Tapas & Tintos Midtown's Spotty Service and Mediocre Food Fail

Photo by billwisserphoto.com

Vieras rellenas, stuffed scallops baked in the oven.

​Why is it that so many waiters insist on memorizing orders instead of writing them down? This often requires diners to repeat themselves until the waiter gets it right or, worse, delivery  of the wrong food. Both occurred during a recent visit to Tapas & Tintos in Midtown Miami. You'd think a meal composed of numerous tapas would make a pen and pad especially essential.

Then again, so much about this restaurant is off-kilter that the food mixup was all but forgotten by the time we got up from our chairs at meal's end. Like, for instance, the chairs themselves: The eatery's outdoor seats are hard wicker, the kind that need a cushion not only for even a modicum of comfort but also for raising you to the proper height for dining. The chairs are likewise wider than the gap between table legs, so you can't pull them in close enough.

Also, on one lunchtime visit, we arrived around 12:30 but had to wait five or ten minutes until they finished setting things up. Opening time is listed as noon.

Those sorts of oversights are surprising. This is T&T's second venture; the first, on Española Way in South Beach, has been around for more than a decade. The new locale occupies the former Kafa Café space on NE Second Avenue near NE 36th Street. It's just a short distance from formidable competing restaurants in midtown and the Design District, yet far enough away to be isolated from those scenes.

Read the entire review of Tapas & Tintos Midtown here.

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