Macchialina Taverna Rustica
★★★★☆ 4.1 (876) • $$$
"After seeing Macchalina on most of the "places you have to eat in Miami" lists, I knew it would be a good place to take GF during her birthday trip. I was very aggressive in making every dinner reservation for 7pm, seemingly under the impression that we aren't old and grandmas now. They don't allow you make a chance on the Resy app, the platform they use for reservations, so I, literally, as a millennial, had to CALL and SPEAK TO A PERSON. It was actually pretty painless. It would be no problem to change our reservation to 6pm. Phew. It was a short drive from our South Beach hotel. I was debating between indoors and outdoors when I was making the reservation but I'm glad I chose indoors. The outdoor eating area is really cute, I love what they did with the decor, but they use these massive fans to keep air circulating. This is probably entirely necessary given the heat but I don't know if I would want my food blowing all over the place. Both servers who waited on our table were super friendly and helpful. As a pescetarian, she really wanted to sample the seafood. I really wanted to do the tasting menu but as a vegetarian, this would mean she wouldn't be able to wrap her lips around that oceany shit. After a lot of deliberation, we discussed our concerns with the waiter and asked if we could get a majority of vegetarian dishes with maybe a dish or two of seafood and, to our relief, he reassured us that this shouldn't be a problem. Like most other places we patronized in Miami, their drink menu has many intriguing options. I love how they include the ABV as it provides helpful info I never knew I needed. Even though I don't like martinis, I can definitely appreciate the option they provide to order a mini version or a normal-sized version. Anyways, I ordered a "what's your spaghetti policy" with whiskey, banana, crème de cacao, peychaud's, and absinthe. What on earth? So much depth I almost couldn't take it. It was on the stronger side, almost too strong for my juvenile palate. GF, with a more mature palate, ordered one of the martinis. She "thought it was good". Our first course started with a salad that was DIVINE. I love that dressing and the combo of textures. I ate pretty much all of it as one of our other appetizers was polenta with mushrooms. A vegetarian who doesn't like mushrooms crosses a shame boundary for me and I never mention it. Fortunately, GF loves the stuff and gobbled up the mushrooms for me. The mushroom-less polenta spoonfuls I was able to procure were DELICIOUS and so flavorful. Finally, we were served the burrata toast with arugula and cherry tomatoes. Again, a really wonderful and tasty dish. The second course brought us three pasta dishes: spaghetti marinara (DIVINE), fettuccine in a cream sauce with mushrooms (ugh), and a gnocchi-type shape with sage, parmesan and I'm sure some other shit but things were starting to get hazy with that cocktail. Everything was spectacular. The pasta was al dente to perfection with a wonderful texture, I would hazard to guess homemade and if not what is that brand? The flavors of the sauces were unreal, every single one of them. I want to buy it by the pound. Do they gold belly? Finally, and GF held off a little bit up until this point expecting to eat most of what was presumed to be a seafood entree, we were served the main. It was a cauliflower steak. GF was SO disappointed. The only reason we went with the tasting menu was because we were under the impression we could get seafood as well. It must have been a miscommunication but was extremely disappointing. Especially, as GF remarks, the price was the same for a bunch of veggies as who knows what fantastic and luxurious shit they serve the carnivores. Dessert was mini tiramisu jars and again, as you probably expect, was amazing. The food rivals some of the best pasta I've had in memory and everything was exceptional. The service was also top notch. The disappointment/misunderstanding about the dietary restrictions was disappointing and did put a damper on the evening but I can't help but recommend the shit out of this restaurant."
"Very fun and truly an artful experience from decor to food, it was good time. Beautiful execution on dishes, love the limon juga forward dishes, lots of juice that help to balance and spring that fresh in the ceviche. Sushi rolls were nicely plated and cut thin and consistent to be a perfect bite size. Will definitely be back for dinner and drinks!!"
"This evening there were eight of us that have traveled together from different parts of the country gathering in Miami for dinner. We sat down and we're introduced to our waiter Alexis, the table they originally had for us was a little bit tight, when we brought it to his attention, he quickly took us to a different part of the restaurant behind the wine cellar that was extremely comfortable for a party of eight. We started the evening with cocktails, we had everything from white wine, to Mojitos, to a spicy passionfruit kettle one vodka with jalapeños, a margarita and then an old-fashioned. For dinner we had a Bronzino, several 10 ounce filet mignon and a few racks of lamb. For dessert we had a chocolate brownie with a vanilla ice cream that was decadent. It was a fabulous culinary experience."
