Florida
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Recommended Last Updated: 04/09/2005

Retirement State or Fun Beach-Loving State - Florida is lot of things to lots of people.

Things you must do

  1. Visit the Art-Deco district and have a coffee in one of the bars
  2. Go to Miami Beach
  3. Go to Coconut Grove
  4. Go Shopping in Sawgrass Mills
  5. Visit the Bayside

 

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Restaurants
Hotels

Restaurants

  • The Cheesecake Factory, Coconut Grove, Sawgrass Mills, Aventura Mall.... This has to be one of the great chains! 20-odd page menu with huge dishes. Everything is good and if you make it to the deserts then we'll be impressed! Booking strongly recommended or expect an average 10-30 minute wait (and you get a little bleeper thing so you can look in the shops while you wait for your table. Portions huge and almost everything very tasty. cool.gif (111 bytes)(last update: Aug 2005)
  • Mortons, Simply some of the most amazing steaks and seafood.cool.gif (111 bytes)
  • Jerry's Famous Deli & Rascal House,  Miami. These two deli's are owned by the same group and they are an amazing experience. Old school service with great, and huge, menus are coupled with delicious NY style deli food. Its hard not to recommend them enough but we managed to get there about 5-6 times in the course of our last 10 day stay! cool.gif (111 bytes)(last update: Aug 2005)
  • La Bussola, 264 Giralda Avenue, Coral Gables (T: (305) 445-8783). A very classical, and excellent, Italian. Service is exceptional and upmarket and regulars are the norm here. Thanks Mario for introducing me! cool.gif (111 bytes)(Last visit 12.1.2004)
  • Peppy's in the Gables, 216 Palmero, Coral Gables. (T:(305) 448 1240). Very pleasant Italian nicely tucked away for comfort.
  • Outback Steakhouse, 3161 N.E. 163rd Street, Sunny Isles, North Miami Beach FL 33160 (T:  (305) 944 4329). Very nice Australian-concept restaurant with great food and choices. Good for a solid meal. (last Update Aug 2005)
  • Front Porch Cafe, 1420 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33139 (T: (305) 531 8300). This is a really wonderful small casual restaurant right on Miami Beach's famous Ocean Drive. The food is of the more healthy variety and our breakfast was amazing there. They are very reviewed and it is worth popping in for a great breakfast (as we did) or dinner. (last update: Aug 2005)
  • Miss Yip Chinese Cafe, 1661 Meridian Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139 (T: (305) 534 5488). I will start by saying that this was touted as the "best" Chinese restaurant in town and to give it credit, it certainly looks the part! Wonderful decor, great ambience but the food lets it down somewhat... but that's probably because we know what Chinese food is supposed to taste like. If you like the Americanised Chinese menu, then this would surely be top of its class. (last update: Aug 2005)
  • Red Lobster, Chain all over US. I'm not sure how to best put this but "Cholesterolic" would come close. This restaurant is very nicely done, menu offers great sounding dishes,  good size portions rather than gigantic and seem to have all the right things .... but.... its just too deep fried... I mean, you can actually feel your arteries clogging up. Its rare that I say this but ... Not recommended. (last update: Aug 2005)

 

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Hotels

  • Sheraton Bal Harbour Resort, 9701 Collins Avenue, Bal Harbour, Florida 33154 (T: (305) 865 7511). This is the grand resort to stay in if you're in Miami. Its located on North Beach which is a more quiet and refined end of the beach strip and offers a luxurious stay on its resort facilities. The pool is by far the best bit but keep in mind that there is a limited number of recliners that have umbrellas - to get those, get down early and "book" your recliners with your towels or something. The beach, while touted highly on the web site was very unpleasant... not so much its natural scenery (lovely sand and water) but for the fact that they sited the exact same spot for the water sports so lots of debris from that activity lined the shore which made swimiing in the sea an unpleasant experience.. if you want, sea go to any of the public beaches, the will be nicer. The breakfast at the Azela Restaurant in the hotel was magnificent and the views of the Koi-filled waterfall pond zen-like - Dinner was not quite as good as many places out in Miami so we would recommend to venture out. Room service works well for the basics but ordering the fancier dishes was a waste as they got cold and sweaty in the room service trays. Rooms were a decent size but the famous sleeper beds were absolutely awful. They were so uncomfortable unless you angled yourself exactly on the centre. In room Internet connection available (at a cost of nearly $10 per 24/hr) but was available for free via WiFi in the lobby and restaurant areas of the hotel. Valet parking only available (at $24 per day) which was a little excessive PLUS you had a 15-20 min wait for your car each time (tip: Call the valet from your room to bring out the car before you leave your room). We had 3 Conceirge on duty during our stay, of these Carlos was amazing and the other two a little aloof. Result: We will probably not choose to stay at this Sheraton next time but it was worth being there this once. (last Update: Aug 2005)

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