The Anderson — Restaurant in Miami

Last night went with a couple of friends to grab a drink and food. We had all been to the Anderson many times over the years and seen it take on different iterations. When we arrived we saw it was going thru more of those changes with part of it blocked off. We headed to the back where there used to be pizza - now tacos. Looked nice and potentially yummy. First red flag the bartender there said the bar wasn't set up so he couldn't serve drinks, "go inside." Ok well the drinks outside (that he couldn't serve yet) were a little cheaper and looked tastier (mexican inspired). We go inside to get a drink, 2 spicy margaritas and 1 negroni. It ended up taking 30 minutes, maybe more. It was still on the early side but a little bumping. Nothing that should have led to a 30 minute wait for drinks though. The bartender seemed to be having a hard time with sequence and attention - stopping to do things for people when it really could have waited. Waiting to close out the tab also took awhile, the bartender brings the bill and says he only charged one drink as a shot, and same as negroni - still full price, about $17?! We go back outside so we can order some food. We use their ordering app on the phone. While we do that we realize the drinks (at least the spicy margaritas) kind of suck, so we try ordering the ones outside. Long wait for the tiniest dry tacos ever. We got chicken mole tacos - no mole. The chicken tasted boiled and flavorless. We wait and wait for the other drinks. Nothing. I go to the bartender and ask about them - he gets flustered and said I need to go inside for them, he's still not set up. It's 10:30pm by now - I've been in the service industry I found it ridiculous a bar that's open is not ready to serve people at 10:30 at night. I told the guy no thank you those drinks inside were no good and we waited forever. I said please take the drinks off the tab - he says "you do it." I am like excuse me, this app won't let me. We get into a back and forth because they have a new POS system and he's basically showing it to me to try to figure out. I'm like "dude this isn't my problem, please just cancel the drinks.". then he says he has to get he manager. I go sit back down and wait. eventually my friends are ready to leave. The guy had to call the manager again to come. Eventually he shows up and takes the drinks off. I explain to him how I've been there a bunch and this was the worst experience I ever had, with absolutely no charm or interest he apologizes "I'm sorry that happened" - no offer to make up for it somehow or anything really considerate.

It seemed like the whole crew just woke up from a nap, and severely hungover decided to start working at the last minute. I'm not sure what was up but the service and everything was practically a joke. Extremely expensive annoying experience . Too bad because the anderson is like the last local bar that was reliable. I guess it's befallen...

I am a regular at the famous Anderson bar, Always great vibe, great drinks, great atmosphere...however. tonight Thursday Jan 24, I came in to show my fiancee what all the Anderson is about since i always bring in friends and clients, i never expected the treatment i got tonight. we were listening to the GREAT live band when i had to use the restroom, by the time i got to open the restroom door a server who claimed to be the manager held the door fiercely and asked me what was going on in my table, and why i was beating my date...I politely told her everything was fine, to get her hands off the door that she has a misunderstanding and to please let me use the restroom and we will discuss it in a brief sec. By the time I came out she was gone, next thing I approached her to discuss this issue and I found out she was a server, she portrayed herself as a manager and I asked to speak to a real manager. Another guy with his hat turned backwards shows up, guess what? he wasn't the manager either and i spent 15 min telling him what really happened... later on i found the real manager ( JOSHUA ALPERSTEIN ) and told him how disappointed I was that my fiancee and I were having a great time and the server claimed I was attacking my date and later changed her story to me attacking her... I have been here 100 times and never ever received this type of service, in fact, I was there 2 nights ago sitting at the bar and the bartender was charming as they always are. I am truly sorry i present them with such a terrible review but after the way the server treated us, her coworker to play the manager, the guy with the hat to played to be a 3rd manager until i got to the real manager ( who kindly comped my full check) but at that point my experience was ruined. the band playing that night by FABIAN BAND COMIC, was great we really enjoyed our early visit, however, the poor management judgement and whatever influence the server lady was under made us loss respect for the establishment itself, I was beyond confused of the whole situation and so was Joshua the manager. At the end of the day, i left with the most bitter taste experience I ever left a bar in South Florida, coming from Locals who work in the food and beverage industry. At no point i mean to sound stressed or to destroy the place reputation, but honestly, this could have been handle better than the way they handled it. you lost business from the people who sent...

We heard great things about The Anderson from some locals and were excited to try it out. The building and decor upon entering were fantastic! Very interesting, fun entrance area and beautiful garden bar area. Same for inside. Truly loved the decor!! However, it quickly went downhill. Bartender let us know the ordering system and handed us a menu. We went back up to the bar to order drinks and were then informed that they didn’t have the ingredients for most of the drinks on the menu. (This would have been very helpful information when we were handed the menu.) He winged it on 2 drinks. 1 was delicious and 1 was so-so. We ordered food and were again told that they did not have anything to make what we ordered. We settled on 2 small food items that they did have and ordered another round of drinks, that he was going to wing it on again. THESE WERE UNDRINKABLE!!! 2 sips gave me the absolute worst acid reflux! (I do not have these issues, ever, maybe once before in my life.) It was so bad that it lasted through this morning and is still lingering at noon today. We watched our food be prepared. (I love an open kitchen!) She did a great job and was fast, clean and efficient. She rang the bell for service and we then watched our food sit there for about 5 minutes. At this point, she turned on the heat lamp, which was definitely appreciated. We began wondering if we were supposed to get it ourselves. It sat for another 5 minutes during which time the bartender was chatting with customers and casually making a couple drinks. The cook rang the bell for service again, at which point we asked her if we should just come get it ourselves. She said that was fine, so my husband got up to get it. Once my husband was almost to the food counter service area, the bartender finally acknowledged us and started walking to the food service area to meet him. My husband still carried our food to the table. Food was mediocre at best. Probably would have been better if it hadn’t sat in the window for over 10 minutes. We left and found dinner...