Hello foodies. In this article, I’ll walk you through a weekend’s worth of South Florida cuisine. Each month, I’ll be reviewing a handful of restaurants from South Florida and walking you through the highs and lows.
Pubbelly Sushi
My overall rating: ⅗ Stars
19501 Biscayne Blvd #936, Aventura, FL 33180 (Aventura Mall)
This review needs a context. I waitressed for two summers and have a good understanding of how the restaurant business works. That being said, I know mishaps such as ordering the wrong thing happens to the best of us. However, Pubbelly’s service left more to be desired.
One Saturday night I placed an order with the restaurant on the phone because I was famished and wanted to skip the wait upon my arrival. Once we were seated at the bar, a server told us our order was on the brink of completion. The server left for ten minutes and then came back to a register with the general manager. The manager explained the wrong people had walked away with our order. This, in itself, isn’t a disaster.Mistakes happen. Especially on a busy Saturday night. The server then reassured us it would only take ten minutes to recreate the order. Fifteen minutes later we got water and 20 minutes later we received our order. This dampened my experience at Pubbelly; I ordered at 8:10 precisely for the purpose of convenience and speed but didn’t actually walk out of the restaurant until 9:10. I’ll repeat, making mistakes is commonplace and no issue but if the management was more realistic about their wait times I would have probably left.
The food itself is the nail in the coffin for my mediocre experience at Pubbelly. The edamame was pretty standard. The rockshrimp tempura appetizer was the low point of the meal. The overly breaded shrimp was served cold and tasteless. The tuna crispy rice was a nominal step above. The Hamachi G roll was a high point. Still, I’m not sure when (or if) I’ll come back.
Dr. Smood
My overall rating: ⅖ stars
19501 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33180 (Aventura Mall)
I am a coffee connoisseur. I drink coffee five days a week and have a favorite roast and brand. The point is, I know coffee. But even to occasional coffee drinkers, I would argue Dr. Smood is disappointing. The cold brew coffee is extremely watered down. The vanilla latte had a terrible nutty, viscosity to it. Unfortunately, a modern aesthetic can’t make up for the mediocre roasts. You’d be better off taste- and price-wise at Starbucks.
My overall rating: ⅘ stars
19501 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33180 (Aventura Mall)
Godiva’s new soft-serve parfaits exceeded my expectations. In the past year, they’ve expanded their menu far beyond just run-of-the mill soft serve. The vanilla ice cream was sweet and pleasingly textured. The cream was light and fluffy. The berries in the parfait were surprisingly fresh and the signature chocolate square was deliciously bitter. If you have a sweet tooth, you should definitely try Godiva.
