The week of March 10, we brought our annual convention to Miami Beach. I planned a night out with my wife at Table 8. We arrived at 7:30pm and were seated promptly in the empty dining room which faces Ocean Drive. \r
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For appitizers, we ordered the diced ahi tuna asparagus, marinated radishes, aioli and the warm boucheron balsamic roasted onion, avocado, herb salad. We ordered the salt encrusted porterhouse for two which, is the signature dish at table 8. We ordered Rose by the glass for the appitizers and the Syrah also by the glass for our main course.\r
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The appitizers arrived. The boucheron on my plate was tepid and near cold. The only flavor was in the roasted onion which was served on the plate. My wife grimaced when she forked a piece of the radish on her ahi tuna appitizer into her mouth. She quickly took a gulp of water. I asked what was wrong and she offered me a sample. I immediately discharged the piece from my mouth into a napkin. This was the most bitter thing I have ever tasted. We consulted our server who checked with the kitchen. She reported back that they had mistakenly marinated the radish only in vinegar forgetting to add the rest of the marinade. No offer to replace the foul tasting dish or delete it from our tab.\r
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Our porterhouse arrived and was presented by a different server who explained the cooking process and the ingredients in the salt crust. Our first impression was that the cut of beef was very small for $125 allowing us each 5 or 6 medium sized slices. We also found an inordinate ammount of gristle and tendon in our portions which was inedible and we had to discharge into our napkins.\r
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We received our check which came to $276, which included an 18% gratuity. Today (3 days later), I checked my credit card statement and found that they had added another 20% to that charging me $332. In my 18 years as an event planner and dining at over 1000 restaurants, this experience rates as the worst.
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