PM Fish & Steak House: Inconsistent Service in a Bicultural Setting

Photo by billwisserphoto.com

There are steak houses, there are Argentine steak houses, and then there is PM Fish & Steak House, an utter hybrid of the two. Diners are privy to provoleta and empanadas but can also opt for salmon tartare or carpaccio of smoked marlin. Ceviche and tirados are on the menu, and so is a tuna-watercress salad with soy vinaigrette. There are steaks and Wagyu steaks, but no churrasco or entrada. Both Spanish and English are spoken by the staff and by most of the clientele. Bilingual, multicultural: PM Fish & Steak house is, in other words, very Miami.

It is also a little Mexican. The owners are from Argentina, and PM stands for Puerto Madero, a port city in that country, but the company and most of its restaurants are located in Mexico. They can't be much more impressive-looking than this one, which is arguably the most beautiful steak house in town. (The build-out alone is rumored to have cost around $2 million.) The exterior of the restaurant, tucked into the One Broadway complex on South Miami Avenue, is fortified with the same imposing red brick that composes the soaring walls inside. Industrial elements and large, colorful photos of its namesake Argentine city break up the brick interior, as does an open kitchen with grills blanketed by sizzling meats. The dining space is divided into separate rooms, which work in cahoots with giant wood ceiling beams and strategically placed oversize mirrors to lend the 202-seat arena an even grander aura. Add in the acoustics and kinetics of a packed house and a nattily uniformed staff surging through the aisles, and dinner becomes a notable night out.

What distinguishes PM from other lavish locales is the largely local and Latin American clientele from the surrounding Brickell area. During lunch the room bustles with a business crowd, but at night it feels almost like a neighborhood restaurant -- just monumentally larger in size, scope, and price.

Read the full review of PM Fish & Steak House here.

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