Toro Toro — Restaurant in Miami

This is one of the very few times I have felt that 5 stars are not adequate enough to describe such an extraordinary restaurant, so I will rate them at a 5+.

I have had this restaurant bookmarked for a long time, probably over 2 years and never went because of their strict wine policy which doesn't allow you to take your own wine, since I collect wine, I like to go to places with my own bottle and pay a corkage fee.

My girlfriend and I were celebrating our first anniversary together, so I thought it would be the ideal location to go to this restaurant and stay over the weekend at the InterContinental Hotel since both things are totally new to both of us. So I gave her the task of contacting the restaurant and arranging a few things before making our final decision. A couple of days later my girlfriend had all the answers so we were ready, I booked the hotel and she reserved the restaurant table... (I will mention the details of the Hotel's check-in the day prior and overall impressions in a separate review for the InterContinental).

So, we arrived on 3/10/17 at 7:00 P.M, excited about what was to come with all the hypes and high expectations. Upon arrival, we were immediately sat at the best table in the house, nice set up, our server was Ruth Welter and she couldn't be more graceful, informative, patient, professional, and friendly. They gave us two glasses of champagne on the house as a start off to celebrate our big day. We started off with Heirloom Tomatoes that was very good, for the main course I ordered the 30 Day Aged Ribeye medium with a side of Asparagus & Broccolini and my girlfriend got the 30 Day Aged New York Strip medium with Arroz Chaufa. The plan was to share the sides but Ruth forgot about my shellfish allergy, so she immediately changed it and it arrived a few minutes after we were already eating, this was the only mistake of the night solved so fast that I cannot even take a decimal of a point off the star rating.

QUALITY OF THE FOOD: Both steaks were very flavorful, tender and fatty enough to pair perfectly with the big-bold 10 years old Napa Cabernet! The portions were generous and the presentation was great, it was served on a hot-metal-iron-plate. The asparagus was super big, nicely cooked, and the Arroz Chaufa delish, it probably is even better with the touch of shellfish that it is made with.

At the end we were surprised by the restaurant manager Daniel Nunez with the desert (on the house) called "La Bomba", this thing is an enormous bowl made of dark chocolate with 3 or 4 ice cream scoops and several berries and several syrups. The server did a great job presenting it, its worthy to record but I only had my photo camera. I think the portion is good for 4 people but we ate it all - uppppp!

SERVICE: Everyone was gracious to us, they greeted us with a sincere smile, and their demeanor seemed genuine and natural. I never got the impression as if they were just "acting to make you happy", I believe everyone there enjoys what they are doing and they obviously must be getting compensated adequately. The manager Daniel Nunez was very kind to us, he accommodated the most miniscule and unimaginable things that we wanted to make sure that our night turned out to be what we envisioned as the Magical Night we wanted. It definitely was as Magical as a year prior when we meet for the first time.

CONCLUSION: While the restaurant is a little pricey it's worth every penny, any special occasion will be engraved in your heart. My suggestion is to not go on Fridays since they play super loud Salsa & Reggaeton in the hotel lobby. This ambiance may destroy all your dreams and can turn out to be a nightmare instead of Magical and Memorable. If you have extraordinary entreaty don't hesitate to contact Daniel, he will make it happen and you and your love ones...

Another amazing dinner date with friends for the first time at this joint. Im going to skip the drinks not because they weren't good but because the food is just amazing here. To start the apps are so delicious and l'Il tell you which ones we liked the most so let me break it down for you.... The lomo saltado empanadas: tender and juicy beef tenderloin with avocado and soy sauce, melted mozzarella. The beef was so flavorful that I almost ordered seconds and everything just melted in my mouth. I guarantee you that when you try these you'd want to place an extra order, that good. Chicharrón de camarones: crispy shrimp, aji Amarillo, avocado and rocoto mint salsa. This tastes almost like a sweet and sour shrimp but crispy. Shrimp perfectly cooked and the crust was just amazing. Chaufa: one of the best chaufa(fried rice) to date. Rice cooked to perfection with chorizo and chicken and good portion. Grilled Octopus: I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that this is the best grilled octopus I've ever tasted. Tender to the core while charred on the outside and sitting on an amazing sauce, this is by far the best grilled octopus in town. It comes with a side of potato salad that is good but unnecessary if you ask me because this octopus needs nothing on the side. Chicken and chorizo croquettes: my wife absolutely enjoyed these croquettes so much she almost didn't share lol. Cheese board: five different cheeses including goat and mamchego with honey and fig jam. Skirt steak: medium well cooked perfectly and tender topped with plum, string potatoes and a delicious salsa verde.

Mac and cheese: surprisingly a really delicious Mac and cheese at a Peruvian joint is shocking. La Bomba dessert: amazing presentation and very yummy. Chocolate sphere with berries, Dulce de Leche and strawberry ice cream, almond cookie crumbs, cheese mouse, vanilla and berry sauce all collapsed on the table over a plastic cover and big enough to share between four people. Cortadito cheesecake: least favorite and really nothing special. Having broken down the dishes I have to say that the service was top notch and possibly exceptional compared to other places we've been to. Our waitress was most attentive, friendly, helpful and interactive. Going for the parrillada type dish for two people next time...

We arrived without a reservation on a Thursday around 6pm and we were delighted that they were able to seat us quickly as we had a long 10 hour drive that day. Needless to say we were ready to tear it up on good food.

We came here as me and my husband have been here before for cocktails and enjoyed our experience and said we would get dinner next time. We brought friends with us as we were all vacationing together to celebrate our anniversary’s.

Let’s get into it- We were seated immediately and our server was at our table as we were being seated filling up our glasses with water. It gave us a chance to read over menus and have him explain things on the menu. Our server was fantastic. We ordered a good spread of food, some managed to get photographs taken before we jumped in. Everything with our appetizers was delicious and cooked great. The flavors were extremely satisfying after a day of snacking in the car. The Amarillo ceviche came as a suggestion from our server and it was absolutely delicious.

2 of us ordered the Wagyu, and both were ordered medium and arrived medium. They tasted amazing, so tender and flavorful. I like how they seasoned them and added the butter on top and it really made for an enjoyable meal. I also ordered the potatoes 3 ways and they were great. It had little crispy potatoes flaked on top, little tiny baby potatoes, and mashed potatoes. It was delicious. One of us said it was the best steak they’ve ever had, and for me personally it was in my top 5. I’ve tried lots of Wagyu and it was delicious, but I’ve had better. This is where the lack of 5 stars on food came from for me.

I would absolutely come back again as it was a very enjoyable meal and really wasn’t a bad price for a very nice meal. Our server also made the experience enjoyable as we didn’t have to wait on refills, he was amazing at explaining any questions we had, and his suggestions also made for a very enjoyable dinner. The food also came out in a nice timely manner and we weren’t sitting for hours waiting so that was also nice to get dinner wrapped up quickly and into bed for our cruise the...