El Pimiento

the best tapas bar in the miami areas…

with a wide variety of delicious tapas, top-​notch service, and live music on the weekends… this place is tough to beat. be prepared to shell out some dough though. although it’s located in an unassuming strip mall, this place has higher price points than one may expect

Came here with friends and the service was phenomenal. We were taken care of all the time, the drinks were kept refilled, and the food came fast. Now, the place is small and intimate. The walls are lined up with varieties of wine bottles and there are a couple of television sets.
Our group of 6 ordered mostly tapas. The size of the tapas weren’t that big, (usually they aren’t) but these were more on the smaller size of the average tapas I’ve had in other places.
Out of all the dishes we’ve had, the one that really stood out was the fried garbanzo with chorizo tapa. Everything else were average, and one in particular, the octopus, was definitely to avoid.
We ordered a Paella Valenciana. It was salty and was mostly rice and hardly any proteins. Mostly found was squid rings.
Overall, it’s a nice place to go with a group of friends and have some wine and tapas.

WORSE RESERVATION EXPERIENCE EVER!
I was selected to find a location for a special celebration among friends. I called this establishment two weeks before the reservation date. I spoke to a young lady on the phone who took the reservations for sat. The 11^th at 7pm for 12 people. I get a call from one of the people attending the celebration that they called the establishment and were told they could not find the reservation!!! I was floored. I called and to my disbelief was told that they did not have an Olga in their system for a reservation but a Lola for 15 people— hmmm strange! I’m Olga not Lola! I originally called for 15 people and was told they do not do reservations for 15 people, so I downgraded to 12. The manager on the phone told me it was not a mix up that this Lola exists. He said there was nothing he could do but offer me a reservation at a different time. I was shocked and appalled. Oh and his attitude was not nice. I told him that he was acting like if he was giving away free meals. That we were paying for this. He said, oh I don’t give free meals! I never suggested that, I simply a said that he was acting like if he was doing us a huge favor. They really messed this up! I will never ever go to their establishment!!! I did what I was suppose to do I called weeks in advance and I was told I had secured the spot! Bunch incompetent aholes. Posting a picture of when I originally called and made the reservation for proof! Do not recommend.

Great food! Had the tostones with shrimp, the prawns (amazing!), and the octopus… All great tasting… Just don’t be stingy on the bread… Lol will definitely go back! Cute little hidden place…

Great for casual date night, small, cozy and kind of romantic. Having lived in Spain, this place reminds me of the local eateries there. It has a good feeling to it. The food is good, great wine selection. The only problem is that the place is small and it gets pretty full Friday nights. We love to come here drink wine, tapas and enjoy each others company.

I’ve had this bookmarked for a while now and finally made it out here. Such a great little find! Came in on a Wednesday night and it was full house (always a good sign)
We were sat immediately. Cozy authentic Spanish décor. Very small but hey, that calls for a nice intimate dinner.
Service was good and welcoming despite us showing up half an hour before closing. It’s a tapa based cuisine. Really nice variety of things to choose from.
We had the tostones con vaca frita, veal meatballs, mushrooms tossed in blue cheese, steak and also tossed in a blue cheese based cream, mussels in a cilantro sauce, garbanzos frita, and shrimp in a garlic sauce. All were delicious. Mussels were okay, I would have probably preferred the other sauce selection they had. The veal meatballs and tostones were my absolute favorites.
For dessert we had bunuelos which were phenomenal!
Overall good experience
For next time — they seemed to have a really solid wine list and the paellas on the menus seemed great.
Will have to return and try the other half of the menu ;)
Thank you for your service alma !

I love El Pimiento! The food is fantastic. The Cordero al vino (bone in lamb in wine) had the most delicious flavors. Of course, the tapas are all wonderful. I highly recommend patatas bravas, and stuffed tostones. The mussel dishes are also delectable. This place makes you forget you are in Hialeah Miami Lakes. It is a tiny Madrid. Drink up! Buen Provecho!

Always a great time at Pimiento. Looks like the ownership has changed and so has the menu — I missed the live music and a certain ambiance from before but still amazing food and wine selection. Been coming to Pimiento for years and after moving further away, it was my first time back and still felt like home! Definitely worth checking out if you’re ever in the Miami Lakes area.

