Azul Restaurant

I came here last night with my husband to celebrate our one year anniversary, and we were so happy with our experience; Azul surely delivered all it set out to be.

The restaurant is beautiful, nestled in the Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key, the views of Brickell are stunning. I suggest requesting outdoor seating so that you can experience the view at its best. It's also much more intimate and romantic outside.

We arrived early to our reservation, so we decided to sit at the bar and enjoy a drink before being seated. The prosecco by the glass is a very good option. The bartender was friendly and attentive. We took our drinks to the table and once we were seated (again, the view -- wow!), we took our time and enjoyed the delicious food which was prepared and arranged on the plates beautifully. For appetizers we chose the beer and goat cheese salad and the pork belly - both were exceptional. Our entrees were the Branzino fish and the Ribeye, we couldn't have been more happy and satisfied with our selection. The portions were also just right.

After dinner, they presented us with a little plate of complimentary petit fours and our candy bar dessert was presented with Happy Anniversary written on the plate.

The staff was also extremely courteous and attentive.

If you're looking to indulge yourself with a beautiful dining experience don't think twice about choosing Azul.

We had a really nice meal at Azul. We just tried a few bites and cocktails before heading over to MO Bar. Service was spot on and this would be a great place to dine for many different special occasions. The outdoor seating is where it's at though, as the views are stunning. We dined inside since there wasn't available seating outside.

The dishes we tried were the Octopus, King Crab and the Short Rib. All of which were prepared beautifully and tasted delicious.

Dining here is pricey, but it's totally worth it for the experience and quality of food. Overall, a nice find in Brickell! Check it out.

This is a post-humous review of the training ground for many of Miami's most prolific and noteworthy talents, including Michele Bernstein and Brad Kilgore. It closed June 30, 2017 and I didn't even know it because I travel in the summer and never heard the news. There was a write-up at http://www.miami.com/miami-restaurants/azul-in-mandarin-oriental-closing-after-17-years-164749/

I'm sure the beautiful space with it's amazing views of Miami will not remain vacant for long, but you will be missed Azul. RIP.

Went to Azul for a celebratory dinner on Friday evening. We put our meal in the hands of the chef and went with the Grand Tasting. For us that meant eight courses that included Paradise Heirloom Tomato Salad, Tuna Carpaccio, Beef Tartare, Truffle Risotto, Alaskan King Crab, Caramelized Pork Belly, Maple Leaf Duck, and Hazelnut dessert.

Quality
Overall the meal was very good, however I am definitely on the belief that it was far from a flawless meal. I feel like it is easiest to go dish by dish as if I were to return I would be very unlikely to do the entire tasting again. The Paradise Heirloom Tomato Salad was an unfortunate start to the meal. Although the bayley hazen blue cheese that came with the salad and the avocado dressing were good, the tomatoes were just not that fresh and the dish just seemed to lack the creativity many of the other dishes so clearly had. Luckily there was little time to harp on that as the Tuna Carpaccio was probably my second favorite dish. It was so unique with crunchy onions, little hash browns, and an egg spread that managed to reach the perfect point of offering flavor without overwhelming the dish. The Beef Tartare was a very good dish with excellent presentation, it would serve as a perfect traditional appetizer. I absolutely loved the Truffle Risotto, which seemed like a newer dish to the tasting and I'm glad it was there. The risotto was cooked perfectly and the flavor was incredible as you got hit after hit of the truffle, the mushrooms, and then the unique cheese. The Alaskan King Crab was a little disappointing as I was not a fan of the pairing with the fruit and I felt the dish itself was a bit small. I was impressed by the Caramelized Pork Belly, and usually I am a stickler when it comes to pork belly. The style in which it was made provided for more texture and it was not the same gooey consistency that I have come to expect which was a big plus in my book. The Maple Leaf Duck dish was fine, but at this point it seemed like a bit too much with what we had already eaten. I also did not really enjoy the roasted onions as I felt they took away from the duck itself. Finally was the extremely confusing and disappointing Hazelnut dessert. Hazelnut ice cream, passion fruit flavoring, and cocoa was just not a good combo no matter how I tried to frame it.

Quantity
Obviously when you order eight courses you are going to get a lot of food. Even though some of the dishes are small you get more than enough especially with some bread and wine. I would assume the actual dishes are generally larger so it would be hard to judge how much you should really get off the tasting menu, but I would think three or four dishes would likely be necessary.

Value
The Grand Tasting was $120 a person and the whole table is expected to get it. In the end with the amount of food and its overall quality its hard to complain to much. My bigger complaint would be over the lack of a tap water option especially when you are enjoying wine and not water.

