Be Careful when going to great restaurants in Miami!!

[Elusive_Cruiser]

We were staying in Miami Beach pre-cruise and we were highly recommended the Casablanca Seafood Restaurant by one of our waiters. Well, we know that taking the recommendations of locals is prudent, so we made a reservation on our last Miami day, dropped off our rental car, and grabbed a cab. We knew we wanted a nice, relaxing dinner, which would include mucho vino, so were not interested in driving.

 

The Casablanca was great!! Super food, great ambiance - loved watching the yachts pull up and get service right onto the boats! All was great...until it came time to leave.

 

We could not get a cab back to our hotel. The staff called for us, and we kept checking in with them, and checking in....

 

After waiting for an hour and 1/2, one of the valet personnel (who watched and listened to us whine :) ) finally offered us a ride in his car, for the cost of a cab ride. Well, we were so very grateful for this, and gave him double the cab ride fare (he should have been pretty happy - $60 for a trip that, return, took him an hour).

 

Part of our frustration was that the staff told us that it is always difficult getting a cab there. (Bizarre to start with - in a tourist city such as Miami). But, in my mind, when the valet staff see you arriving in a cab, they should warn you that you may have difficulty leaving.

[FLAHAM]

I sincerely regret your unfortunate experience. Miami Beach is a tourist city. Miami, not so much. Casablanca is located west of I-95 in an area that is not well-populated at night. While I am surprised that the Maitre was unable to telephone a cab for you, it is not an area that cabs cruise in the evening. While Miami has many fine restaurants, Miami Beach also has many. You may want to stick with the latter next time.

[BlueHerons]

I sincerely regret your unfortunate experience. Miami Beach is a tourist city. Miami, not so much. Casablanca is located west of I-95 in an area that is not well-populated at night. While I am surprised that the Maitre was unable to telephone a cab for you, it is not an area that cabs cruise in the evening. While Miami has many fine restaurants, Miami Beach also has many. You may want to stick with the latter next time.

 

Ditto this. Miami is not a tourist city at all. While I'm surprised you could not get a cabbie to come pick you up, sometimes you need to call the restaurant and check things out.

 

Miami is not a normal city either so anything goes.

[Elusive_Cruiser]

I sincerely regret your unfortunate experience. Miami Beach is a tourist city. Miami, not so much. Casablanca is located west of I-95 in an area that is not well-populated at night. While I am surprised that the Maitre was unable to telephone a cab for you, it is not an area that cabs cruise in the evening. While Miami has many fine restaurants, Miami Beach also has many. You may want to stick with the latter next time.

 

Thanks for your comments! We will certainly know better next time!

[MoncriefJ]

I regret that you weren't able to spend your time in Miami Beach. It's a much more interesting, tourist-oriented city, and chockablock with cabs.

[Elusive_Cruiser]

I regret that you weren't able to spend your time in Miami Beach. It's a much more interesting, tourist-oriented city, and chockablock with cabs.

 

Oh, we did spend time there as well - we stayed in Miami Beach for three days pre-cruise - just ventured away for the one evening. Will not be making that mistake again! :mad:

[lovevacadays]

So sorry to hear about your experience. That doesn't sound like fun at all. Especially since it was recommended. I'm an advocate for doing good research prior to going some place you haven't been. I tend to research several sites including cruise critic and trip advisor. Quite often you can find things like you have posted that will help avoid these issues.

 

I think it is very good you posted your experience as you might help someone else avoid the same issue.

[miamiyogi]

I'm so sorry you had a bad experience. Casablanca is a great restaurant (even though I'm more of a fan of Garcia's next door). You did well in going there.

 

I'm not defending the cabs, but what happens in this case is that someone calls dispatch from the restaurant..then by chance see a cab driving by and they flag him down and get in. Nobody bothers to call dispatch to cancel the original request. So a cabbie gets out of line to come answer the dispatch, and there is no fare. The place gets flagged, and cabbies don't respond to dispatches at that particular place anymore.

 

Two tips that have served me well on all my travels. Call dispatch from your cellphone and not the restaurant. If there isn't a cab in 10 minutes, call again. When you get dropped off somewhere off the beaten path, ask the cabbie for his cell number and tell him an approximate time you are leaving. Even if he is busy when you call him, he can radio one of his working pals to come get you. This works particularly well if you are a generous tipper.

[Elusive_Cruiser]

I'm so sorry you had a bad experience. Casablanca is a great restaurant (even though I'm more of a fan of Garcia's next door). You did well in going there.

 

I'm not defending the cabs, but what happens in this case is that someone calls dispatch from the restaurant..then by chance see a cab driving by and they flag him down and get in. Nobody bothers to call dispatch to cancel the original request. So a cabbie gets out of line to come answer the dispatch, and there is no fare. The place gets flagged, and cabbies don't respond to dispatches at that particular place anymore.

 

Two tips that have served me well on all my travels. Call dispatch from your cellphone and not the restaurant. If there isn't a cab in 10 minutes, call again. When you get dropped off somewhere off the beaten path, ask the cabbie for his cell number and tell him an approximate time you are leaving. Even if he is busy when you call him, he can radio one of his working pals to come get you. This works particularly well if you are a generous tipper.

 

Thank you - that is excellent comments and excellent advice! May well try this next year, when we go to Garcia's!!

[miamiyogi]

Your welcome, I'm glad you are a savvy traveler and at least tried to see some of the city. So many here are about the $75/night hotel that has free warmed over breakfast and a shuttle to the port.

[Elusive_Cruiser]

The first time we cruised, we flew into Fort Lauderdale late evening, day before boarding the ship...then realized..geezzz, we were in a 'destination' spot and saw nothing of it!!!!

 

The following years, we assured to fly into San Juan and Ft Lauderdale several days in advance to take advantage

 

This past year, since we'd already spent a few days in Fort Lauderdale, we flew into Miami, even though we were cruising out of Port Everglades, so that we could spend some time there as well. By all means, we are not seasoned travellers - just keep learning as we go (you DON'T want to hear our GPS nightmare with rental car, trying to get from Miami airport to Miami Beach!!!)

 

Florida has so much to offer - we can and will continue cruising from there, spending time in the various areas - more Miami, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, the Keys....etc etc etc... so many reasons to keep coming to FL :)

[ragtiki2004]

Yes, you got to like Florida. Love staying in the FLL area especially, so much to do. Bob:)

[royalcruz]

I guess this can happen anywhere. This happened to us in London late one night. We came out of the theatre and had dinner and at the end of the meal we asked the manager to call a taxi. He said the taxis can't stop in front of the restaurant so they can't call one. So we started to walk back to the hotel planning on flagging a taxi (we were afraid to take the subway that late at night). We walked back for over an hour in heels, as we never found an available cab!

[miamiyogi]

There is a universal truth; its this one: There are far more terrible cab drivers than there are really good ones.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves. It gets depressing sometimes on this board because most everyone wants to cheap out on their Miami stay. I get it, I know times are tough. I think the problem is the departure city is an afterthought....everyone books the cruise and all the goodies and there isn't enough money for a proper Miami stay. Take a look at the posts, its 90% who has free shuttles, who has free toast and cold cereal in the morning, where can I park my car for $1 a day and not have it vandalized.

 

[soapbox removed...yogi stops pontificating]