Happy Wine Calle Ocho — Restaurant in West Miami

Let me start by saying that we have been there alot of times and always had a great experience but with that being said, I called to make a reservation for 8 people like 2 weeks before since I was going to take executives(from out of town) from different banks that I work with and wanted them to experience Miami. The day before my reservation, I get a call from the owner (a very rude woman) letting me know that there was a min. to spend per person at which time I said no problem. She then said everyone needed to be there at the same time and that we would not be seated until then. I thought that was just her trying to let us know to be there on time. When we got there, she was the one who was going to seat us. We had 2 people missing from the party that were stuck in traffic. She let me know she was not going to seat us till everyone was there. I told her I would pay for the full table in advance if she wanted but she didn't accept. Had us standing by he door till everyone got there. Then when we finally got seated and we started ordering, she came to the table to remind everyone about the min. consumption we had to order. This was all embarrassing and unnecessary since I told her I would pay upfront if she wanted. The waitress would not take the order of what we wanted because she said it was not expensive enough. Needless to say, we won't be going back. There were other patrons complaining about the same thing outside by the door. BTW, we did spend way over the minimum. WILL NOT RECOMMEND AND WILL NOT GO EVER AGAIN!

RESPONSE TO YOUR RESPONSE.......I am glad you made an effort and answered the review I left. However, you are wrong. My reservation (Mayra Rivera) was made directly with Happy Wine via phone. I didn't use Open Table. I knew the Birthday Girl but we were not together. I know she had around 40 people there and when or how she did her reservations, I don't know. The music was great and the atmosphere was good except the Owner (Lady) and our waitress who was clearly scared of losing her job as she explained the rules. After taking a look at all the other 1 star reviews, I noticed that the common denominator is Johanna the owner. Maybe someone should just show her how to treat the customers and just maybe she can get new customers not just the locals that go there. Like I said before, I had been there plenty of times and always had a great time. My review was just of the date...

Pros and cons with this place. Pros: great selections of wines if you are doing wine bottle service or buying wines. They carry wines from all over the world. Many different prices range. Tapas ( Spanish version of appetizers) super yummy. Fresh. Some portions bigger than others. Super friendly staff. Place small but very clean. Table fit comfortable. We were 7. Able to fit quite well in 1 table. Cons: limited parking. And even though there is a small parking lot behind the place. The surrounding business have tow a way signs which makes it scary at least for me to park with the fear of extremely expensive towing that Miami is. Prices of tapas. For the party of 7 that we were our final bill was close to $500. That is $70 a person for tapas and wine. The table was served white wine and 2 ladies had champagne. The glasses of champagne, the bottle was not brought to the table. The servers would take the glasses and then bring back with the champagne so no idea what was being served and what price. I also don't do white wine ( bottle at table). So the selection of red wine by the glass is also limited. I was never shown the bottle I was served from and even though the price $9.99 was not bad for the glass of wine. It was only served 3 fingers of wine per serving. Also the style of red wine for the glass is limited. They don't have all styles. And I was not going to buy a whole bottle of wine for just me. Two glasses in I went as done. Entertainment was good however since it is a rather small place once they started singing and pushing the idea of tips into their songs. Funny at first. Not so funny after the third song and acoustic in the place aree so bare you can not speak or hear the person next to you because it gets too too loud with the entertainment noise. It was fun to be with Friends and have a good time . But for what they are and we're they are at this is a hit or miss for me...

Thanks Delores for speaking out!!

Unfortunately one of the worst restaurant experiences in my life!!

HORROR WINE!

My Wife and her Girlfriend invited me out to check out Happy Wine Calle Ocho, over the years my wife has said good things about this place. I was excited to go!

I'm really not into wine and the girls bought two bottles of wine each (TO GO). It's like a wine store as well. And they both shared a bottle and 1/2, about three glasses each. After about the my first beer I started dancing, then I ordered another.. I was completely parched. My wife and her friend were very nice and spent over 165$. We were to leave, and I waited, waited, waited, I then decided to go to the bar and get my beer directly!

I was told the manager has cut me off!! I had two beers!! I asked to speak to the manager but she suddenly left, and left no one else in charge of the operations of the restaurant. We decided to stay and wait for her !! Then a woman with large, Bully, Woman showed up and she pushed my wife three times (of course, showing she was the boss in this matter).. If it were like 1990 I would use different adjectives for this lady. My wife is considering pressing assault charges against this woman by the name of Johanna..

One lady, Johanna, ruined what would have been a fantastic evening over one BEER!

The place was nice, but if you have to deal with Johanna or anyone on her staff, be careful, protect yourself! I wish Johanna and her Hippo's Well, and hope management does some house cleaning! Please send me a note if you have had a similar...