Vesper American Brasserie

I very very rarely write off a place completely. Vesper left me with no choice. I was staying at the Shelborne Hotel for three nights and my room rate included breakfast. Vesper which is their coffee shop has a great location overlooking the pool and the
really has a very soothing and relaxing ambiance. Their timings are mentioned 7am-11am.None of the three days we stayed there, they were open by 7. After knocking on the door couple of times and walking around a hostess would show up with a platter of danish and croissants. This is was an everyday
would take them another 30 minutes to set up the breakfast bar which included coffee, some orange juice, danishes, croissants and a toaster which did not work 2 days out of three. This hotel is at a convenient distance to the convention center and they have a lot of touristy crowd as well as people traveling for business. Least they could do is at least open on time and have the breakfast set up or change the timings for god sake if they think 7 am is too early for breakfast. There is not a manager around and when somebody complained that their toaster is not working. they said you would need to eat plain toast sorry.Whaaaaaaaaaaat.I love this hotel and I wish I could say the same thing about their restaurant. Guess if they have a manager around who takes ownership and sets more discipline the place wouldn’t be so bad. And of course they need to add some more items to the breakfast. I mean even boiled eggs would be a great addition.
I think this hotel could so do away with this restaurant unless they decide to upgrade the customer experience

Great place for Happy Hour! I live a few blocks north and saw a sign for Vesper Happy Hour.
It is a secret litle treasure and my new favorite spot for Happy Hour. It is not yet crazy popular/​busy like Doraku on Lincoln road but with ½ price Martinis, Beer Specials and $ 6 (huge portion & delicious) starters you can’t go wrong!

This was one of the restaurants on my Miami Spice list and decided to try it this past Saturday.
Upon arrival I noticed the décor, it reminded me of the inside of a ship, wood ceilings. It’s quite cozy, dim lights very intimate.
For drinks I had the Magic City cocktail (vodka, champagne, citrus liquor)
For the Miami Spice I tried the shrimp ceviche, the corvina a lo macho and the brazo gitano. As starters we were also served warm bread with truffle butter and carrots on a balsamic sauce (which my date loved) a bit too acidic for my taste.
Overall, our dining experience was a great one. The flavor of each one of the dishes was perfect and our server was so attentive. Even the manager approched our table. Good company, great service and awesome food=succesful night! :)

Some hits, some misses.
The food is hit and miss — the SPINACH & ARTICHOKE DIP and the TRUFFLE FRIES WITH AGED PARMESAN were fantastic, the JUMBO-​LUMP CRAB CAKE, the ceasar salad, the MARINATED CHILEAN SEA BASS are alight, and the FUSILLI with homemade sausage leaves something to be desired.
The signature cocktails were also touch and go — one was awful and tasted like lotion.
The atmosphere is nice, but its right by the hotel pool and they wanted us to use the pool bathrooms, which was filled with puddles/​a mess.
The service was alright, nothing special.

I really had a great time with a friend this Saturday at Vespers.
There are 3 bars, and 3 distinct Dining Areas. As this writing is in Low Season, there were only a few couples and one group. We sat on the outside on the edge and have a great view of the Pool and it was great ambiance.
The food (especially the Truffle Fries) with Parmesean. OMG…share this, these tiny string fries just rock. I really liked the whole ‘James Bond 007′ Theme for Drinks. I had the «Octopussy’ (I know bad, bad) which was really good.
I have a think for bake potatoes, but every venue messes them up. Not here, it was perfect, huge and had perfect butter (already spreadable) to compliment it. The Fillet Mignon’s were just perfect 6’oz. We also had Lobster Bisque which was amazing. BUT ask for a small bowl, in the end I ate the whole huge bowl and couldn’t finish dinner.
I find this a really great date place, just watch your budget. I went a bit overboard with 3 drinks, 2 entrees, and truffle fires and back potatoes. I think for a couple just estimate around 150 $ or more for a really romantic dinner pool side.
We both agreed a really great Venue. The Service was excellent, we had wait staff fawning over us all night.
Oh and the bread at the table. Unique and very, very decadent. And Garlic butter to spread so like silk. Yea Bread!
This is also a great place for a group of friends just to share some drinks and relax in these really comfortable chairs.

