Balans Restaurant & Bar – Brickell

Balans is just good for happy hour. Its got a reputation for having a terrible brunch and I can attest to that! However, their happy hour prices are great and they have excellent food options to go with it, which is a must in my book for happy hours. Its right in the middle of mary brickell so its conveniently located if you work in the area and their happy hour lasts until 8 for those of us that have a hard time leaving early.

I’m on vacation and decided to try this place. Great service, they really made sure I was happy and had what I needed. Food was delicious. I had the Indonesian egg noodle chicken pasta. It was yummy. Great ambience and great location. Also, Jay must of been the manager because he was very catering and on top of his game. Thanks for all the water Jay;-)

If there was a way to give a negative rating I would give one for this place! !! My friend Joe and I unfortunately stopped here Friday because I wanted to try the hokka– which we ended up waiting almost an hour for after we placed the order. Where do I begin? Well, we walked in and asked the hostess for a table outside, she advised it would be about 15 minutes. We decided to go inside and have a drink at the bar and our drinks were made very quickly. After waiting 25 minutes for the hostess, and watching new tables being seated outside my friend Joe went to ask about the table.
They then seated us and that was when we ordered two drinks and a hokka. After waiting 20 minutes with no drinks and no hokka I then went over to our server Joel who was laughing with his co workers and manager Jean who decided to have a server meeting to talk about an earlier incident right next To the table we were at outside. I proceeded to tell them that I didn’t mean to interrupt their party but we had been waiting for some time for our drinks. Joel then comes over and apologizes and gives us a free shot –which would have fixed it provided we didn’t wait another 20 minutes, and then have to ask him AGAIN for drinks and our hokka. Literally after he gave us the shot he said the hokka and drinks would be right back. We then proceeded to wait again, and to top it off his genius manager has yet another server meeting inside by the window this time. Management 101:“Have meetings in the back, it’s a standard practice that most managers follow!“
Eileen the hostess was very nice in trying to talk us out of basically pouring a drink on this guy we were soo frustrated by the end of having to deal with Joel’s ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS service. She tried to explain the reason for the wait, which is exactly what our server should have done but didn’t. We still tipped him well in spite of him not doing his job. Hopefully he decides to work in a different industry, since he is a horrible server. Only good this about this place — are the mango margaritas.
Hands down the second worse service I’ve Ever had in my whole life No Exaggeration!!! The worst was the same night from the pizza shop around the corner. Friday was my first and last time in Brickell. I’ll stay in Broward where servers and managers actually do their job, and know that without customers they don’t exist!!!

Changing the name of this place to Banals might be more appropriate…
Having heard so much about the place, my girlfriend and I decided to try it out. Located in Mary Brickell village, it is easy to spot and its location makes it a perfect spot to sit back, relax, have a cigar, and people watch. Unless you plan on enjoying the food.
The menu seems to have been inspired by TGI-Friday’s, nothing really pops out and overpriced just as you’d expect it to be. So unless you come for happy hour, it’s not worth the drive, walk, or metro mover ride to get here.
The service was good though, but you don’t retain patrons on that alone. Would I come back? Maybe…

The atmosphere is nice so I thought the food would live up to it– not the case. The food is comparable to a Denny’s — I think iHop may even be better, at least there drinking glasses are clean and their coffee doesn’t have weird stuff floating in it. All around bad experience. Service was slow and not friendly. I ordered the eggs Benedict with ham — ham probably came from a cold cut package and the English muffins were not warm/​toasted.
Hollandaise sauce didn’t taste like hollandaise sauce — more like a cheap version of it. Eggs were probably microwaved given the quality of everything else. Potatoes were definitely from a frozen package. I watched a server take the basket of coffee creamer from an unclean table outside in the sun where people had just left and give to a couple that had just sit down. What topped it off and grossed me out the most was my dirty water glass. There was floating stuff in my glass and something green like leftover salad on the rim. Will never go back here again. There are better places out there for the same or less money. Should have eaten at Starbucks across the way for a third of the price.

Happy hour is good! Went to try Tuna Tartar without spicy and I didn’t get what I ask for, the waiter was so busy that I just decided to eat it like that. It was good tho

We came here for my best friends birthday last night and was so disappointed. I am not sure if our waiter was having an off day or he just wasn’t paying attention. When the food came out we were missing an order of quesadillas, a flatbread and an entre that we had to re order. My friend had also asked for another glass of champagne and that never came. It’s a joke that they force you to pay an 18 percent tip when the service was not worth it.