This is a humble-​appearing restaurant in a plaza on the side of the big streets of Miami. When you enter, you are greeted by tastefully decorated tables and shelves as well as enthusiastic and friendly staff. Once seated, we were offered the menus as well as very helpful advice when we let them know that we were first timers at the place.
Patatas Bravas: Oh, my, god. These are heavennn. I would drink the «soup» the perfectly baked potato chunks were marinating in if I could. They were definitely seasoned well without being too overbearing or sickening so that you couldn’t eat more afterwards. It left a wonderful umami taste afterwards, leaving you licking your lips for more.
Chortizo al Vino: This one I didn’t like so much, just because I was never a big fan of charred things. The sausages were very well done, but my friend who loves charred things absolutely loved it. The wine sauce it was soaked it was quite good as well. Both sauces in the patatas bravas and chortizo al vino were perfect for dipping in bread.
Sirloin Steak in Blue Cheese: I was wonderfully surprised that this combination worked so well! The steak was well done, and the blue cheese perfectly complimented the heavy meaty flavors with a more rounded sweet taste.
Scallops: Four pieces of juicy awesomeness! The scallops were very fresh and fat! Not sure what they were seasoned in, but they were definitely yummy! I’m not usually a fan of seafood, but these definitely disappeared quite quickly!
Overall, I really loved the ambiance of the place, the wonderful and helpful staff, and most importantly the super awesome and tasty food! I would love to come to this place again, but sadly, we never got the chance to revisit. Definitely recommend!

Cozy, beautiful, great tasting, awesome service.
Tapas are well made, reasonably priced, and have a distinct taste. Awesome wine selection. Warning: The place is very small and packs up fast, odd hours, check before showing up. But it’s worth the wait as it does have an international feeling not commonly found at restaurants around this area. Paella (Campesina or Valenciana) is the plate you want here, it’s what they’re famous for. Takes a bit (45min) but relax with some tapas and wine, it’s good waiting. I didn’t try other plates but the menu has a good selection. Highly recommended

I’ve heard of this place several times before from other people that have been there but I have never had the time to try it out. Today we we’re nearby at a baseball game and we decided to go ahead and go to a late dinner approximately 9 p.m.. This place was full and I must say the food was great. I had the patatas bravas and the fried carbanso and it was delicious.
There was also live entertainment with someone playing the guitar and a very good flamenco dancer.
Still by far the best dish there was the serrano ham croquettes. The best ones I’ve ever had. I recommend you go but make reservations way ahead of time or you may not get a table.

I’ve passed this place over for the past 10 years and never even thought of stopping in. I recently moved just across the street and thought I’d try it out. I have been here twice in the last 2 weeks! The atmosphere is fun, the service is great and the food is amazing! So far we’ve tried: Ham and spinach croquettes (small but full of flavor!), the garbanzo frito’s, the Iberico tabla (great quality ham and cheeses), the ropa vieja tostones (amazing taste and fresh tostones), patatas bravas (creamy, spicy, deliciousness), and the paella (dad says its the best he’s had!). Everything is freshly made and tastes delicious! Their sangria is awesome and they have a nice selection of wine as well. Fun place for a date night or girls night! Get here early for a table!

La comida no tiene calidad ninguna, pedimos una orden para recojer que consistia en una paella campesina q no fue mas que un arroz amarillo precocido teñido con bijol, 4 pedazos de pollo, pimiento enlatado y un chorizo q venden el el mercado Presidente de marca el Tigre que la bandeja cuesta 3 dolares por 4 chorizos. Pedimos tambien una racion de Patatas bravas y cuando abri el envase las papas estaban socatas y nadaban en una salsa tan picante q perdia uno el paladar despues de comerserlas y una Tarta de Santiago a la cual bañaron exajeradamente con sirope de chocolate y le quito el sabor tan delicioso ha almendras que tiene dicho bizcocho. Despues de esto les puse una mala critica en su pagina de facebook dandoles solo 1 estrella y lo unico q han hecho es defenderse a base de insultos y atacandome, en ningun momento ha existido una disculpa sincera de parte de su disque llamado Gerente Ciro Mazzeo que lo unico que demuestra es la falta de profesionalismo y la baja categoria del lugar. La Industria Hospitalaria a la cual pertenecen los restaurantes se basa en atender y complacer a los clientes, fue la primera vez que yo compraba algo de ellos y por supuesto la ultima. Uno no ataca a los clientes insatisfechos, uno negocia con ellos y de una mala situacion trata de convertirla en una buena y hacerla positiba y dejar al cliente feliz para que retorne en vez de atacarlo y alejarlo con comentarios degradantes y vulgares como ha hecho este establecimiento con mi persona en Facebook. un manager que se de a respetar y tenga un prestigio profesional elevado en vez de responderme que si no me gusta el plato pues no lo vuelva a pedir primero se disculpa sinceramente y luego me suguiere q regrese al lugar, que les de una segunda oportunidad y que para proxima que considere pedir la salsa picante al lado, por ejemplo. pero quien soy yo sino una simple cliente como para enseñarles algo que ellos ya deberian saber de antelacion. Si no les gustan las malas criticas pues que pena puesto que eso es parte del negocio en que se metieron, si no pueden recibir criticas negativas creo q estan en el negocio equibocado. Gracias!

