Ivan’s Cookhouse

After hearing about Ivan’s Cookhouse on Diners, Drive– Ins & Dives I was excited to try it out. when I arrived there was not one person in the restaurant. We were greeted by the waitress and decided to dine outside for lunch. They were out of still water and the only option was tap water. My 1 year old son joined us for lunch, and I know not all people are kid friendly but she just had the most unpleasant facial expressions. For appetizers we ordered Calamari (the waitress recomended), lump crap cakes, jerk wings, and creole shrimp. Upon ordering the creole shrimp the waitress stated it was dinner item only. She stated the dinner menu started at 5pm but it was currently 4:30pm. We proceeded to ask if she could see if it could be made still and our request was granted. However it was an entrée and was prepared as an appetizer.
The waitress brought over complimentary Hummus and plantain chips which was nothing out the ordinary. When the appetizers arrived the jerk wings were pretty tasty, but better off without the mango salsa. The calamari was just tasteless and bland, and the creole shrimp was not what we expected. The shrimp suffered from a breading failure. The batter fell off right away with the slightest touch. The MOST disappointing was the crab cakes which arrived to the table COLD! when we notified our waitress about this, we asked if they were suppose to be cold? Her response was priceless! She said i don’t known, well I guess kind of, they are suppose to be a little cold. What fried crab cake is prepared cold… NONE!!! I couldn’t believe it. We sent them back to the kitchen and instead of preparing new crab cakes they were put back in the fryer. Keep in mind we ate off of these crab cakes. They put a half bitten crab cake back in the fryer. So first the crab cakes are cold and not they look burnt… just great.
We proceed on to order our entrees and ordered the Churassco, griot, and shrimp skewers. The griot was missing rice and the waitress had no idea it was apart of the meal. The steak arrived COLD!!! How is that even possible? I could not believe it and when we brought it to her attention she graced me with another one of her unpleasant facial expressions. She seemed just so miserable to be there. When she arrived back from the kitchen it was loss flavor and the chimichurri sauce was just plain disappointing. When i hear chimichurri sauce i think colorful authentic Argentinian sauce and it was far from that mostly just oil. I could tastes the flakes from my Idaho boxed instant potatoes instantly.
Our waitress only came to the table if she was delivering food to us, never to just check up on us. She never cleared our table of appetizer plates that we had to move them ourselves onto a nearby table. After doing so she still did not remove the plates until after a family of birds were done feasting on our leftovers. The plates the waitress took from us we were barely touched. I would think as a chef you would have asked if something was wrong or why it was was not to your liking, but NOTHING. He proceeded to sit at the bar and look through the window at us like something was wrong with us for sending the food back. I doubt I will be back

Great food! Great service as well. Ivan the chef does a great job on putting attention to detail on all dishes. Strongly recommend :)

I have very mixed reviews about this restaurant. Being Haitian, I was very excited to try this Haitian-​Asian Cuisine. I was a tad disappointed. the food (that I ordered) was excellent but had no resemblance of Haitian or Asian flavors. it was also a bit expensive for the portions of food.
Overall, if you’re not familiar with authentic Haitian food, you would probably enjoy this restaurant very much.

This is such a nice place to go and enjoy food. The chef takes pride in his job and everything, starting from the home made humus with crunchy plantains was amazing! The salmon is so delicious with a mix of sweet and sort of sour flavor… mmmmmm!!! They have very gentle and good service too, I really recommend it!

This was not a great experience. The staff though friendly were not trained well. We had calamari for an appetizer which was bland. As a second appetizer the spicy tuna roll came with more rice around the roll than tuna. For entrees the chicken paillard was oily and flavorless and the churasco had no seasoning. The quality was very rubbery to cut. The ambiance was nice and tranquil but like the food forgettable.

Chef Ivan is great! Food was amazing. We ordered the shrimp mofongo, tuna, churrasco with potato wedges and curry chicken. Honestly delicious! Our Australian waiter was awesome! Definitely coming back. Ohhhh and they’re open late! Thank you for amazing food chef.

Food was amazing. A great haitian/​fusion mix. The oxtail is a must have. I thoroughly enjoy my meal. I definitely will be back.

