I visited Malio’s Steakhouse last night, and unfortunately my experience was disappointing.
From the start, things felt off. When my friends and I were seated, the host placed us at a dirty table that had to be wiped down. While the overall environment was very nice and cozy, cleanliness should be a basic expectation, especially at a restaurant of this caliber.
The service was not the best. The restroom, in particular, smelled awful. I understand bathrooms are shared, but maintaining them is part of the guest experience and should not be overlooked.
As for the food, I expected much more. At a higher-end restaurant known for culinary quality, the dishes should be well-seasoned and memorable. I ordered the sea bass, and while I was told it’s a “high water fish,” this is certainly not my first time having sea bass. The dish lacked flavor entirely. My mashed potatoes and sides were also bland and, worse, served cold.
What stood out most was the service. The young lady assisting us appeared rushed and disengaged, as if she was eager to end her shift. Requests felt like an inconvenience, and the overall interaction lacked attentiveness and warmth.
Overall, I left very disappointed. With the quality of service and the high reputation of this restaurant, I expected a far better experience in both food quality and service.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
David Smyth
Fantastic food! Very cool setting inside. Daniel took care of us and was spot of with all recommend items. Next time in town will go back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Keith
Excellent steakhouse! Steaks were high quality and perfectly prepared. Wonderful cocktails and good wine list. Friendly, knowledgeable and attentive form our wonderful server, Sage!
Raquel
Servers were amazing and on top of everything. Great experiences negative was out of some items.
Kim
Seabass was very thin which is not normal for that type of fish. Also very overcooked. Scallops were good. Mashed potatoes and asparagus also very good.
Justin Zimmerman
Dined here for Gasparilla so I am sure that heavily affected the quality of the experience.
First - the eacargot and drinks were great, that's about where the experience ends.
Ordered crab mashed potatoes, jalapeño corn, and a New York Strip along with French onion and escargot appetizer. The escargot came out first, then the sides, then the steak main, and after requesting the soup several times it came out last.
The steak was super super rare and less than room temp (weird?) so I requested it be put back on to cook it to the proper temp. All of this transpired over the course of probably 40 minutes so by the time the steak came back , the sides were now cold. I requested the sides be reheated so they actually ended up bringing out replacement sides, except they were not the same sides they substituted the $28 crab mashed potatoes with regular.
Steak was not cooked well, overall I would say awful experience they did comp the steak but nothing else.
I suspect the experience is probably decent on the right day but that clearly was not the right day. The staff and management were well aware it wasn't ideal so I am not a keyboard warrior who said nothing at the time. I would probably try it again but with tempered expectations.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 1
Nick
Terrible service and rude waiters. We ended up leaving after waiting over an hour just for our drinks
Steve
The food was overall good, but they definitely use plenty of salt in the kitchen. No need to put it on the table. Service was not great in spite of it being relatively slow. Prices are high.
Nicholas
Adriana and Emiliano were fantastic; they took wonderful care of us and made excellent recommendations for food and wine pairings. Food was excellent as always.
Jana
I always enjoy Malios. The service, the food and the ambience is superb. You must try the carrot cake, but ask them to warm it up a little.
We had an incredible dinner. Friendly welcome and top notch service from the Monet we walked in to the moment we left. The food all tasted delicious, the Potato Malio were divine and my petit filet was perfect! Looking forward to returning.
Patrick Quakenbush
We would not have come here if we did not have a gift card to start... To preface.... the expection of a high end pricy steak house is perfection nothing less. You asked for it so here come some reality.... We could not find the valet parking no signage as you come into the garage anywhere posted saying to go a certain way to the restaurant. It all start with making sure a guest can easily get to and from the restaurant strike 1 We were late because of this and the manager was nice enough to stop by and bought us dessert for the inconvenience which we did not complain about she just knew by out reservation. +1 so back to even Got seated right way place looked like anticipated dark, cold, old etc. Took 5+ minutes to get greated??? I asked what kind of oyster you had and he didn't know? I said bring me a dozen anyway. So we waited 10more min for a coke and a glass of wine 10 more min to get oysters. Basicly finish oysters before server came back. Took our order. Split salad, ribeye MR, grouper special with shrimp and aspargus. Waiting for salad that never came!!! Manager seemed to be doing Damage control. Got entrees about 30 min later. I have pictures that it wont let me post of a dried out almost MW ribeye and the wrong grouper, no aspargus no shrimp. We are never , ever going to complain in that moment, we don't have time for the excuses.
We will never return and warn others. Turned an exciting night into a dragged out average at best meal from start to finish. I would say its an average experience if it was Outback This was one of the worst experience I have have at a fine dining establishment. Ocean prime is light years ahead of you in service, food quality etc We are glad to pay these prices and more, for an epic experience. Dropped $350 for 2 what a waste of hard earned money. So mad! Hope you leaned something here, but I doubt it. A tell tell sign.... you have 4.5 star on only 1.5k reviews. You have been around for 60 yrs. 1.5K reviews??? That tells me that the only people compelled to comment are the ones who liked it. The other could care less. A lot of others
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
Emina Çelik
Special thanks to Dominic . I appreciate his service . The food was good and atmosphere was cool . We love it .
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Caitlynd
Asked for Rare+ Prime Rib and received a raw in the middle Prime Rib. It was obvious the server knew, but served it anyway, as she asked 4 times if the meat was cooked to my liking and acknowledged when I declined a box that it looked a bit undercooked. Other than that the meal was as to be expected.