My husband is a very picky eater and he loves every single item in the tapa menu! The wine is great and you can’t go wrong with any of their food.
Outside it looks okay but inside the décor is adorable with barrel-​like tables and wine corks everywhere. We absolutely love it here!

Good Spanish cuisine, specially considering the limited options in the area. Place is cozy decorated in wooden furniture and spaniard elements.
Good selection of foreign beers, spanish wines and plenty of tapas to share. We had the octopus, tostones with ropa vieja and cheese table. Also we ordered the Paella. Paella, Imho, could use extra olive oil to erase the watery taste from rice.

Great little wine place in Miami Lakes. Service, wine selection and food are great!
Only negative is their prices. They recently raised their prices :(

My uncle was visiting from Houston this past weekend so I decided to take him out to this local restaurant, which is right by my home and I had read good reviews about it so I decided to give it a try. The restaurant is very small so we decided to eat outside since it was a nice night out. Our waitress barely spoke any English, which was a bit annoying since I don’t really speak Spanish. I ordered a glass of the moscato d’ asti to drink, which was probably the worst moscato I’ve ever had in my life. I did not care for it at all. We ordered 5 different tapas to share, which included the lamb empanadas, cod croquettes, camarones tostones, the ropa vieja tostones, & the mussels. I really enjoyed the lamb empanadas and the mussels that had a cilantro sauce. I only wish that they would give you a bigger serving. I understand it’s a tapas restaurant but the prices should be a lot less if the portions are that small. The tostones were Ok nothing out of this world. The service was even more less out of this world. Our waitress never checked on us and took forever to bring us the check also I realized at the end of the meal that an automatic gratuity was taken out so it makes sense why she didn’t really care to make an effort. All in all this place was OK nothing spectacular. I don’t think I’ll be running back anytime soon.

La autentica Tasca española, las mejores tapas y excelentes vinos. Viernes y sabados con musica en vivo.

I love this place. Great food and service! I recommend this restaurant to everybody.
Buena atencion, el lugar pequeño pero super acogedor, mejor impossible! Felicitaciones a todo el staff y al chef por las exquisitas Croquetas de Espinaca!

This place is awesome. I live within walking distance for years, and I had yet to come to this place until last night. Let’s just say that it’s everything I expected based on the other Unilocal reviews here.
I’ll describe my experience from start to finish.
We were a group of three. We called what to try to reserve a table but were advised that reservations were full until 9:00 PM. The person who answered our call said that although the place wasn’t busy, there was a limit of reservations and they had already reached theirs. Luckily for us, we were a short drive away and when we got there we were seated right away. This was around 5:00 PM on a Friday.
It was our first time, and the waiter was patient with us while we decided, finally ending up with a bottle of wine and so we appetizers. They were absolutely delicious.
We had a 2012 Cab called Francesa and it paired very well with the food. The only bad part was the markup on the bottle. They charged $ 50 but you can find it in a local liquor store for $ 20. We know because we saw it with our own eyes.
Anyway, around 6:30 PM the started getting packed but the service remained very good. All waiters were waiting all the tables together so when you needed something you just grabbed the attention of the first one you saw and asked for it.
Towards the end of the night, we ordered a Paella Campesina to go, which is a Paella with meats and no seafood. Because the place was so busy, it took 30 minutes to be delivered to us.
Anyway, the place is great. The décor is great. The service is great. The food is great. I highly recommend this restaurant. It’s a little pricey, but a gem.