Nice ambiance, friendly staff, good looking menu. Then the food was served and it was pretty disappointing. Ordered several dishes & I can’t say a single one of them was flavorful:/

Excellent food! Crab cakes were the best I’ve ever had! Ivan puts so much love and passion into what he does and it shows. Pumpkin soup, mushroom rice and plantains and hummus were all excellent. Fresh and favorable!

Three stars because of the long wait: they brought out one entrée, one app, then 20 mins ’til everyone else’s. Food was very tasty, but not as fusion as we thought from the previews. Have paid less for larger portions, but I know the rent at Biscayne Commons is high. Had to return one of the featured drinks: we ordered it virgin, but without liquor, there was no lemon or any other flavors advertised. Décor cute, so were the mom-​n-​pop singers Fri nite.

There food was not as flavorful as I expected I had the steak and potatoes. It was ok, but I plan on trying other items on the menu on my next visit. I was there on a Saturday evening and they were having karaōke night that was pretty fun.

Giving three starts based on the service but food was not good at all. I admire the recent start up but chef has no skill in cooking whatsoever. He needs to hire someone more familiar with Jamaican food (he is Haitian). Some of the worst Jamaican food I ever had.
Btw i ordered jerk pasta. Not asian or haitian. Its jamaican.

Giving three starts based on the service but food was not good at all. I admire the recent start up but chef has no skill in cooking whatsoever. He needs to hire someone more familiar with Jamaican food (he is Haitian). Some of the worst Jamaican food I ever had.

These guys know their way around the kitchen. The food is vibrant, delicious, well seasoned. I have been twice this week. The jerk chicken wrap for lunch is perfectly cooked, not too spicy, but spicy enough. For dinner we had truffle Mac N Cheese, Panko Chile Shrimp, Salmon, sides of spinach, mashed, everything was bursting with flavor. Service is very good, nice balance of professional and friendly, and timely. Highly recommend this gem.

This place is simply amazing! Chef ivan makes everything taste so good. I eat the full grilled snapper with black rice and the carib tiramsu is phenomenal

I certainly expected much better. The free humus starter was the best thing that we tried. It all went down hill from there. Mussels tasted fishy and a lot of them were empty. Just not good quality mussels, the sauce was half decent.
Creole shrimp was not bad, but if you don’t eat all the rice you’ll end up very hungry. He also had curry chicken and that was mediocre.
I guess I was expecting much more from someone that is a «celebrity» chef.

The crab cakes and shrimp here is really good. A friend of mine recommend it last week and I was in the area so I decided to try it. Would repeat

We came here for my Birthday lunch and it was delicious! I chose the restaurant based on the great reviews and we were not disappointed! We sat outside today and the weather was perfect in my hometown :) All the dishes are cooked fresh upon ordering by Chef Ivan Dorvil, a Food Network CHOPPED champion (2012).
We ordered the Calamari, Chicken Pillared and Island Meatballs… and the Boniato Pudding a la mode. Everything was seasoned very well, with some delightful flavor combinations. Oh… let me not forget the fresh Island Lemonade (just like my Abuela used to make)! Our waiter was very helpful too!

I truly enjoyed this hidden gem. After looking for a new place to try in the neighborhood we stumbled on Ivan’s Cookhouse. So glad we did. The food and drinks were delicious, it was hard to choose a favorite. But I will say, the 2 standout was the seafood miso hot pot and the grilled whole snapper. Definitely will be back.

Absolutely delicious! We came across Ivan’s on Unilocal when looking for new restaurants in the area. Service was extremely friendly. We ordered the pumpkin soup and salad to start. Pumpkin soup was awesome and really flavorful. They also brought a comp plate of hummus and plaintain chips, a really nice touch. For entrees we ordered the churrasco and Panco shrimp and both were extremely memorable. Chef Ivan came out to the table as well to greet us and check up on our meal and was very friendly. Definitely check out this restaurant, we’ll definitely be back!

I really like this place. The food a great and the ambiance (even though it’s in a strip center) it laid back. Ivan is a splendid host. When’s he’s not cooking, he’s making sure the food is to your liking. Though it gets busy, he always makes time to interact with his patrons.

