This review is for Hutong restaurant in Brickell, Miami FL. We made reservations for New Years Eve 2022, and our party included my wife and I, our daughter and her boyfriend. We have been to Hutong several times but this will be our last visit, and here's why.
1) The music volume level was 11 out of 10. I realize this might be popular for restaurants in Miami, and perhaps management might equate this to joyful, festive, party, and youthful energy. In truth, we could not hear the person sitting next to us at the table unless we were shouting, and there was constant "what?" "what did you say?" All night. Even the waiter and each of us could not hear each other. I requested the volume be reduced but the waiter gave the following absurd excuse as to why the volume level could not be changed: "We have a live DJ."
As we were leaving later, I walked past the DJ's little desk and noticed a sound board with multiple sliders including one for Master Volume.
I thought I might be the only one who complained. But on the drive home after we dropped off my daughter and her boyfriend in Wynnwood, my wife mentioned that the loud music had been giving her a headache. Probably most of the Hutong patrons felt the same way. Considering customers and waiters had difficulty communicating, restaurant management definitely fell down on the job.
2) We selected the 7 PM early seating ($110 per person) so my daughter and her boyfriend could go bar hopping in Wynnwood after dinner. Near the top of the menu, the text read:
"Your table is to be returned within 2 hours"
I'm uncertain if this statement is polite or terse, but I understand they want the earlybirds vacated so the restaurant can set up for the much more expensive second seating ($275 per person). I'm including an image of their NYE first seating menu. The image is from their 2021 NYE menu that I found online, because they would not let me keep tonight's (2022 NYE) menu to take home and scan.
We placed our order for drinks and dinner at about 7:30 PM, which I considered reasonable. The drinks arrived quickly and the starters arrived around 8:00. Our main course was not served until 8:57 PM (see accompanying image with time-stamp). Hutong's plan of us earlybird diners vacating by 9 PM was just their fantasy. Having to wait an hour and a half for dinner was nightmarish especially because of the extremely loud music. I would have been happy to eat and leave by 9 PM if only that would have been possible. Once again, restaurant management fell down on the job.
3) "Normally I don't eat cold food at restaurants, but I'm making an exception tonight because frankly I'm so hungry from having to wait so long." That was my answer to the waiter who came by around 9:10 PM to ask how was the food. Yes, it was served cold. More accurately, it was room temperature. The chef fell down on the job as well.
4) I ordered the Ma La Beef dish. The NYE menu had no description other than "Ma La Beef". My wonderful daughter found their normal menu on the internet, which described each dish in some detail. Ma La Beef is prepared with chili peppers, which I asked to be held since I am recovering from a cold and the hot peppers would trigger coughing. The waiter said that he would tell the chef to hold the chili peppers. My beef dish arrived with hot chili peppers. The waiter could have simply suggested I order something else, which I would have. Fortunately, my wife was willing to trade her fish dish, so we did. But the waiter and chef both fell down on the job.
5) Apparently management was in a rush to get all the earlybirds out the door for the higher profit second seating customers. The waiter brought our check a minute or two after our dessert arrived, and while we were still eating. See accompanying photograph. Once again the waiter fell down on the job.
My wife and I have been to Hutong in Brickell many times but this will be our last. There's an abundance of restaurants in Miami so why return to a place that was a complete disappointment. People look forward to having NYE dinner at a restaurant, probably more than any other night of the year. Hutong was complete chaos, totally inept and devoid of customer consideration. Each one of the five problems described above would convince me to never return. Once again, the waiter, the chef and the manager all fell down on the job. It cost me $500 for my family be treated completely unsatisfactorily. read more