Coral Gables is not in my neck of the woods. I only know of a few restaurants there. Fiola being my last visit to the neighborhood, which worked out very well for me. Unfortunately, the next time I came to this part of Miami, I didn’t select the best choice for a restaurant. I wanted to try M House at 2524 S Le Jeune Rd, as it was a relatively new spot in the Aloft Hotel.

Visually it is very appealing. It is sophisticated in design, with an L shaped dining room, bar, and lounge. There is also an outdoor terrace facing the street. The restaurant has a tropical, airy feel to it, with lots of greenery, rattan chairs, many windows, an attractive bar up front, geometric, green and white stone flooring, and an open kitchen. You can see they spent a fortune to achieve this beautiful ambiance.

The menu is European inspired fare, from all over the map, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey. It reads well and we were hoping it would taste as good as it looked.

I could only see one waiter and one busboy to serve the entire lunch crowd. Management didn’t make an appearance until we were almost finished dessert. It took one hour to be served our first course?! The place was not that busy, so what gives? The beet salad wasn’t bad, although one of my pet peeves is receiving anything ice cold out of the fridge. My crudo was respectable, but nothing to write home about. Our mains and sides were a disaster, salty and overcooked. Exceedingly dry salmon and dry chicken. We barely touched them, but there was no management to come over an offer an alternative or an apology. When we told the waiter, he was in complete shock. I guess no one has ever had the audacity to complain before.

Dessert was better, but again not exemplary. The presentation of the chocolate feast was beautiful, complete with “chocolate soil”, and was very creative. But they do something similar at Le Sirenuse and the taste and flavours are miles apart. Artfully plated doesn’t compensate for an exquisite tasting dish. The bread pudding was adequate.

Next time I am going to have to do better research before I make a special trip to Coral Gables for a meal. I do hope they get their act together here.

Happy dining,
Shanea

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