Union Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Wilton Manors

Sometimes, life takes an unexpected turn, leading you on a serendipitous trajectory. Last night, as I headed to Downtown Fort Lauderdale for dinner and waited at the traffic light at the 5-Point intersection on Dixie Hwy, Wilton Manors, a sudden flash triggered my memory. It was a recent review I had come across on LESF about Union Kitchen and Bar, located at 2309 Dixie Hwy, Wilton Manors. Without hesitation, I mentioned it to my passenger, who eagerly agreed to give it a try. As luck would have it, we were only about less than a quarter of a mile away.

Union Kitchen and Bar is a delightful modern café-style dining spot that offers both indoor and outdoor terrace seating, attracting a diverse, modern clientele. Roberto, one of the owners, is a charismatic young businessman who personally visit every table to ensures that every guest leaves with a smile. His wife, Christie, a talented Peruvian chef, oversees the kitchen that produces outstanding meals.

The culinary experience was exceptional, starting with the Peruvian spiced chicken wings, perfectly grilled and served piping hot with an aji verde sauce – a cilantro, jalapeño, cheese, and mayo-based green dipping sauce. They were, without a doubt, some of the best wings I've ever had.

For our main courses, my friend ordered the Seared Scottish Salmon, served in a generous soup bowl filled with a garlic cream sauce infused with herbs, alongside spinach, cherry tomatoes, and small potato cubes. Accompanying it was a generous portion of Brussels sprouts (enough to share) that were simply to die for. I usually refrain from ordering steak in a non-steakhouse setting but guided by my serendipitous fate and the recommendation of our server, Jonathan (who provided excellent service), I opted for Christie's special rib-eye, cooked medium to my standard of medium perfection, accompanied by a loaded baked potato.

A word of caution: don't just take my word for it; experience Union Kitchen and Bar for yourself. There's ample side street parking available. On average, expect to spend around $50 per person for an appetizer and main course, excluding drinks, tax,...

Our evening started out on a High note as we had just left the theater. There were 6 in our party. We did not have a reservation but since the restaurant was only 10% occupied we thought we would be seated right away. The host said it would be 15 minutes for us to be seated (said there were reservations coming in.... never saw them). It looked like they were understaffed so we sat at bar for a bit. Then we were brought to our table, given menus and drink orders taken. Now as a reminder the restaurant was pretty empty. We ordered appetizers since we hadn't had a chance to look over the limited menu. The appetizers came out in 10 minutes. They were dropped at table then the server left. Waiter came when we were just about done to get out main course selections. He answered all questions and we ordered. 20-25 minutes later he came back out and asked someone in our party when they had ordered. By now the restaurant was about 25% full. 35 minutes later we were were served your food. It took 5 minutes for all the food to be served. Portions were ok and most of the food was hot. Now the quiet atmosphere turned into a frat house with several parties whooping it up. It got so bad we couldn't continue our conversation. The owner of the restaurant was there and did nothing to quiet the few boisterous tables. In fact when he came over to ask us how our dinner was he said that he couldn't hear what we were saying. SO 1would think he would go over and speak to them. NOPE, didn't happen. The voices continued to get louder. By now all 6 of us just wanted to leave. We couldn't get our checks fast enough. Then when the checks arrived, several were incorrect. But they were corrected by the owner.

Bottom line, this is a nice upscale restaurant with both inside and patio dining that needs to find its identity. It's either a mellow, great conversations and leisure dining or it's a boisterous run of the mill restaurant that are a dime a dozen.

I am willing to go back for another chance in the future to see if any changes have been/were made. I really want this...

I found this restaurant searching online for dining with another couple. Very nice restaurant inside, and nice patio dining, too. We ordered appetizers, a salad and a dozen oysters, all very good. We also ordered some pork belly tacos which were also very good. We had a pork chop, thick, with the bone one, which was cooked and seasoned perfectly. Nice criss-cross sear, and juicy, not dry. We had two orders of the homemade squid-ink bucatini with seafood. I'd never seen such an item (the squid-ink bucatini), but... the homemade pasta was a little overcooked. Still, the meal, with clams, squid, shrimp and mussels, in a garlic wine sauce was nice. But like most people that go out to eat, we wanted to have bread (usually a little to start, and maybe some with dinner to soak up the juices of whatever we are eating at the end). We had to order, for $7, a menu item entitled "bread basket." Not happy about this at all! , After our drinks, we got the salad and the oysters...where's the bread? We were told that it's specially made fresh. I'm thinking: this is going to be good. We waited, and asked again, long after done with the apps, for the bread. It finally came. Huge disappointment. 4 tiny rolls, the kind you would be served on an airline. I'm serious, nothing special at all. They were fresh and hot, and the butter, with, I think, scallions, was nice. But, still. $7 for a bread basket that's one tiny roll per person at the table is absolutely unacceptable. They shouldn't serve bread at all; or, serve a nice abundant basket...