Bernie’s L.A. Café

I loved this place so much while I was working on the beach! So sad to hear it closed.
I miss most the Cuban sandwich, the short rib and the chicken philly, the argentine empanadas and bread pudding!
Bernie, if you read this… Give this a shot again!

Great place to eat! My friend and I shared a breakfast sandwich and a chicken empanada. The breakfast sandwich was delicious and the empanada was fresh. The café con leche was really good. It was sweet enough but not too sweet for me. I’d definitely come back here to try the lunch and dinner menu when I go back to Miami

Love this place! Friendly staff, quick service, and absolutely delicious food!
This was the restaurant I checked out in the Miami Beach area when I came down to look for a place to live. Unilocal users have Bernie’s great ratings so I had to try it out.
Their white sangria here is to die for! Super delicious and refreshing on a hot Miami day. Their Cuban sandwich is my personal favorite. I like that I have the option of getting wheat bread as a substitute. It’s such a flavorful sandwich. Their fries are fresh and very tasty as well.
Luckily I work a few blocks away so I can walk here, but parking may be difficult to find because you have to park on the street.
Otherwise, one of my favorite places to eat!

Always pass by Bernies but never tried it until today. Ordered the beef tacos and they delish!

Bernie’s is a great place to stop by and have a quick lunch or cafecito before going down the path of the much more expensive Lincoln Road or heading over to the beach.
I had the Havana Cheese Steak and my girlfriend had the Pan Con Bistec. Both of them were great, but the Cheese Steak more so than the Pan Con Bistec. Mind you, the PCB is not your normal Cuban version: it’s shredded pieces of steak in a sub with potato sticks on top. Not bad but my girlfriend commented that she likes biting into the steak when eating a PCB.
The Havana Cheese Steak looks about the same but has cheese on it and must use a different steak because it tasted different but much better in my opinion! Absolutely delicious.
The service was fine. The server was very nice and attentive but sometimes took a little long to come ’round even though at one point it was just us in the restaurant, and then us and one other couple.
I thought the food was a little pricey, but you’re in Miami Beach, so it’s what you’d expect. Just note that this place didn’t get four stars for nothing! Everything tasted fresh (my girlfriend also had a jugo de maracuya — passion fruit juice) and the menu made me want to go back again. Check this place out if you’re nearby.

I’m drooling just thinking about the LA Café! We started off with the Colombian Empanadas — made fresh for us. SO delicious! I wish I could have some mailed to me right now. We also tried the Yuca Fries. just perfect. For my main dish I tried the Lechon Asado. Let me just say, this pork dish just melted in my mouth. And, I’m not ashamed to say there was nothing left on my plate! To go even further — we shared a Quatro Leche cake! Yes, FOUR! Amazing!
The outdoor seating was perfect for the cool night, and the service was outstanding! We were all very happy to have found this establishment. Also highly recommended is the Pescado Frito (the dipping sauce is heaven), the Picadillo, and Churrasco dishes were delicious.

This place is awesome! Cute little restaurant that offers delivery, take out, and dine in. I love their maduros!!! They were so tasty, inexpensive, and pretty generous with the serving. I highly recommend them. I also had their grilled fish that came with blk beans, white rice, and a mango salsa; it was a hearty meal. They offer four or five different hot sauces to dress up your food. I thought it was nice because it offered you the opportunity to change up the taste. I also had their grilled turkey/​swiss sandwich. It was pretty standard, but the hot sauces offered a nice kick.
Anyway, if you’re in the area and are looking for a quick cuban fix, i’d definitely stop by this place. The servers/​cashiers are super friendly, quick, and extremely accommodating with any special requests you may have about the menu items. Enjoy.

Why 5 stars? Because this was one of the best churrasco steaks I’ve ever had.
— — —
Ahhh the Churrasco. Two years ago, I had never even heard of the word. Now… I consider myself to be a sommelier of sorts for this succulent steak.
That was the most cornball thing I hope to ever type in a review.
I actually ate this deliciousness in catering form, so I’ve yet to enter the threshold of the Bernie’s restaurant… but rest assured… it will be my first stop next time I’m down south.
I don’t really know what it was about this churrasco that made it so damn amazing, but it was hit-​the-​spot phenomenal. I’m typing this review at 2:30am when I haven’t even had dinner yet tonight, and that’s just a stupid idea on my part. But seriously, this steak is just stupid-​good.
Saving the best for the last, this concludes the Miami portion of my Unilocaling for a while!

