Soul Tavern
Pictured above: Banh-Mi Sliders, Kimchi Fried Rice, Portobello & Crispy Eggplant Burger, I'm In Love With The Coco
Bae and I went to Soul Tavern the first night we landed in Miami. I was extremely excited to visit this restaurant because it would be my first interaction with the city of Miami and ya girl was hungry! As I got out of the Uber and walked towards the restaurant I noticed that there was a large amount of outdoor dining available, and it was set up beautifully. Inside the restaurant there was live music and the guitarist was strumming the beats of some of my favorite Bob Marley songs. Outside you have the option to be seated under a partially covered awning or under the stars. I chose the stars. I began feeling as though it was going to be a wonderful night.
Our waiter informed us that we were able to make most of the dishes on the menu vegan or gluten free and that got me hype as hell. To start, I ordered the Banh-Mi Sliders. The sliders were mouthwatering and flavorful on the first bite. The bread was very thick, but soft, so even though the burgers were small they were pretty filling. After the sliders, came my cocktail. I ordered the "I'm In Love With The Coco" and it was soooo good. The coconut flavor wasn't overpowering, which I appreciated. However, after about three sips I realized that they did not put any liquor in my drink. Not a splash, not a dash, not a spritz of liquor. I was utterly disappointed at the fact that I was not getting buzzed tonight. In hindsight, I definitely should have notified the waiter about that.
Shortly after, the Portobello & Crispy Eggplant Burger and the Kimchi Fried Rice arrived. I personally did not like the taste of the burger, however, my boyfriend chose to eat the rest of it and he loved it. On the other hand, the rice was well seasoned and delish. In the middle of us eating, our waiter came to check on us and asked if everything was okay, but before we could finish answering or even get a full word out, he turned around and stormed off and said "amazing!" with the most ingenuine emphasis I've ever heard.
I was legit thrown off by his blatant lack of care and the walk away while talking. I was sitting there like....
If you didn't care about our answer, why even ask??
By that point, bae and I realized that he still had not gotten his drink. So we informed our waiter and he said it will be out shortly. 15 minutes passed and still no drink. The waiter came back out to check on us and we had to let him know that there was still no drink. By the time he came out with the drink bae and I were ready to go, so we asked him for the check. We waited 15 to 20 minutes and no sign of the waiter or the check. We decided to go inside and ask someone for the check instead because we were ready to go. They gave us our check and we gave them the payment. They had us waiting for about 10 minutes just to get some change. BRUH! When they finally brought us our change they didn't even give us back the correct bill. They gave us an Uber Eats bill.
After that I was di-done! I was OUT! Called the Uber and I was ready to get back to the hotel. While waiting outside on the sidewalk, our waiter came running towards us like we stole something. He ran down on us while we were on the sidewalk! Like son, we are no longer in your jurisdiction. Once outside, in one breath, really fast, he said "tip not included in the bill." At first I was not sure whether that was a statement or a question. I looked on bae's face and saw that he was ready to unleash his thoughts onto the waiter, so I quickly grabbed the receipt they gave us and said "this ain't even our bill bro." Mind you, the tip was included in our correct bill. The waiter then asked us to hold on and rushed inside the restaurant. By the time he turned around the Uber was already here and we were out. Cause who got the time?
All in all, the food was good but our waiter was a wild man. The night took a whole left turn. It's possible that we caught them on a bad night but that was the night we had. Don’t let this discourage you from checking out Soul Tavern because their food was great and I’m sure the other waiters are a lot better than the one we had.