Mother’s Day breakfast was perfect. We came early to beat the rush. Anthony, our server, was super friendly. I had the pancakes which were good but the bacon was a little tough. Mom had the eggs Benedict and it had a good kick to it. Perfect morning to sit outside.

They have the best menu. You must try The caramelized brussels sprouts. Their hamburger, Baja salad, Fritto misto, crabcakes and specials of the day are incredible! Great atmosphere, make sure to sit outside. Fun people watching!

Rachael, the GM invited me to dine at Balans today. It was AMAZING. Her son, Henry personally took such great care of us. He was attentive, knew the best things on the menu, and had a smile every time.
The best part about this place is the outside seating. It’s so casual and you can people. Bring your dog, super dog friendly.
Love this neighborhood spot!

Maybe the staff took notice of the previous Unilocal reviews because we had fantastic service when we went this weekend. Stopped by for some small bites, drinks, and a hookah– everything was great. Our waitress was nice and accommodating, overall service was perfectly fine without delays or rudeness. The hookah guy was totally nice, making sure coals were hot and was happy to swap flavors (no charge) if we ever wanted to. Drinks were good and came out pretty quick. The food was ok, nothing to complain about. The most impressive part of this restaurant are the restrooms. When you turn the lock, the glass goes from clear to frosted. Pretty snazzy stuff. The second most impressive part of this restaurant is the people watching. The types of people you see walking by as you enjoy the evening is AMAZING. A solid 3.5−4 in my opinion.

If you HAVE to go to this restaurant. Do yourself a favour and sit outside. Service tends to be faster. That said, after eating at Balans 3 times. Service is SLOW. Most recent example: We waited 15 minutes to get water and meet our waiter for the first time. Food quality is questionable as well. At its best, the food is decent. At its worst, dog food. I’ve tried again and again to give this restaurant a chance, its appearance is nice, and the drinks are passable but I cannot give this restaurant higher than a single star because it fails to achieve a semblance of any appropriate restaurant experience.
Brunch:
Huevos rancheros-​decent.
Banana foster pancake-​bad, soggy, almost microwave like.
Corn beef hash– mush, salty, ugly, unappetising, couldn’t even eat this-​bad.
Eggs benedict-​capable.
Mimosa-​its a mimosa.

What a joke of a place… omg
Rude… Don’t know how too deal with people now I know why the place has two and a half servers… No skill, what a joke of a manager had NO SKILL WHAT SO EVER … He walked pass by me without saying anything
Walked in the bartender was rude some white/​Spanish guy with tattoos and he told me he was not a server so he could not help me like omg so I
Sat down and the server «her name was Georgina» or what so ever didn’t even explain the special point at the menu walked way and went back to talking to her friends
Asked for a manger what a joke he didn’t know how to deal with anything and walked away
Do yourself a favor go to the other location where you will be treated important.

Great for Sunday brunch! Located right on Mary Brickell Village, good cocktails and tasty food, the atmosphere is very pleasant, and service is friendly.
I can’t wait to go back!

Came here for happy hour with a few co-​workers and I don’t have any complaints. Balans offers a pretty decently priced happy hour menu. We sat outside on their patio around 4:00 pm and were shortly greeted by our waiter, Ryan. Ryan explained the happy hour menu which offers most cocktails at $ 6.75. Ryan also explained we could also chose from half priced beers and wines as well.
Balans also offers 5 – 6 bar bites for around $ 6 for happy hour. After a few rounds of drinks we decided to order some of their siracha wings. The wings are fried and sport a tangy, spicy siracha sauce. They’re super addicting! Next thing we know we find ourselves ordering 3 more orders of the wings.
For decently priced drinks and bar bites, I would recommend coming to Balans. It also gives plenty of opportunities to people watch in Mary Brickell Village.

Happy with the food and venue but service woefully off the ball. It took 10 min to be acknowledged by a server, +10 min for someone to bring water, +25 min for food to show up. They never actually brought some coffee we ordered so way faster to get coffee at the Starbucks next door and bring it back to your table.