Ambiance
Azul is located in the Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key. It is located on the north side of the hotel and overlooks the bridge and downtown Brickell. From the moment you walk in you know it is a very upscale and high quality restaurant. The actual seating area was quite small, but it made sure every table had a nice view of the window and the view even if you weren't lucky to snag one of the few outdoor tables. The decor is very modern and it all revolves around the very large wine collection. The music follows more of what you would expect of a lounge than a restaurant with a mix of tropical house and folk house.

Crowd
Azul is in a unique place because it is a very nice restaurant, but it is located in a hotel. So you have people who clearly know where they are going to eat and others who look like they just didn't want to travel outside the hotel for dinner. It was busy, but on Friday night there were always tables available. It was also almost exclusively couples enjoying a nice date night.

Service
Top of the line. I know because I hardly ever remember the waiters, but Claudio went above and beyond in his service. He was extremely funny and a pleasure to make it through such a large and long meal with. He was personable and was just as friendly with the tables nearby. It is exactly the level of service you would expect at such a highly regarded restaurant. The sommelier, the servers, and greeters were just as great, but it really was Claudio who stood out.

Parking
Parking is tough on Brickell Key so I would highly recommend taking an Uber. However, you can always choose to valet at the hotel.

Extra
I definitely had a hard time debating whether Azul deserves the full five-stars, but there were just a few holes in the tasting especially at the start and end, and for its price I ended up with four. The service was incredible, the scenery is amazing, and I expect to return to be shown why I made the wrong choice with four.

I came here with not-so-high expectations. I left, enormously pleased.

Did Chef Clay Conley mature in his cooking? I honestly don't know as this was my first experience trying his food. Either way, he's a pretty great chef in my book, simply because food all tasted good.

Also, our waitress, Marcela, was attentive, friendly, and paying attention to details - a perfect match for the detailed meals that came to pass. She was able to sweetly rattle off ingredients of each dish without any assistance (and several times for multiple times) - and she was at all times charming! I got the impression that she loves her job.

First, there's the complimentary breads. I don't normally write about this, but there were four different types - two were pretty standard: whole wheat thinly sliced (you can see holes) and baked bread (like a crostini) and palm-sized baguettes. The other two were the squarish rye & beer bread (if I understood right - and for some reason, there was a little kick in there), and miso & scallion round soft bread. I've never had such complimentary breads that were diverse in flavor as well as texture in such a long time.

For the first course, I had a crab monte cristo. It was tasty, and with the plum sauce, it tasted interesting. I liked their effort to combine interesting elements to remake the classic. The monte cristo was more memorable than the plum sauce, but overall, it may not be as memorable thanks to the minuscule portions (big enough only for two bites or four easily comfortable bites).

The second course was orecchiettes neros (or black little ears). It consisted of the pasta that looks like tiny little ears infused with squid's black ink. It was mixed with Italian sausage and Turks & Caicos conch. Again, interesting combinations, and this was quite flavorful. The portion was small, but it was filling - I even got full by this point thanks to what I've eaten before.

I tried also a bit of the salmon dish that was cooked a bit rare (as specified by the menu) and served on top of sticky rice flavored with rice vinegar. It was topped with avocado and sliced onions (and almost looked like a salmon ceviche). It was a lighter tasting dish than the orrechiettes but still flavorful and very refreshing. The salmon was just perfect.

For dessert, I had a egg custard (a well-made flan) topped with 2 string sopapillas, mango sherbet, two small slices of grapefuit and one small slice of orange (the orange tasted weak). It was delicious and I enjoyed my meal.

When the bill came, it came also with gratuitous treats - two small cookies (not sure what type, sorry), sweet guava paste-candy, and a sweet super-tiny cherry muffin.

The total cost for the 3-course prix fixe lunch was $35 dollars (I think the other reviewer that paid $20 for lunch back then went during the famous Miami Spice restaurant week where there are discounts, but with inflation I'm sure we won't see that $20 prix fixe in a long time).

Coupled with the scenery, perfect service, delicious and interesting food cooked at the right consistency (supposedly a fusion of Mediterranean and Japanese - but I think it depends on which dish you order - some dishes in the menu looked too plain such as "Fish & Chips" and I immediately steered clear of that), and couple that with the power outage Miami was experiencing that day, and the way the restaurant pulled everything off, I have no choice but to give it 5 stars for my initial impression.

The price is also very reasonable for the type of food you're getting and with the view that comes with it - and without the infamous South Beach service and price mark-ups.

