Salty Flame — Restaurant in Miami

I will start by saying that the restaurant is beautiful with a very nice looking outside seating area. We sat on the patio to enjoy the mild weather since we had traveled from the sub-freezing Kansas winter. Bonus if you enjoy groups of quad-runners blasting by every few minutes doing wheelie shows and sharing their love for the soothing crackle of race pipes at red line. I understand the restaurant can't control that but just a heads up to sit inside if that isn't your thing. I also want to point out that I am generally not one to go to the internet and complain, but I don't think I have ever even gotten this bad of service at Taco Bell and am accustomed to much better from a restaurant of this level. I will also note that while I only spent a little over $60 for an average at best burger and beer this night, the table of 4 spent a few hundred or more.

We had already had an early dinner elsewhere so just planned to join some friends that were eating there for a couple drinks and good company. I asked what they had on tap and ordered a local IPA that the server recommend while the wife ordered what we assumed would be a fountain Coke. Our friends ordered a bottle of wine and we all sat there thirsty for a good long while wondering why there was no water on the table yet. When the drinks came out (still no water, we had to ask at this point), my "on tap" beer turned out to be a bottle while the wife's fountain drink turned out to be a tiny (8oz I believe) bottle of diet coke. Whatever, no big deal. We decided to just split a salty burger with fries for $24 and a $5 side salad. When the food came out, it was just a burger on a plate with no fries. I double checked the menu pointed out the lack of fries to the server. Her response was that I had ordered salad instead of fries so I had to explain that I never said anything about not wanting fries but that I wanted a salad ALONG WITH the burger and fries. She left the table and at this point I realized that she had taken away my half full bottle of beer for some reason. WTF! I did eventually receive a plate of fries which were lukewarm at best for some reason and didn't notice until now that she charged me an extra $8 for the fries that were included with the $24 burger. At no point during the evening did she offer to fill my wife's empty drink glass so we had to flag her down to get another Coke and more wine. Now I'm not sure I have ever been anyplace that didn't have free refills on pop and was a little surprised to find later that those tine bottles of diet coke were $4.50 a piece. I don't remember exactly when but at some point in the evening, the sever hit and shattered an empty wine glass getting tiny shards on a couple plates and glass on the table. It happens but she took away the glass and a couple bigger pieces leaving me to pick pieces of glass out of my plates which is clearly odd.

I know there are people out there that will say something like "servers get screwed on tips when people split a meal" but we have found the meals at most restaurants are too much for one person so that's pretty standard for us and we always tip as if we had ordered separate entrees, generally around 35-40%. And while I cant remember the last time we had to break our rule, I had decided she was only getting 25% and that was being pretty generous considering the the level of service and the stolen half bottle of beer. As I was signing the check and calculating the tip, I noticed that they had already snuck in an 18% gratuity. Don't know if that is Florida thing or what but I've never been to a place with auto gratuity on parties smaller than 6 or 8 so that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I do understand that servers rely on tips for their salary and I do tip well and always because I'm not an a**hole, but it should still my choice on where, when and how much to tip so I found myself at a moral crossroads. Spoiler alert, she...

If you're looking for a new and awesome experience, check out Salty Flame located in Brickell where the Novecento used to be. There is outdoor seating, indoor seating, and the bar seating is pretty cool and comfortable too. The decor sets the tone for a nice, laid back, cozy ambience. I stopped by the bar for a quick drink as I waited for my party to arrive running late on Miami time lol :D

When we were seated at our table the service was on point from the beginning to the end of the night. There was even a moment where we ordered another round of drinks with our waitress and minutes later, they showed up while she was busy answering our questions and taking care of us. This blew my mind! And it wasn't like the Salty Flame was empty either! They were definitely busy and working hard taking care of all the tables.

As for the food and any recommendations? The edamame was excellent, and the salt and pepper calamari were delicious too. The flavors, seasoning, and kimchi spice thrown into the mix gives it a really nice touch. The Korean Fried Chicken was also really tasty and sweet with the sauce it is coated in. Finally, I had the flat iron steak as my entree which comes served with veggies which I felt like really made the Asian cuisine stand out and it was my favorite dish of the night. The balance of sweet and salty is perfect! Think of it as a lomo saltado, if you're into that, then you're going to love this dish! Something important to note is the sides are not included and have to be ordered separately. If you order the steak though, veggies came with it so that's a pretty sweet deal for me!

Really impressed with this new spot and can't really think of negatives here except for the Salty burger. This menu item is really popular and my friends tried the burger but I did notice it seemed a little overcooked and burnt. I think if you're coming out here stay away from the burger and just jump right into a steak! And if you're a fan of fries - highly recommend trying the kimchi truffle...

I had been to Salty Flame a couple of times before and thought it was just ok, but one night, I decided to sit at the bar. I was taken care of by Gigi, who ended up changing my view of the restaurant entirely. She was extremely professional, courteous, and kind, but not only that, she gave me some incredible recommendations after I’d told her what I’d tried in the past (I mainly had a lot of sides, like Chinese broccoli, kimchi, bok Choy, and one sushi roll). I told her I’m open to anything she might recommend because everything had been just ok and I was wondering what their best items are . She guided me very well based on what other customers had told her they particularly enjoyed. I ordered the Korean Fried Chickin for appetizer, which was PHENOMENAL. It came with an assortment of sauces and a dry rub, which complemented it perfectly . She also recommended that I get the rib eye and told me that customers go crazy over it. She wasn’t lying—the meat was cooked perfectly and was so juicy and tender. My knife cut through it like butter. I also followed her recommendation on a cocktail and got the Chinolita, a tequila-based drink that really was the perfect beverage to accompany my rather large meal. That level of high-quality customer service is rarely found in restaurants these days, and Gigi really made my night with her recommendations and the way she interacted with me and the other customers, too. She’s very easy to talk to, she’s quick and efficient, and she knows exactly what the best items to get are. Now, I can see myself coming to the restaurant more regularly . These food and drink items are definitely must-trys, and if you want an excellent customer service experience, I recommend sitting at the bar and asking for Gigi. I’m excited now to come back and try some of the other cuts and some of the sushi...