I was hesitant to try this place since I read that it’s owned by the same guy who owns the Café at Books & Books, which didn’t impress me. But my boyfriend was craving some Latin American food so I kept my mind open and went for it. Verdict? Way better than Café at Books & Books.
I love all the vegetarian and vegan options, and many of the dishes can be customized to your liking. I got a tofu and black beans and rice bowl with plantains and avocado added. The food was very fresh, and the rice and beans tasted authentic. The plantains were done right, not too greasy. For the price, I received a large portion and took half of it to go.
For a casual Latin American meal, I’d definitely recommend this place. The specials, though not vegetarian, seemed diverse and interesting. A person could really indulge or eat healthy here, depending on his or her mood.

Unilocal Confessional — Saul B. from the Showtime series Homeland ordered my water-​boarding torture to get me to disclose to my fellow Unilocalers (and possibly the CIA but not Abu Nazir) how good Bernie’s L.A. Café is. Bernie’s is the type of place you’re afraid to tell people how good it is because it might be over run by food crazed Unilocalers, or heaven forbid — tourists who will end up turning Alton Road into Ocean Drive West — and thus you will no longer be able to go there whenever you want without a wait.
This updates my previous ¹¹⁄₂₀₁₁ review below. If you want tasty, delicious and nutritious– (assuming you can resist all the tempting dishes with meat, french fries and the deserts) then head to Bernie’s. I eat there at least 1 – 2 times per week and I have never had a bad meal. They have so many excellent dishes. Their sandwiches and wraps are devine — especially the pulled pork with avocado. I love the rice and bean bowls — they come with plantanos maduros — I usually add caramelized onions and sometimes avocado — you also have the ability to add various meats (chicken, pork, fish, etc.) and they’ll throw in stuff not on the menu– like mango — if you ask. The menu is very extensive ranging from full meals to snacks and sandwiches — they have daily specials that change each day of the week. The red bean soup (not available every day) is muy excelente. I also recommend the grilled cheese with tomato and avocado sandwich and the creole chicken. The portions are very generous — I usually end up taking half of my meal home which continues to feed me until I can’t resist my next Bernie’s craving — often the next day.
The staff are the best — they make sure your drinks are filled and that your needs are met — and treat the regulars like family — they are also nice to first timers too :) unless you’re an over demanding, east coast, one percenter who is staying in a South Pointe condo.
The café con leche is primo — its served in an oversize mug — and is only $ 2.50. The key lime pie is almost as good as Joe’s Stone Crab and the oversize cookies are yummy. In case I forgot to mention it earlier, the ice tea is sublime along with the limes they serve with it. Bring your own SNL if you’re an addict.
If you see someone at Bernie’s in a corner table facing the door wearing a trench coat and dark sun glasses hiding behind a New York Times — it might be me hoping to avoid the CIA and another round of water-​boarding — I swear I won’t break next time and disclose how good The Meatball Joint, next door to Bernie’s, is and their happy hour sliders. Just don’t send Carrie from Showtime’s Homeland to calm me down — I don’t think I can resist her horizontal therapeutic methods.

Admittedly, it took me a while to get that it’s ‘Latin American,’ not ‘Los Angeles’… despite the former being written on the door and all over the signage. Don’t blame me. I’ve had the Shahs of Sunset (heeey, GG!) on the brain and that’s all about LA, Los Angeles. How do I do this? I always get sidetracked. Focus. LA. Bernie’s LA. Ah, yes. Here we are.
So’s I was walking down the street one day, thinking about getting some grub when Bernie’s came to mind. I was, also, right in front of it. The place was packed on this Saturday afternoon but I found a small two-​top perfect for one and I sat. The waiter wasted no time in coming by to greet me and ask what I wanted. «The juice of the day,» of course. Today’s selection was papaya and it was delicious. I am a juice fiend. Knowing that there’s a daily choice of juice to choose from is a real incentive to come back and collect ‘em all. I didn’t know what to order and I was about to make a mistake (not bad, just boring) when the waiter led me to the pescado en coco. Dubious that I was being upsold, I ordered (with caution). When the plate arrived, I knew that I was given solid intel and that my first impressions of the ‘nice guyness’ of my waiter was correct. The fish was pan-​fried and served with a generous amount of shrimp/​coconut sauce. That in and of itself would have been a delectable meal but the fish came with huge sides of rice, black beans AND maduros. I mixed half the rice with the beans and the other half with the fish/​sauce. I saved the maduros for dessert. By the time I got to ‘dessert’ I was struggling (my tight washboard abs can only hold so much food) but I managed to sip on a café con leche as I pondered my good fortune to have had such a wonderfully satisfying and filling lunch when I stopped in only expecting to grab a quick bite to eat. I look forward to repeating the entire meal soon on another lazy Saturday.

