So is the food. I will judge a Chinese restaurant by the quality of its dumplings, among other things. A thick, leathery outer shell (a la Miss Yip in South Beach) eliminates the restaurant from any consideration for a return visit. Hakkasan's dumplings are heavenly. No other word for it. Light, tasty, just the right combination of textures, and the soup dumpling is worth rhapsodizing over. (Rap-sodizing, yo?)
The bar is beautiful. Hakkasan makes one of the most interesting bloody marys I've ever had. Muddled cilantro and basil are the stars, but the olives served with them were special as well. The buttery quality of a cerignola olive, but smaller in size. I'm going to start hunting for those. The bartender was attentive, and while he was obviously very busy dealing with our large group, he never rushed the artful process of turning out a perfect bloody mary.
Service was disappointing for a restaurant of this style. Right at the entrance, the hostess set the tone of haughty indifference. Took a while to take her eyes off her computer screen,which was clearly much more interesting than us. We did get a regulation smile & greeting, but to say it lacked warmth would be an understatement. The waiters were experiencing difficulties keeping up with our large group's various requests. They were polite, but at a place of this standing no one should be asking for water while hopefully waving an empty water glass.
So it's really a question of service quality to price ratio. At these prices, service must be as faultless as the food. Even for large groups.
I keep hearing that there are choices of great Chinese restaurants in Miami. My experiences in that area have been very limited. I used to love Mr. Chu in South Beach - although I admit that towards the end the quality went down. Mr. Chu is no longer there. Hakkasan has exquisite food, but if I were to go back, it would have to be a special occasion. I've never gone to Tropical, which everyone raves about. That will have to be a project for a weekend sometime. The rest of my experiences have been abysmal, marked by grey goopy food (overcooked with cornstarch?), tasteless messes where the vegetables are barely recognizable.
From these awful experiences, I've drawn one sure conclusion. If there is a container with sugar packets and sweet'n'low on the table at a Chinese restaurant, get the hell out. The food is likely to be unspeakable slop.
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