First of all, it’s the only business in the shopping center with no signage. The only good thing about this place is the service. Angie the waitress was attentive… But that’s probably also Bc we were the patrons… The food was between awful and mediocre. The presentation was lacking and the portions were sorry. Our table, dishes and utensils were dirty, greasy and covered in finger prints see pic
We started with the special — gumbo. It was more like soup from a can with mushy okra and tomato. The dish was overpowered by the broth which tasted more like Campbell’s chicken soup. The bowl was only half full and looked like it had been sitting on the stove top for too long.
Next came our salads — a house salad with vinegarette, and a Caesar. The house salad was spinach (which I didn’t expect and couldn’t eat Bc I’m allergic) the Caesar dressing was MAYO! Just mayo! Barf!
Then came our seafood platter for 2. This included grilled salmon — dry and over cooked, tilapia — frozen and super thin! Muscles– dry over cooked and tasteless, and shrimp– the only redeeming item. Still I could’ve done them better. The items were swimming in oil and the presentation was non existent. See pic.
The waitress asked for our honest opinion, which leads me to believe they get a lot of complaints. She brought out the check, and nothing was removed! At least the salad covered in mayo should be removed. After we told her about our experience, she sent out the chef! He tried to explain why the dressing tasted like mayo, which was insulting and rude. Even his defensive stature was intimidating. We will never come back

How we ended up here for dinner is a mystery, but after a short search we discovered this new spot just a hop skip and a jump away from home, we thought why not try something new in our hood.
It was Sunday, the place was pretty barren, other than a few people sitting outside. I was lucky enough to decide where to sit and opted for inside. It’s not hot in South Florida this time of year but it wasn’t pleasant enough weather to enjoy an outdoor table. Plus the lighting was that horrible flourescent lighting that I have to bear all day at work, which is way more than enough.
Kudos on the décor. Nice clean lines, textured walls and plenty tables. The bar is pretty to look at and the industrial ceiling gives it that trendy gastro feel.
Now on to the food. We were given complimentary plantain chips and hummus. They did fresh plantain chips, but they were done awhile before, which made them a lot less crispier than I’d like. The hummus was a tad on the watery side, but the combination of the two fits for this setting. Just wished the chips were warmer.
We started on mussels as an appetizer. We attacked the plate before I could even snap a pic. Yes it was that good. Delicious and well seasoned. I ordered their special: Grilled seafood platter of fish, chicken, squid and shrimp with wild brown rice and tostones. The seafood was fresh and cooked well. I’m a seafood fanatic. I’m usually the one in the group that always opts for seafood dishes. So I appreciate clean flavor and seasoning that doesn’t overpower the taste of the ocean. The rice however was a bit disappointing. It was dry and bland. But the tostones made up for it. They were banging! Sweet and salty perfectly combined. The kids loved them. Hubbs got the oxtail. It was cooked very well. Oxtail is challenging to find that perfect tenderness. They hit it on the head. My 10 year old surprised us all by ordering their fresh whole snapper. Let me tell you that he not only impressed the waiter for his table skills and for eating the whole fish without any help, but he caught the eye of the cook, for which he wanted to thank personally for such a well cooked and seasoned fish. It was by far the best meal next to my other son’s steak. I will be ordering that fish next time FOR SURE!
Last but not least we went for the molten chocolate cake with ice cream. The cake was very moist and soft in the middle, not too hot and runny. A rich, chocolaty way to end the weekend.
The chef and waiter mentioned that there’s live entertainment on Friday evenings, and spoken work on Tuesdays. I will surely be returning when my little one asks for some more fish.

Amazing food and service! Curry Chicken was delicious! We ate here for the first time and loved the environment too. Very cool idea to mix Caribbean and Asian, the menu is unique and we had trouble deciding what to eat it all looked so good so we ordered multiple things and loved all of it :) Chef Ivan even came out to greet us and make sure our food was what we expected which is amazing considering he is an award winning Chef. Highly recommended will be back again soon.

The salad dressing that was served with the crab cakes was delicious. The lump crab cakes were not as expected. The portion was extremely small for the price and they have a lot of work to do with the taste. The ceasar salad dressing had absolutely no flavor. The ox tails was more like a soup and was not seasoned according to restaurant cuisine description. The jon jon rice was not authentic Haitian cuisine. The service was slow. Not what I expected at all.