Beware of the parking though - if you are driving to Brickell Key (I noticed a lot of people walking the bridge), park at the hotel and pay the validated valet ticket $8 (which is half price) instead of the public parking garage that charges you $3 for every 20 minutes up until you owe $24 dollars (ridiculous)!

This is my second review on Yelp for Azul. This place blew me out of the water with their lobster dish. First, as before they have a fantastic wine menu with a lot of great Bordeaux to chose from. We shared the tuna appetizer which will melt in your mouth. For entree, I got Lobster and my husband steak. I still am thinking about that Lobster dish in green curry. Omg.
My husbands steak was cooked perfect. We had a seat by the window with a great sunset view. They bring bread to the table with fantastic homemade butter.
End it all with dessert comprised of chocolate and peanut butter - perfect portion.
Service is spot on too.

Very disappointing experience. I was so looking forward to Azul, but the food really underwhelmed me.
Ahi tartare-very pretty presentation, but there were literally 4 little chunks of tuna under a mound of tasteless foam. The tuna didn't taste fresh, the crispy rice tasted like a tater tot and I had one sliver of radish...

Octopus-again, very pretty but there was zero char on what tasted like a boiled piece of octopus. There was way too much sauce underneath that was sweet and unpleasant.

Heirloom tomato salad-the best dish of the night. Tomatoes were good and greens were fresh. However the crumbled Gorgonzola was just a cold thick round slice and difficult to crumble to eat with the salad.

Swordfish-disgusting. No mention in the menu that this would be an overcooked piece of fish (I'm not even sure if it was actually swordfish) under a river of white sauce with fried breadcrumbs on the side. The sauce tasted similar to a bechamel and was maybe the worst combination of food I've had in a long time.

Short Ribs-okay, but definitely not great. It was very tender, but so salty and tasted like it was made a few days ago.

The best parts of the meal by far were the amuse bouche, bread with paprika butter and the cookies at the end-all of which were FREE. How were those so good?

Our waiter was very nice, but while I like a slow paced meal this was the longest meal for food to arrive. I was there for over 3 hours with at least 30 minutes between clearing one course to the next.
The two stars come from the beautiful view and the free items. I would never recommend this place. Save your money and go to La Mar instead.

Azul provided one of the best dinners I have ever had. From the food, to the impeccable service, and even just the lovely decor, this restaurant was amazing. I went with 2 friends of mine for an early birthday dinner and this place did not disappoint. I had a glass of rose during the night which was refreshing and bubbly. We started with the Caramelized pork belly and also the shrimp starter. While eating, they brought around bread and butter for the table. There was a mini baguette, brioche, and olive bread. For my entree, I had the salmon which was super delicious. It came on a bed of roasted corn that was so delicious!! Like I have never had corn that tasted that good, I wish they put more of it! We finished off the night with 3 desserts, and they were all delicious and the presentations were great. I had a coconut desert, and my friends had chocolate desserts which they loved.
At the end of the night, the lovely waitress was nice enough to take pictures of us outside on the balcony, with the beautiful view behind us. 5 star food and 5 star service! I will definitely recommend this restaurant!

This was a disappointment. We made reservations 2 weeks in advance specifying an outdoor table. The Azul is known for its outdoor view. We confirmed the day of dinning. When we arrived (finding the place was tricky) we were told it would be an hour wait for an outside table but they have an indoor table available. Who does that?

We were seated promptly Inside by a window. The bread was good, the tasting gift the chef sent out was delicious. But the food looked better then it tasted. The beat lobster cold soup was gross. I don't know how else to describe it just not good flavor combinations. The stake tartar was raw. The pasta dish we both got was chewy. Chewy pasta and it stuck together. The deserts both had really gross bitter elements and ginger to much ginger. The flavors just did not complement each other.

The server was great but I felt the whole restaurant was a bit slow. I ordered a drink and i got it after the appetizer which took 25 min to come out.

We wont be back all hype. The service was good and the food looked pretty but the flavors were missing.

Let me start off by saying that the place is beautiful. The views and the atmosphere is great. The service was incredible they were very attentive and respectful. The food overall I would have to say it was four stars at best. Compared to other locations I've been to it wasn't out of this world. The pork belly was very good and savory. The beef tartar was incredible best plate I had. The duck entree was subpar it was kind of dry. The dessert options were not great and the ones we did try had almost no flavor. Overall I give this place five stars because putting the whole experience together it was great but some of the plates were not amazing for the price you are paying. Maybe it was an off night. If you want a nice romantic dinner with an amazing atmosphere and great service come check this place out