Bâoli Miami

The Good. The bad and the ugly

This weekend I was in search of the perfect location to have my birthday dinner next month. So I decided to hit the town with a girlfriend of mine. My heart was set on Baoli but after my experience last night I am sad to report that I had a change of heart. I will admit that I went to your restaurant that night with high expectations.

The Good
The patio is truly breath taking- beautiful, flawless and glamorous, a true hidden gem.

The Bad
I enjoy a great cocktail, but not one covered in ice.

The Ugly
Bad customer service is my biggest pet peeve, it seemed like they were all competing to be the worst employee of the month. They do not honor reservations and that is probably what they do best. The service was quite slow; I had to ask for things twice. The waiter had no knowledge of food or wine. The hostess seemed bored and was on her phone the whole time.

Baoli is not only a restaurant, it's an experience.

I came to Baoli on a busy Saturday night. I have a girlfriend who was a regular. We got a table on the patio outside. Everyone is dressed to impressed and the music was blasting! It was very high energy.

We ordered drinks and two appetizers off the bat. Our cocktails came out quickly, our appetizers slowly followed. The Ahi Tuna Tartare and Foie Gras. Outstanding! The tartare was excellent and had bits of avocado accenting it. The foie gras was like butter and served with fresh made sponge bread, adding a dullop of the jelly served with it, took the foie gras to a whole new level.

We then ordered several rolls of sushi and a the ribeye, which was served with trouffle oil french fries (the most GLORIOUS french fries I have ever eaten). The steak was so tender it was easily cut with a better knife. Perfectly seasoned. Amazing. The fries were perfect. Crisp. Fresh. Lightly salted. Dosed with truffle oil. J'adore! The sushi was fresh and delicious. I can't comment on what we had, as I didn't do the ordering, so I am sorry for the vague-ness here. It was all fresh and beautifully presented.

For dessert we split a chocolate souffle. This was pure SEX! It was chocolate heaven. Warm, moiste, and light on the outside and there was a gooey chocolate-y center! Oh, sweet Jesus. It was slap yo' mama good. I need to take a moment of silence for this little slice of heaven. Thank you.

Now that I've gotten the food out of the way, we arrived at around 10:15, got drinks at the bar, and then snagged a table about 15 minutes later. The patio was lit up with white and purple lights. It's truly beautiful. Everyone was decked out in their Miami Best. Very club like feel to it. I happened to be with a bunch of French people this night, a lot of the staff were French, too. The staff was also beautiful. Aesthetics aside, the energy at Baoli is HUGE.

When you enter the place, you are met with the velvet ropes, you walk down a long corridor with black and white photos of celebrities and patrons in the establishment. It has a very club/lounge feel to it.

There are sparklers presented whenever anyone buys a bottle or certain songs come on, it gets hot on the patio and we were presented with fans that said, My Boyfriend Is Out Of Town," and when someone has a birthday, it is brought out in Baoli style and fashion.

Snoop Dogg made a cameo this night, random fact!

Baoli is a unique concept and I cannot wait to go back. This place is by no mean cheap and cannot be done on a budget, it is worth every damn penny. The service, the atmosphere, the food, and the people. 5 stars!!!

The concierge at my hotel recommended this restaurant as a total hotspot.  Well, I went there around 9 pm on a Thursday and there were very few tables full and few people at the bar.  The food was pretty mediocre.  I had spicy tuna rolls which were definitely not spicy.  The only redeeming part of dinner was the bread was pretty tasty.

This is definitely a place to skip.