Was excited to try Le Jardinier but unfortunately, I don't believe this is Michelin star level food. Don't get me wrong...the food, service, and ambiance were all good but nothing was great! Everyone was pretty attentive; however, one of us did go without water for a little longer than expected. As a server in fine dining myself, I understand the steps of service for this level of dining. Something's I can understand but we had one server, and I believe two SA's or maybe a back server and an SA(?) not entirely sure. It wasn't overly busy because we did get there at 12, when they first opened. There was no music for probably the first 20-30 minutes. It was a very awkward silence. My mom's menu and my menu did not have all of the same menu items, I.e. my menu said trout and hers said salmon. Our bar beverages were both mediocre. My mom got the elixir which separated within the first couple minutes. She had to keep mixing it with a dinner fork. I got the mango dream and it hardly tasted of mango. Wasn't what I was expecting at all. The drinks lacked creativity and that wow factor. The biggest thing being in the industry is "does it look instagram worthy," if not, it's not that good. So for our bar drinks, I give them a 3/10. For our food, the bread service was cute! It came with a small piece of focaccia, baguette and I'm not sure what the last one was, I was not at the table when the bread was presented. But the bread, olive oil and butter were all fantastic. No notes at all! Appetizers: I got the watermelon gazpacho and mom got the burrata. The burrata was surprisingly really good! It was carpaccio style...thinly sliced tomatoes, with roasted pine nuts, a jasmine tea infusion, I believe a bit of balsamic vinaigrette, chopped cherry tomatoes and of course, burrata. This dish was light and refreshing! My appetizer was the watermelon gazpacho, presentation wise, I was not impressed at all. The sourdough toast with Greek yogurt and chopped cherry tomatoes was the star of the dish. The gazpacho leaned a bit heavy on vinegar, not enough watermelon. It was okay overall but not my favorite: note, our SA(?) did ask if I liked it and I told her it was okay. She asked me what exactly I wasn't a fan of and I did tell her it tasted too vinegary but i wasn't interested in getting anything else and it wasn't a big deal. Entrees: I got the pappardelle pasta and mom got the carnaroli risotto. The pappardelle was actually fantastic! The pasta was fresh and prepared al dente. The sauce wasn't too salty and didn't lack in flavor. It had roasted artichokes, which personally, I would have loved mushrooms instead but that's a personal preference. I will say, if you're super hungry, this dish is not very heavy. I do not eat a crazy amount, so the portion for me was perfect. The carnaroli risotto, this was the only thing I couldn't try because of the crab but my mom said it was really good. Inside the risotto was leeks, yuzu and fresh lemon. That said, my mom's only note on this dish was that it was a bit too much citrus. We got the brussel sprouts which were good but we both were too fully to truly eat them. Desert: I got the strawberry eclair which was part of the Miami spice menu. It was either that, sorbet and plant based ice cream, or for an additional $10 the caramel sabayon. We were going to order desert off their normal menu options but we were too full by this point. The eclair was just that, a strawberry eclair. It wasn't amazing or special and you could tell they created this dish for the Miami spice menu specifically. Overall, I give food taste (collectively) 8/10 and presentation a 7/10. Back to service, after each meal, everything was prebussed and reset, which I love. One of my biggest pet peeves is having dirty silverware. Also, each time plates were removed, the table was fully crumbed off. Once we were completely done, literally only two water cups and one almost empty cocktail, we waited for at least 15 minutes for our server to finally come and check on us. He had walked by multiple times without saying anything. He was getting other things for other tables, so again, being in fine dining, I get it but he very easily could have dropped off our check while passing by for another table. My mom, also in the industry mentioned that he may have been super busy but I had a different view than she did and noticed multiple times, our check could have been dropped off. It was just weird how long it too to have someone come by after we were completely done. So for me service was a 7/10. It was good but not great, which would push them into the 8-10 range. When we were paying our bill, we noticed a 20% automatic gratuity included on the check...I guess this is common practice for Miami.
Overall, I give our experience a 7/10. It was good but nothing was so amazing that I would come back. read more