I’ve had this place on my «to-​try» list for some time now, particularly because it’s less than 5 minutes from where I live.
I finally tried it out on a Friday night. Upon arriving, I was initially turned off by the lack of attention by the staff. Given, the place was packed — there was a Colombia vs. Argentina soccer match that night so there wasn’t an empty table. After putting our name down, we were uncertain as to where to «wait» since there isn’t anywhere to sit inside or outside in the meantime. After standing around outside for 5 minutes, a waitress came by and offered us to sit at a bench table that was currently available outside. She brought us water and menus to look at. 20 minutes later, our table was ready. Thank goodness, too, because the humidity was horrible that night and mosquitos were eating my boyfriend alive.
We made our way inside and, since we already had plenty of time to decide on what we wanted, ordered right away. They brought us a basket (ok, maybe two) of toasted bread which we dipped in olive oil and balsamic. We washed the bread down with some of their absolutely delicious red sangria — so good!
For starters we had an array of their 3 types of croquetas — ham, spinach and bacalao (cod). I had never had spinach croquetas before, but they were my favorite out of the three! The cod and ham ones were good, too. They were all warm and tasty, although for some reason the ham croquetas were half the size of the other two.
We had ordered the paella Valencia (seafood) for two which normally takes 45 minutes, so we had enough time for a couple more glasses of sangria as we waited. Meanwhile, we were able to enjoy the live music they had that night. It was a gentleman on guitar and a woman singing, what I imagine to be, traditional Spanish songs. They also had the soccer match on a small TV they have in a corner of the restaurant.
Once the paella arrived, we dug right in. I would rate the paella itself a 7 out of 10. It had plenty of each variety of seafood — shrimp, mussels, fish, chicken, and calamari — but I think it was missing something in regards to the texture/​flavor of the actual rice itself. Regardless, it was still pretty tasty. We tried to eat as much as we could, but there was still enough leftovers to have for lunch the next day.
Unfortunately, we had to rush home and didn’t have a chance to order dessert, but I’ll be back for you Crema Catalina!
Overall we had a pleasant experience once we got over the initial wait and lack of attention. Once we were seated, our server was attentive and polite.

From the first look it is small and cramped, but the waiters are pleasant and very attentive. The food was a delightful surprise.
We began with a bottle of wine as they do not serve by glass. A bottle of Riesling was $ 24. We followed that with a cheese platter for $ 16. It was delicious.
For tapas we tried the tostones con ropa vieja (3 come on a plate), which we liked but felt that the meat over powered the flavor of the tostones. We also tried the croquetas de jamón (4 small croquetas on a plate), these were also okay. They tasted like any other «Latin America» could make, but alot smaller in size for $ 6. The last tapa we tried was by far the best. We had the lomo with whiskey and plantains. The pork paired with the plantain was a perfect match of salty and sweet.
For dessert we had the flan, also delicious, not to sugary and the right consistency.
To top off the night there was live music that started playing at 8:30.
This is a must try place.

Found out about this place when a fellow Unilocaler checked in and I looked at the pics and reviews and thought «wow, this place looks and sounds good!» So I got to come a few days later with another fellow Unilocaler and friend and it was pretty good.
Now driving here you may pass is or not even see it at first. If it weren’t because I was with someone who had been here I would’ve driven around a little before finding it. It is on the side of a shopping plaza (by Pollo Tropical).
The first thing that caught my eye was the décor inside. They have wine lining the walls, (empty) bottles of wine for chandeliers, wine corks fill the table tops, it’s all pretty nice. And then everyone greets you. Maybe it’s because we were the first ones in right before the lunch rush, but everyone was very nice and super attentive. Even the chef came and was talking to us and saying that I can take pics of everything but the cooks in the kitchen, lol. I then said how about with you? And he said no, I’m the head chef, plus I would break your phone and I don’t want to do that, lol.
We ordered a few things to start, wine and sangria, of course. Their sangria is pretty good, not too sweet, for those of you that don’t like sweet (I do though). And for appetizers the meatballs-​Albondigas Endiabladas that are with veal and pork in a romesco sauce. They were delicious, had just the right amount of sauce and flavor. We also tried chicken breast chunks with blue cheese, which was good and a different kind of appetizer you wouldn’t find elsewhere. Although it can be a little heavy and filling, I guess because of the blue cheese sauce.
For the entrée we ordered the Paella Campesina (which comes with pork, chicken and chorizo) to share and that was more than enough for two people, ended up taking like half of it home for our husbands to try. It was very good, but not the best paella I’ve ever had (sorry). I know paella is traditionally with seafood, but since I don’t eat all that stuff I stick to the meat paella’s.
It’s not a big restaurant, probably seats a max of like 25 people, but what I’ve noticed lately is that the small (hole in the wall looking) places are usually the best. I’d definitely come back here and recommend to others.

El mejor restaurante que he ido! La comida deliciosa, un servicio de familia, y el lugar bien parecido a España. Les recomiendo la paella, maravillosa! El ambiente muy cómodo! Vayan! Jesucristo reina!