Bernie’s LA (is the cute cat with the dark hair Bernie?) is right on. Not a day goes by that I don’t see the delivery car at my building, numerous times. I figured it had to be at least okay.
The first time I went was about 3 weeks ago and I was shocked at the huge, super varied, veggie and meat friendly menu. Crazy amount of choices, both main and sides. Unfortunately that particular time I was having a pretty craptastic day. Once my food arrived, I had no appetite. that said, the food itself looked amazing. Great presentation with a very generous portion (was a sort of build my own quinoa salad). My bf had a chicken something that he loved. The server was FANTASTIC and while noticing I was upset without being intrusive, offered to wrap the food immediately and was super accommodating.
I ordered delivery the 2^nd time with two friends. The food arrived super timely. My tofu wrap was awesome as was everyone else’s food. Third visit was last week with my pup and my friend’s baby. Again, Cutehead man was great and the server was beyond accommodating, bringing water for the pup and being great about helping with suggestions and food, etc for the baby.
I’m a Bernie groupie.

Had lunch catered from this spot while I was in MIA, went with Lechon Asado and it was delicious. The pork was cooked perfectly and had so much flavor. Mixed it with the rice and some sauce and I could have eaten two more servings it was so delicious.
They have different specials daily so check out their menu. They were one time and brought everything we needed to dine in for lunch, it was a nice treat. I will have to stop in here when I hit up MIA next time. Everyone ordered something different and everything looked delicious.

I’ve eaten here 3 – 4 times and I’ve been satiafied with the taste as it brings me back to Puerto Rico… A little. Too expensive for Puerto Rican food and the portions of serving is OK, except the meat. The churrasco, is like the churrasquitiquito. Una mierdita de carne. Good sauce, but not worth $ 14.
The Chicken on the other hand, Mucho mejor, pero muy muy seco. The salads are big, but watch out on extra toppings as they rip you off like taxes in US. It’s got a good location and good atmosphere like a small homey vibe.
2 stars, not returning unless most of the other co-​workers pic to go here.

We’ve had some pretty good experiences here. The service is consistently good and the menu is diverse enough to please all members in our party.
I opted for the bandeja paisa, and it although it is not 100% authentic, the sum of all parts make for a very good, satisfying meal.
Dessert was Flan and 4 leches and they are both fantastic, totally worth the million calories and hundred thousand grams of fat per serving.

Having been the recipients of unacceptable service around the corner, we strolled over to have dinner here. We have heard great things about this restaurant and decided to give it a try.
I didn’t realize the L.A. stood for Latin American, and here they have something from everywhere. Cuban, Colombian, Mexican… etc.
We all ordered very different dishes. The service was outstanding. Of course I had a bite from everyone elses plate. My little one had my favorite of the evening… the fried fish with Coconut Sauce. DELICIOUS!
All of the dishes were good and if you want Latin American cuisine but not sure what type this is definitely the place to go. So much to choose from!

Yummy fresh comfort good. Ordered delivery of burger & sweet potato fries. Delivered in 40 minutes as promised. Free delivery for orders over $ 10. Can’t wait to try more of their famous dishes.

Try the pork tacos and the plantains.
Fast, friendly service and good price– can’t complain!

When I think of Miami’s fusion with American health food, I think of Bernie’s L.A. Café or the Café @ Books & Books — run by the same guy. And they both are VERY VERY similar although I think Bernie’s has a slightly more Latin American-​focused menu.
The food, as in any of Bernie’s places, are good, healthy, and definitely «local.» However, this doesn’t mean it’s flawless. It just means I’d feel good eating here and I would be comfortable coming back. Because that’s what «local» and «healthy» food do to me. And I’m sure many folks would agree.
The quality is relatively high for the price — especially on the Beach (so that’s a plus and puts this high in my list of where to eat in South Beach for relatively cheap eats). The taste is a hit-​or-​miss. The portions are fair for the price, although not exactly cheap either. As a note, the misses were the side of quinoa (bland), bandeja paisa (smallish, and not so great chicharrones). The ropa vieja, yucca fries were good.
The service could be a bit more smooth and refined.
Overall, it’s what Miami would like to see around its county to promote healthier eating for its citizens.

I hate to have to downgrade Bernie’s because the food is really good, but I’m over the poor customer service.
Maybe they just weren’t ready to move to a delivery service model. Twice I’ve ordered delivery from Bernie’s — the first time, they forgot part of my order and stated that if I wanted it I would have to wait for an hour and a half. Be aware that they admitted it was there mistake, but refused to bring the item in a timely fashion because they were «too busy» and said I could «come pick it up.» With the fee I paid for delivery? No thanks.
The second time was today, when the order was supposed to arrive after 45 minutes. An hour and a half later, I called to check on my order and the counter girl accused me of giving her the wrong phone number and told me the delivery boy had already been to my office. She was waiting for me to say «never mind» but I was starving. So, I’m still waiting, now it’s been two hours, and I’m certain the food is going to be nasty. At least I have a microwave.
That will teach me to give second chances.