PUB 52 Bar & Kitchen - South Miami — Restaurant in South Miami

I went to Pub 52 on 1/23 with five friends for dinner around 8pm. We were immediately seated, as there were only about 5 occupied tables. Ruben was our server and took our drink orders. Two people at our table ordered Jai Alai draft beer and noticed it tasted and looked different than usual, as it’s one of their go-to beers. Jai Alai is a cloudy and caramel colored beer and they received an opaque, darker beer. They told Ruben they were 100% sure this was the incorrect beer and he came back with actual Jai Alai and apologized. Then once we ordered our appetizers/sides and food is when it really started to go down hill.

The table ordered Truffle Fries and Korean BBQ Ribs for appetizers/sides. We noticed that the side of truffle fries did not taste like truffle at all. Then the entrees started to arrive. Everyone’s entrees looked amazing except mine never showed up. Ruben approached me after all the other food arrived and said “I’m sorry, but what was your order again? I forgot to place yours...” I reiterated that I chose the Ale Braised Short Rib Grilled Cheese.

One of the entrees contained ACTUAL truffle fries, so now we had a comparison of what our side order of truffle fries actually should have tasted. Another gentlemen (must have been upper management as he had a blazer/suit and no apron) walked by and we asked if we could get our side truffle fries replaced because they were definitely plain. He kindly assisted and quickly gave us the replacement, which honestly still did not taste like the entree’s side of truffle fries. Suspicious.

I was not thrilled about my order being forgotten, considering Pub 52 seemed to be a restaurant where servers didn’t need a pen-and-pad to write orders down. Like I mentioned, the restaurant was not busy either, so their mistakes shouldn’t have been from a big rush.

As everyone was almost done with their food, I received my Ale Braised Short Rib Grilled Cheese with add-on sweet potato fries. Sure, it tasted great, but I was put in a spot where everyone was just about fed up with all the mistakes and wanted to leave already. So I took a few bites and took the rest to-go.

We received the bill for a little under $220, before tip. I was completely shocked that the two incorrect beers, the non-truffle fries, plus my FORGOTTEN meal were all INCLUDED on the combined bill. Not only did Ruben say he literally forgot my meal right to my face, but he apparently had the audacity to charge us for it, along with the other mistakes him or the kitchen or bar made.

In the end, the bill was split between three cards evenly, as we didn’t have time to stay there and complain about this bill, but I completely regret it now knowing that each cardholder paid almost 90 dollars for a not-so-good time.

Although I’ve been to Pub 52 previously, just for drinks, the insulting service our table received this past weekend was not a lasting impression on the remainder of the table that’s never been there. I am not one to complain about service or a mistake here-or-there, but the line was crossed that evening. I would highly appreciate some sort of partial refund or I unfortunately will not be recommending this...

The place is open - nice - decent food - but not exceptional - a bit pricey for its quality and limited menu...We were there as a large party...as a friend of ours had asked us to meet as a group with a friendship of 30-40 years...we were approx. 18-20 people...and saw a few friends that haven't seen in years at other tables...so we mingle a bit...we were there for the band Nightshift as they have a reputation of putting decent dance tunes...however, our friend had an issue with the manager, as he asked the waiter Mario, who had taken his new ordered drink...Mario apologize and said "it wasn't him"..and will get him another drink...however, the manager refused to replace the drink and in turn our friend was disappointed and told the manager that - it wasn't fair and bad business to treat a customer like this and he wasn't "hustling" a drink...not a free loader...and our friend explained, " that he had brought these people to the Pub and party with Nightshift, and most had spent approx. $100 plus per couple as I myself had spent $120 with tip..for a burger with fries and a Cobb salad some drinks and Stella draft - this was disappointing and the manager would come over - and "challenge" our friend and to tell him that he would not replace his drink as our friend was explaining to us what had happened - as I and others were at the far end of the long table...our friend spent $200...then the manager came back and got on my friends face...and this point they were arguing - however, heated but amicably...and then ...the manager accused our friend of him "spitting" on him...this is not true..as you can imagine slowly we all left ...and then, that manager instructed our friend to leave - and escorted him out - then the manger was joined by kitchen staff - preps people...who knows...this ended our night at Pub 52 - which would had been a longer evening to see and dance to the band's music till the end...but we left ...its a shame - the place is nice and open and music to dance and party too...nice clientele and peeps - Mario was a attentive waiter and was put in this scenario - and may have been overwhelmed with the tables....hopefully this review will change a bit of the business practice - as I have "endorsed" Pub 52 for a FB peeps - business party of 60 people...perfect for this for its open setup...these are 60 people that will then review and comeback to Pub 52...I certainly would...but? friends of mine will be playing there and too they bring a good loyal following - MANTRAP......

Let me just start that I rarely complain about service, but this time was unbelievable. My husband and I were in town visiting his elderly parents (78 & 79). We went specifically to see a friend of his father who was in a band playing here. We called ahead of time to reserve a table. They tell my mother-in-law it’s $50 pp to reserve a seat and then take her credit card number over the phone. We arrive at the exact time of our reservation (7:45pm) and get seated at our table. A waiter named Blake gives us all waters and then said our waitress would be right with us and asks if we wanted anything to drink. We ordered a glass of wine, a draft beer and a corona beer. About 20 minutes later the manager walks by and asks if we have been waited on, we said that we think so because someone took our drink order but we wanted to order food. He sends a waitress over about 10 minutes later. She gets our appetizer order and then we wait for about another 30 minutes. We still don’t have our drinks so I go up to the bar and order drinks. Took about 10 minutes for it at the bar. When I got back to the table our original drink order had arrived. So now we wait for our appetizers another 15 minutes or so. I go to the manager and ask what’s up. Other tables around us who arrived later than we did had already been served their drinks and food and we still haven’t gotten our appetizers or been able to order dinner. It’s already now about an hour and a half since we have been there. We finished our now 2 drinks each and still nothing. No one came to our table, no one took our order, no one checked in us and all. I’m adding a picture of our table with our 2 drinks each and the menus. We finally ended up leaving there hungry around 9:30pm almost 2 hours after arriving and had to order something for pick up on our way home. I was so disappointed because the menu looked great but we couldn’t tell you if it was good because we never...