I visited Malio’s Steakhouse last night, and unfortunately my experience was disappointing.
From the start, things felt off. When my friends and I were seated, the host placed us at a dirty table that had to be wiped down. While the overall environment was very nice and cozy, cleanliness should be a basic expectation, especially at a restaurant of this caliber.
The service was not the best. The restroom, in particular, smelled awful. I understand bathrooms are shared, but maintaining them is part of the guest experience and should not be overlooked.
As for the food, I expected much more. At a higher-end restaurant known for culinary quality, the dishes should be well-seasoned and memorable. I ordered the sea bass, and while I was told it’s a “high water fish,” this is certainly not my first time having sea bass. The dish lacked flavor entirely. My mashed potatoes and sides were also bland and, worse, served cold.
What stood out most was the service. The young lady assisting us appeared rushed and disengaged, as if she was eager to end her shift. Requests felt like an inconvenience, and the overall interaction lacked attentiveness and warmth.
Overall, I left very disappointed. With the quality of service and the high reputation of this restaurant, I expected a far better experience in both food quality and service.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
Fantastic food! Very cool setting inside. Daniel took care of us and was spot of with all recommend items. Next time in town will go back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent steakhouse! Steaks were high quality and perfectly prepared. Wonderful cocktails and good wine list. Friendly, knowledgeable and attentive form our wonderful server, Sage!
Servers were amazing and on top of everything. Great experiences negative was out of some items.
Seabass was very thin which is not normal for that type of fish. Also very overcooked. Scallops were good. Mashed potatoes and asparagus also very good.
Dined here for Gasparilla so I am sure that heavily affected the quality of the experience.
First - the eacargot and drinks were great, that's about where the experience ends.
Ordered crab mashed potatoes, jalapeño corn, and a New York Strip along with French onion and escargot appetizer. The escargot came out first, then the sides, then the steak main, and after requesting the soup several times it came out last.
The steak was super super rare and less than room temp (weird?) so I requested it be put back on to cook it to the proper temp. All of this transpired over the course of probably 40 minutes so by the time the steak came back , the sides were now cold. I requested the sides be reheated so they actually ended up bringing out replacement sides, except they were not the same sides they substituted the $28 crab mashed potatoes with regular.
Steak was not cooked well, overall I would say awful experience they did comp the steak but nothing else.
I suspect the experience is probably decent on the right day but that clearly was not the right day. The staff and management were well aware it wasn't ideal so I am not a keyboard warrior who said nothing at the time. I would probably try it again but with tempered expectations.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 1
Terrible service and rude waiters. We ended up leaving after waiting over an hour just for our drinks
The food was overall good, but they definitely use plenty of salt in the kitchen. No need to put it on the table. Service was not great in spite of it being relatively slow. Prices are high.
Adriana and Emiliano were fantastic; they took wonderful care of us and made excellent recommendations for food and wine pairings. Food was excellent as always.
I always enjoy Malios. The service, the food and the ambience is superb. You must try the carrot cake, but ask them to warm it up a little.
Restaurantji Recommends
We had an incredible dinner. Friendly welcome and top notch service from the Monet we walked in to the moment we left. The food all tasted delicious, the Potato Malio were divine and my petit filet was perfect! Looking forward to returning.
We would not have come here if we did not have a gift card to start...
To preface.... the expection of a high end pricy steak house is perfection nothing less. You asked for it so here come some reality....
We could not find the valet parking no signage as you come into the garage anywhere posted saying to go a certain way to the restaurant. It all start with making sure a guest can easily get to and from the restaurant strike 1
We were late because of this and the manager was nice enough to stop by and bought us dessert for the inconvenience which we did not complain about she just knew by out reservation. +1 so back to even
Got seated right way place looked like anticipated dark, cold, old etc.
Took 5+ minutes to get greated???
I asked what kind of oyster you had and he didn't know? I said bring me a dozen anyway. So we waited 10more min for a coke and a glass of wine 10 more min to get oysters.
Basicly finish oysters before server came back. Took our order. Split salad, ribeye MR, grouper special with shrimp and aspargus.
Waiting for salad that never came!!!
Manager seemed to be doing Damage control.
Got entrees about 30 min later.
I have pictures that it wont let me post of a dried out almost MW ribeye and the wrong grouper, no aspargus no shrimp.
We are never , ever going to complain in that moment, we don't have time for the excuses.
We will never return and warn others.
Turned an exciting night into a dragged out average at best meal from start to finish.
I would say its an average experience if it was Outback
This was one of the worst experience I have have at a fine dining establishment. Ocean prime is light years ahead of you in service, food quality etc
We are glad to pay these prices and more, for an epic experience. Dropped $350 for 2 what a waste of hard earned money.
So mad!
Hope you leaned something here, but I doubt it. A tell tell sign.... you have 4.5 star on only 1.5k reviews.
You have been around for 60 yrs. 1.5K reviews???
That tells me that the only people compelled to comment are the ones who liked it. The other could care less. A lot of others
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
Special thanks to Dominic . I appreciate his service . The food was good and atmosphere was cool . We love it .
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Asked for Rare+ Prime Rib and received a raw in the middle Prime Rib. It was obvious the server knew, but served it anyway, as she asked 4 times if the meat was cooked to my liking and acknowledged when I declined a box that it looked a bit undercooked. Other than that the meal was as to be expected.
Everything was great!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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