Cafe Maxx — Restaurant in Pompano Beach

We where invited to café Maxx for a Holiday party. There where 14 People in the party. My husband order a Rib eye Steak, Which is the only steak he eats. He never orders any other steak. The steak was ordered Medium rare. I looked over and my husband was picking at his steak, I asked him how is the steak. His answer was it is all fat there is no meat. He did not want to complain since the couple who hosted the party frequent this restaurant all the time. He mentioned it one of the staff members, who then told the waiter. The waiter came into the room and said I hear someone has a problem with their steak. We showed him the steak. He took the steak and said he would get it fixed right away. great right. No, He comes back and says the chef said rib eye is the fattiest steak, so maybe this is not the steak for you. You may prefer a filet. (now we know that a ribeye is the fattiest steak, but there should be meat with the fat) My husband did not want to cause a scene so he agreed. The filet comes out steaming hot. My husband tries to cut it with a steak knife and is having a hard time. He goes straight to the middle of the steak. It is cooked to well done. (remember he ordered it med rare) he asked them to wrap the steak up, did not take one bite, and said we will just feed it to the dogs. Again he did not want to complain. the couple who hosted the party asked if the steak was ok. I proceeded to tell them the steak was way over cooked. explaining we did not want to complain. they said no if it is not right you absolutely tell them. We asked the waiter to see the manager. After a long wait no manager came. The host went to the waiter and said I want to see the manager right now. So he came, we explained everything just as I did above. The host even told him more then once it happens, it is ok.The answer from the manager was Now you are making me defend my chef and my food. He could clearly see the steak was over cooked. Then proceeded to say, the only thing I can do at this point, is take this off the bill. Not even an apology. He took the steak and off he went. So no dinner for my husband. On a good note I ordered the filet and it was cooked as ordered and was very good. At the end when we where leaving the host explained that was not a manager that was the owner. As a business owner, I try to never leave a bad review. I would have never left this review if the situation was handled differently. Fist the chef acts as though we do not know what a rib eye steak is. The owner thinks we want him to defend his food or his chef. No we just wanted to enjoy a great meal with...

I made brunch reservations for Father's Day, based on all of the positive reviews that were posted regarding this restaurant. Our reservation time was 10:30. We were the second table seated in the restaurant. It was an utter disappointment, to say the least. It started off with no one coming to our table to get our drink orders or at least even bringing us some water. My husband had to find staff members to ask if we can at least get some waters served to our table. Our waitress, who informed us that it was her first day, took a while to take and bring our actual drink orders. When we would ask our waitress for recommendations or clarification on some menu items, she couldn't provide us with any helpful information and would state how today is her first day and she is not completely familiar with the menu. We placed our order for our food probably around 10:45am, only because it took our waitress a long time to circle back to our table to get our order. By this time there were several tables seated around us, clearly past the time that our reservation was made. After about 30 mins and seeing other tables receiving their food, we inquired into the status of our food. The waitress seemed perplexed that our food had not come out yet and said it should be coming out shortly. Our food didn't come to our table until about 11:45am. My husband ordered the duck raviolis and poached eggs, that came with sundried tomato & basil smoked gouda. When his order came out, it was swimming in oil. Biting into the raviolis and eggs, all he could taste was oil. He sent the dish back because he was grossed out. A gentleman came, presumably the manager, came to our table and stated that that is how the dish is made, it is a French way of cooking and it was butter sauce. We know the difference between oil and butter, that was definitely not butter. I feel they set up the waitress for failure. How are you going to schedule a brand new waitress for a busy Father's day brunch shift? And if the waitress was truly new, why wouldn't you partner her with a seasoned waitress to ensure the service was carried out well? You're telling me that ALL those staff members in the restaurant didn't notice that all the other tables were receiving their food items, but the second table that was initially seated hadn't received their food? Wouldn't that strike someone as abnormal and do their due diligence to check on the food? For the cost of the food and the reviews posted about this restaurant, I expected a lot more. We wouldn't even give this restaurant another try, that's how disappointing this dining...

I attended Cafe Maxx with family for a birthday dinner and I was thoroughly impressed throughout the meal. Cafe Maxx is an innovative restaurant with a lively atmosphere and knowledgeable and friendly staff. Their menu changes daily; however, they have many staple items that will be consistently listed on the menu.

We started with appetizers. The crispy fried eggplant milanese was well-seasoned and paired well with two contrasting sauces. I was expecting it to be crispier but I was very impressed with the taste. The jumbo lump crab cakes were flavorful, well cooked, and seasoned and accompanied with vegetables and lime. The tuna sashimi pizza is a staple at this restaurant and while I do not typically enjoy raw fish-centric dishes, it was perfectly paired with cream cheese, caviar, and green onion and was divine. I highly recommend each of these appetizers.

For the entree course, I had the stuffed pasta shells bolognese, which was an elevation of a classic Italian meal. It was rich without being overly heavy, and the dark and sweet tomato sauce paired well with the savory and flavorful sausage. My parents had the seared jumbo scallops with lemon citrus butter. The scallops were cooked to perfection and paired perfectly with the risotto and asparagus on which it was served. My grandmother had the banana chip, almond, and macademia crusted triple tail, which had a creative fruity and nutty flavor combination that worked well with the fish and I thoroughly enjoyed. Lastly, my sister had the duck and smoked mozzarella ravioli, which was rich and flavorful, and the sauce and vegetables perfectly paired with the ravioli. It was my favorite meal of the night.

For dessert, we had the deep dish bourbon and chocolate pecan pie, which was very strong but flavorful and delicious nonetheless. We also had the Fallen Chocolate Cake, which was a rich, decadent, dark chocolate lava cake that made the perfect end to the meal. Both desserts were served with homemade vanilla ice cream, which complemented each dessert perfectly.

Overall, I was extremely satisfied with our meal at Cafe Maxx, and hope to be back soon.

Note: This restaurant has an attire requirement. No flip-flops, tank tops, or...