11th Street Diner
1065 Washington Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
We are on the road, this time to Miami, and then off to the Caribbean for a ten day cruise. First things first though, we need to see what Miami has to offer. We were staying in South Beach before we took off the next afternoon, so we checked out the 11th Street Diner.
We had seen this place on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It is open twenty-four hours, and it was only four blocks away from our hotel, so how could we not head over? We got to our hotel around midnight, but because we were still running on west coast time, it felt more like nine, so it was the perfect time for dinner.
11th Street Diner is housed in an 1948 art deco dining car. Moved from Pennsylvania in pieces, it has been a fixture in Miami since 1992, won numerous awards, and been featured on television shows. When Guy Fieri was here he had the roasted turkey dinner, pork chops, and the Argentinian skirt steak. We could not try any of these because they were only serving their late night menu, but let's see what they got cooking up anyways.
Katie ordered up the Turkey Club. I learned from Triple D that they make two turkey's a day, so this sandwich was made with fresh turkey, no pressed sandwich meat here. Katie liked that it was fresh turkey, but she thought the pieces she had were a little dry. She also felt that the sandwich was cut into too small of pieces, and kept falling apart. This was served with your basic potato chips.
I know, big surprise that I would order a burger, well here it is, the Everything Burger. What comes on an everything burger you ask? Cheese, bacon, mushrooms, grilled onions and peppers. I liked this burger, and woofed it down pretty quick. I think they were a little skimpy with the mushrooms and peppers, and it was a tad over-priced, ($11.95). It was juicy and flavorful though.
It is hard to rate 11th Street Diner on this visit though. It was nice having somewhere close that was open 24 hours. The food was not bad, but it was not, knock your socks off great either. I am sure that if we would have had their full menu to choose from it would have been better. It is difficult going to places that you see on TV, because the expectations are so high that the food is going to blow your mind, and those are unrealistic expectations to have.
Out of five models, (no, not because models eat hamburgers, but because when I think South Beach, I think models), five being best to zero being worst, 11th Street Diner gets 2.5 models.
For more information on 11th Street Diner, click here: http://www.eleventhstreetdiner.com/
You didn't try any yucca frita or gallo pinto?
ReplyDeleteDodger fan - No I did not get to try those. This is more of your basic diner food. Thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeletehad breakfast there today...WORST waitress service ever received at diner or ay other eating establishment on Miami Beach!!!!!Have gall automatically added 18% gratuity to check - did not pay full gratuity - left less than 10% and even that is too much for the non-service I received on a very SLOW morning at the diner.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - Sorry to hear this. Even if the food is good, bad/slow service can ruin a place. We were here late at night, and there did not seem to be any issues with the service that we encountered. Maybe they were having an off night. Thanks for taking the time to let me know about your experience there.
ReplyDelete