My sister, her boyfriend and I got lunch here when we landed in Miami.
It was a nice day, so we sat outside in the sun. Our server was nice and was very attentive to us.
My sister and I each got a salad and we shared a crab cake. I got the salmon salad and she got a chicken Cobb salad. We all got drinks. My salad was a good size portion and I finished almost all of it. The crab cake was to die for! It was delicious. I totally recommend the salmon salad and the crab cakes because I loved it!
I would totally go back next time I’m back in Miami!

As of this writing, this restaurant/​bar has 3 stars overall, which is about right IMO. 5 of us stopped here at around 1 a.m. on a Saturday night for a few beers and some food. Everything, including the service, was good but not great.
We ordered a round of beers, calamari and an order of wings. We later ordered a second round, another order of calamari and a quesadilla. The calamari was breaded, came with 2 different sauces and also had a few things like fried pickles thrown into the mix. They were good, I was a fan of the mayo based sauce. Wings were just OK, and the quesadilla was also mediocre.
The service on this night wasn’t great. The guy was nice enough, but when we ordered a second round and one of my friends said he didn’t want another, the server brought one anyway. When we had several empties, the same server asked a few times if we wanted him to take away all the bottles or if he should leave some of them, though it was apparent that all were completely empty. After we ate, we decided we wanted a hookah. We asked if he had a hookah menu, and he said «No, it’s better if you just tell me what you want». I was a bit taken aback, because at most other places they have a menu available that lists the different tobacco flavors. Not here evidently. We settled on peach and ordered one last round. The drinks came within 5 minutes, but the hookah never arrived. One of my friends went inside to use the restroom about 20 minutes after we asked for the hookah and he mentioned it to our waiter. The guy said «Oh yeah, I told them in the back, but they must have forgot». We just cancelled it, got our bill and left.
The prices were fair here: We each got 2 or 3 beers and shared the 4 appetizers and I think the bill came to something like $ 24 each when we split it evenly 5 ways. One interesting feature here at Balans are the restrooms. When you enter, there is a clear glass wall separating the hallways and the restrooms, but when you turn the knob to bolt the restroom door, the glass turns opaque so people can’t see in.

This review is primarily about the new hookahs that they introduced.
I don’t understand what all the bad reviews are about but I enjoy this place every time I come. It’s the perfect place to come and people watch without having to go to south beach. They recently started selling hookahs which is a huge plus and these are by far some of the coolest hookahs I’ve seen. The drinks are good and the service is great. I also have been here for breakfast too and it was amazing. The Benedicts have always been a hit every time.
Now back to the hookahs… 40 dollars might sound expensive at first… But the service makes it well worth it. They refilled my flavor over and over again until I couldn’t smoke any more. They also just received a new hookah that they plan on introducing and they let our party try it. It was a contraption that was a serving for one person, with alcohol, and it was amazing. Kudos to balans and their service

I have been here a few times since moving to Brickell and this rating is a complete reflection of the horrendous service and not the food which is decent by the way.
I would have to say last night was a disaster. We must have had the slowest server in all of Brickell when seated outside last night and least accurate one to boot. She took both our food and drink order, then proceeded to forget getting our drinks to us. Accuracy –1.
It took us about 30 minutes to get our food which is not bad given how many people where there, then came the worse part. It took us 30 minutes to get the bill.
My friends were smartly and put down cash and left.
I on the other hand paid with card and it took her another 15 minutes to come back.
She was so slow that other server came by and put down menus and asked us if we had been helped. We were like yeah we have been trying to leave for 45 minutes and are waiting to our cards back.
So when I get my card back I find out I had been overcharged. the server messed up the split bill. I had to again wait to flag her down and wait again to get my card back. Craziness. I have never been to a place where it took me more time to pay than to wait for my food and eat. If you see Ellen serving you run away.

My food was apparently the only one that was decent. Everyone else I was with was more than disappointed by their food. I went with the salmon and egg croissant. It’s nothing to rave about but I would eat it again. I also order a side of chorizo. Definitely don’t get that! We weren’t the only table who was super blown about it. It’s not your typical chorizo; it wasn’t spicy and it is super hard. Had the texture of a Chinese sausage.
The bathroom setup is pretty cool and the service was spectacular.