Eh…
I hate to be the person who brings a negative review to a restaurant with mostly good reviews but my experience here warrants it. A little background: I’m in West Palm temporarily for work and decided to plan a weekend holiday in Miami while my sister was visiting. After loads of research, I decided that Vesper would be a nice place to have our only dinner in Miami and coincidentally, GiltCity had a voucher for a tasting menu ($ 80 for 2) so I decided to go for it.
The restaurant was slightly confusing to find mostly because the host (ess) station was kind of hidden but once we figured it out, we were seated, outside, and given menus. I should’ve listened to Maria A. and asked to be seated indoors when I made my reservation and when we checked in with the host because I think that was the biggest mistake of the night. Ten minutes after we were seated, it started raining like crazy and there were puddles everywhere (poor engineering design = poor drainage) and people had to pretty much climb over our table to get from the host (ess) station to the bar area, which happened all night long. Plus, people were smoking, which ruined the experience of the food.
We asked our waiter, Marjan, to move us indoors because of the smoke, and he said, «Oh, it is very empty inside so you will probably be lonely.» Uh, lonely? I’m hanging out with my sister, not the entire restaurant. I kept insisting but he seemed overly reluctant to move us so we decided to just stay put. I thought he was a terrible waiter. He wasn’t attentive enough so our water glasses were always empty, and when it came time to get our check, we had to wait 10 minutes for him to show up so we could just ask for it and then the computers were down so it took forever to get our receipts.
But instead of telling us right away about the computer situation, he only told us after we had been waiting for 20 minutes. In the end, it took about 40 minutes for the computer situation to be sorted out and I think there was another error because there was a charge on my card for an extra $ 250, which is another negative star for this place since I have to sort that out with my cc company. And during the wait for the check, I managed to acquire 7 mosquito bites, which wouldn’t have happened if we were seated inside. We were given free glasses of champagne for our troubles, but we’d just shared a whole bottle of prosecco so we were hardly in the mood for it. It was pretty outrageous how little we saw of our own waiter because he was always inside. I’m not sure if they were short-​staffed or what, but there was a host AND a hostess manning the front and it didn’t seem like they were overwhelmed with customers so I really don’t understand what was going on.
After a while, I began to suspect that they were seating all of the GiltCity customers outside and the pay-​full-​price customers inside. If that was the case, I would never have gotten the GiltCity voucher and would’ve gladly ordered off of the regular menu just to get better service. I went in ready to leave a generous tip (I believe in tipping only when it’s deserved), since the voucher was a $ 160 value, but after that? Please, no. I paid exactly what was charged to me (which included 18% gratuity — on just the $ 80 not $ 160).
Additionally, when you’re seated outside, you’re directed to the restroom that’s meant for the people who use the pool so you might find a wet bathroom, which is totally gross.
The food itself was actually really delicious — the highlights of the night were the risotto and the beef carpaccio but I also enjoyed the lobster mac & cheese, truffle fries, and fried oreos — and it warrants at least 4 stars but it was completely ruined by the terrible service. Oh, and portion sizes were so generous that we ended up going back to our hotel with lots of leftovers (which became dinner the next day). I might’ve been willing to give them a second chance if I lived in the area, but we had one opportunity for dinner in Miami and it was wasted here.

The place looks fabulous, the inside bar and he bartender make great drinks indeed. The food was excellent, when it finally arrived… The 90’s club music was neither ironic classy or adding to anyone’s experience, way to loud and bad taste. The waitstaff seeme to be unsure of them selves, can’t blame them since the kitchen takes way to long to process the order they put in and the blarring music may cause confusion.
Returned later and had a lovely dinner for two at the outside tables. difference was day and night…

I went in for a quick bite for my friends birthday on a Tuesday night and Robert made us feel so comfortable, got us a table right away and Sent over a round of shots! Amazing service and delicious food! Thanks Robert, for making us feel like queens :)

Ok, went to Vesper and much to my surprise I was very impressed with their half price appetizer and half price drinks for happy hour. At Vesper you get quality food and quality booze lol… for a bargain!!! And that equals a «Happy Camper» in my book. Needless to say, I’ll be checking Vesper out again soon :)

Vesper just hit top of my list for amazing ambiance, service, drinks, and food. The staff is extremely attentive and their recommendations were on point so Kudos to the Management! We started off with their signature cocktails which I highly recommend. Their classic Shrimp Cocktail, Tuna Tartar and are extremely fresh as well as the Wedge Salad had amazing chunks of Nuskee Bacon and homemade Blue Cheese Dressing. I highly recommend the Grilled Branzino for the main course as well as do not leave without trying one of their deserts. We had the Fried Oreos that were worth every single calorie! We sat outside but make sure you take a walk inside to the bar or start there as we did and peak at the intimate private seating in the far back.

It’s a touch of Americana with a romantic bent.
If you’re there for dinner ask them to sit you in the inside dining room. You’ll be led through the kitchen. Go with it. The space feels intimate with an old meets new vibe both in décor and menu.
As far as food. Go ahead and order the branzino it’s done so well here.
Drinking? Yeah you sort of have to at Vesper. Have you seen Casino Royale? If yes Then you understand the importance of a cocktail. But skip the namesake and instead of an Octopussy.

We were guests in a party of 14, including a kids’ table of four. Service was highly competent and gracious; nobody reported even mildly disliking a single bite. Soup portions were about a liter in volume and the quality was equal to the quantity. I had nothing to do with settling the check, but even so, $ 16 for this much lobster bisque with big chunks of lobster seems entirely reasonable.
I had a caprese salad ($ 15) for dinner, and it suffered visually from the yellow lighting that robbed it of its color; the taste was very good considering we dined in December. One cannot work miracles with produce, of course.
I also shared a spinach-​artichoke dip. At $ 12 you will likely howl in outrage until you realize that this is enough for the entire table — in our case, two large casseroles, each covered with melted cheese.
Vesper (named for James Bond character Vesper Lynd) is assuredly not cheap — but you may take just a quantum of solace from the truth that you will get more value for your money here than at more moderately priced restaurants.