reservation at one of your competitors…business you lost due to your lack of courtesy and basic professionalism. BTW I took my new blouse to the cleaners, they were unable to remove the stains and to the...

While visiting Miami, we were looking forward to eating some great Cuban cuisine. My husband is from Cuba and I was excited to go to Little Havana with him to test it's authenticity. We decided to go around 8pm for the live music. The band was amazing, playing some of the Cuban classics. The saxophone player was out of this world talented. Be warned: the music can get very loud. So if you are looking for a more relaxed atmosphere or want to have deep conversations during dinner, it's probably better to go earlier around happy hour. Otherwise, the band plays for 1-2 hours, and you may need to speak loudly. The server and staff seem accustomed to the loud music, so it wasn't really an issue for us. I loved the openness of the restaurant, with the entrance being totally open to the streets of Little Havana. We even saw a couple people dancing to the band in the street. The restaurant is LGBTQ friendly, and my husband and I felt totally comfortable! Our server Guillermo, was the best! He was super attentive and very helpful. He was happy to help my sister in-law who just moved from Cuba and knows very little English, chose the best entrée. He was quick, but not too quick that we felt rushed. We never had to wait on him to come around for drink refills, and he was always just a "head nod" away if we needed anything. Overall, probably the best server I have EVER had in my life! The food! OMG, the food! The menu is pretty much a slightly updated or Americanized twist on Cuban classics, with some chef specialties and unique dinners mixed in. There is something for pretty much everyone. The portion sizes are generous without making you feel like you are wasteful if you don't finish it all. I chose the Grilled Snapper dinner, that came with a delicious appetizer, the entrée with a side (I chose the tostones) and an amazing Tres Leches for dessert. My entire meal was just $45 which I think was 100% worth it! While there are certainly less pricey places to eat in the area, the experience was 100% worth the price. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who is visiting Miami. Ask for Guillermo if he is working! I would also recommend reserving a table if you are planning to go during peak dinner times or during a live band. It's super convenient to reserve online through Google...