Mickey House

Steve Satterwhite

Minimalist décor sets the scene, but again the price is high

Details

305-695-1515. Open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., dinner 5:00 to 11:00 p.m. Breakfast will be coming soon (8:00 to 11:00 a.m.).

1355 Alton Rd, Miami Beach

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More About

• Tony Goldman
• Maria Rossi
• Staten Island
• Fruits and Vegetables
• Foods

It really makes no sense to fry the ravioli instead of simmering in some light stock, and to offer pasta with cream-based sauce, and to serve shrimp cocktail, pizza, and roast chicken for dinner, and then offer desserts made without sugar or eggs. Yet that's just what they do here. Notwithstanding this lack of cohesion, pastry chef Anata Trompeter deserves kudos for creating surprisingly gratifying treats, like a key lime pie made with tofu, and a tall delightful coconut cake with lime frosting and mango sauce.

To be fair, the food here is freshly prepared, and chef Maria Rossi and her staff apparently care about what they're putting out. They just lack the culinary know-how to make it as good as they want it to be. The wait staff also tries hard to please, though with equally little success. On one occasion our waiter was very efficient, but subsequent visits found the slack, unprofessional service that has become something of a South Beach trademark (water glasses not filled, entrées brought while appetizers are still being worked on, not knowing who gets which dish, and so on). Pricing, too, is typical of the area, meaning you pay much more than you should for what you get. For lunch two of us shared one soup, one salad, two entrées and one dessert; the tab, including an automatic 15 percent gratuity, came to $25 per person. Had we shared a bottle of water and had a coffee apiece with our half-dessert, it would have been $30 each. For dinner an appetizer, entrée, dessert, beverage, and coffee, with the same tip, is more than $40. I don't know what market The House is aiming for, but gourmands won't be satisfied with this cuisine, and at these prices, locals looking for health over haute won't be returning too often either.