Crab cakes were sooooooo good! I also had the oxtail and the chocolate lava cake. Definitely my favorite local spot!

Excellent Food!!! Cooked the way it should be. excellent service by the server and chef. I had the Griot entrée and it was really good, flavors on point, tostones to perfection. Definitely I will be coming back for some Oxtail!

Excellent! This is truly an amazing restaurant. The attentive service made us feel very welcome and at home. The highlight though is the delicious delectable food.
We started out with the appetizer platter for two which includes shrimp mofongo, griot, cod fish fritters, tostones, and a small salad in the center. The griot was amazing, you can cut it with a fork, the shrimp mofongo was spiced just right, the fritters were delish. Before our wonderful appetizer the servers brought us the complementary hummus with plantain chips, it was yummy. So now for the amazing entrée, both of us ordered the whole snapper. In my humble opinion, it was the best fish I have ever tasted. It was perfectly grilled, moist, and the fish easily came off the bone with the touch of my fork, but the most important part was the flavor, I have never experienced a fish that was as fresh and flavorful as this snapper! It had the taste of the Islands. I could taste a faint hint of scotch bonnet in the marinade used to flavor the fish, nothing too spicy but just a brief hint of that special flavor, even the person most afraid of spicy heat would not notice heat but rather the actual flavor of the pepper. I also tasted garlic infused in the flavors captured in this dish. It simply was what a good fish dish should be! We did not try dessert because by now we were quite full. I do want to mention the wine we had it was a Malbec from Mendoza Roble 2014 from Finca Flichman.
This Malbec was extremely smooth, compared to many Malbecs which can be too acidic in the finish. As other reviewers have stated Chef Ivan has been affiliated with many of the top end restaurants in Miami and even won Top Chef two years ago on the Food Network. We are lucky in the Biscayne Corridor to have such a wonderful dining experience. Prices are extremely reasonable for the quality of the food and service.

Food it’s amazing! cooked to order… love the service friendly and attentive. It’s actual chef making your food… see chops on food network. his the winner!!!

Wow. Good food here. A little bit different flavors on some common dishes. I got calamari fried and meatballs over potatoes. Let’s just talk about the meatballs and potatoes, FUEGO. They were cooked well but so juicy. Mashed potatoes were sooo good, I’m very sure there is dairy in there so if you’re allergic this isn’t for you. The sauce may have been the best part. Again, FUEGO. I got hooked up with complimentary hummus, I’m not sure if that’s standard or because i was the only one there eating alone. I think I was the only one there because it was midweek at 3:00 pm

This restaurant exceeded my expectations! The food was great. For appetizers we had a special platter that had monfongo, akra, and tassot. Was great! The tassot was soft and not hard. The akra wasn’t greasy like other places. For dinner I had the griot and the rice was great! This blows Tap Tap out the water. If you want a taste of real Caribbean and Haitian food with a nice ambiance and great staff then come here. This was a soft opening and we hear that they will have a grand opening next week. We are coming back for my moms birthday. Check out the fish my dad had. It was great! Five stars!

This place was a nice surprise !!! I was hanging out with Book Club and the president chose this spot. We had the app. platter. It was delicious with mofongo, and other treats. I will attach a pic. I had the oxtails and they were tasty.

I’ve passed this place many times going to a chain– I won’t anymore! Wow! A real chef, in Florida, using fresh food??? Who would have thunk it?
The prices were what you would pay for far inferior food as well.
I started with the Beef Mofongo! Well actually they serve a hummus plate for free before that which was AWESOME! The Mofongo was great! It came with a salad with passion fruit dressing which was also really great. I’m not the biggest fan of sweet dressings, but it was very flavorful!
For my meal I wanted to keep it light and had the special chopped salad with grilled salmon, which was also great!
I will definitely be back to try some more of this great food. Also the chef was gracious enough to come out and see how I liked everything (I love that!)
Yum!

This place was surprisingly good. For appetizers we had the jerk wings which were just okay — they didn’t have much jerk flavor so they tasted more like plain grilled wings. The main entrée is what saved the night– I ordered the oxtail and my boyfriend ordered the grilled fish which took forever to come out but it was definitely worth the wait.
There was a woman there that seemed to be the only knowledgeable waiter — everyone else seemed to only be concerned with refilling my water