The food at Balans is just so mediocre. I would compare the quality of the brunch food to Denny’s or IHOP or a crappy diner. The dry pancakes, sloppy scrambled eggs and toasted white wonderbread were so blah. The service was also nothing to write home about… Waited for 20 minutes for our waitress to refill our waters and being over ketchup.
The ambiance is not bad. Lots of interesting people watching, especially on the outdoor patio. Happy hour scene also looks fun, though I haven’t been for HH. The location is great — smack in the middle of Brickell by Mary Brickell Village.
All in all, I wouldn’t recommend Balans because the food is so meh. There are plenty of other restaurants in Brickell that offer much tastier options! Sorry Balans, I really wanted to like you, but you’re just not that good.

Went with a friend for brunch. Was the only place open in the neighborhood at the time. I’m glad it was. The décor was very lovely and the food was surprisingly good for breakfast. I would like to go back for lunch because its hard to mess up breakfast.

We came here for a late dinner. The atmosphere was pretty sleek and trendy so I was hopeful. But honestly, the food was brutal. I know some of it was traditional spanish food so maybe out of my comfort zone a little but my other two dining partners were from Miami and their reaction to it wasn’t much better. The presentation of the food was weak and as expensive as it was, I was a little put off by the fact french fries was the only side with one of the steak meals. The waitress didn’t seem to know what she was talking about at all which made matters worse.
My associate tried the oysters and literally spit one out because it was so fishy. Yuck.
Just not impressed. Too expensive for a so-​so dining experience.

I have been to this particular Balans several times over the years for happy hour on a Thursday or Friday as I used to work down the street. I’ve always had a good experience at Balans.
I love it that they have a reduced happy hour menu with items in the $ 6 or $ 7 range. :) :)
They also typically have 2 for 1 drinks/​glasses of wine. The waiters are always really attentive and with great personalities. (Which is a little bonus in the Miami area. Those of you from Miami know what I’m referring to.)
For the purpose of this particular review I will speak specifically to my dining experience from this past week. I went to Balans for a glass of wine and ended up staying for a impromptu dinner. I had the cheese burger (added a little avocado of course) and the grilled eggplant appy. They were both absolutely amaaaaazing. The burger was cooked medium and it was extremely juicy and flavorful. The grilled eggplant was also cooked to perfection. The make it eggplant parm style but the difference is that they put manchego cheese on it. If you are an eggplant lover, you will really appreciate this dish. Heck, even if you aren’t an eggplant lover… you may even «convert» to eggplant because of this delightful dish. Trust me.
If you are looking for a spot in the Brickell area that is always good, reasonably priced and has a good scene, look no further than Balans.

Excelente lugar espero que disfruten de una buena comida y de buena atención para esas personas que buscan un lindo lugar

As a tourist, this Balans Brickell restaurant is perfect for relaxing and people-​watching. I came by during happy hour (3 to 8 p.m. every day), sat outside, and loved it!
Highlights:
— Great happy hour times (3 to 8 p.m. every day)
— Huge outdoor seating area, with great people watching views
— Decent happy hour food, selections, and prices ($ 5 for spicy wings, $ 8 pizza, and $ 3 beer /​$ 5 wine /​$ 6.95 cocktails are my favorite)
— Servers are attentive
— More than 80% packed, but still get seated right away
I’m not saying the food and service were exceptional, but I would definitely return. The atmosphere, location, vibe, and value make up for any shortcomings you may find.
P. S. Several people commented on the strange bathrooms. I actually like the design and you’ll laugh when you see it :)

Nice little restaurant with inside and outside possibilities to eat & drink. We have had 2 cesars salads which had not been that good as expected. (Many ends of salat stalks, little dressing, partly little bones in the chicken) anyhow i would rate at least 3 stars as I think that the cook had had a bad day and the Cocktails had been ok. I definitively will come back as I see more potential in this restaurant.

3 x in miami
3 x hervorragend in küche und service
egalob in downtown oder south beach, wir waren immer begeistert von küche und service
scheint né kette zu werden, existiert auch in london!
wir hatten lecker calamares für 8 dollar (reichte für 2) und bekamen einen korb brot mit hausgemachtem dip, klasse!
man verlängerte einfach mal die happy hour (täglich von 17−19uhr) um eine stunde und so schmeckte das bud light für 2(!!) dollar auch doppelt gut:-))
einfach in downtown mit der metrorail zu erreichen (5 strasse aussteigen)