Who isn’t a fan of Zaytinya’s chef-owner, José Andrés, whose work with the non-profit World Central Kitchen makes him well deserving of his Nobel Prize nomination?
But I have an admission: His latest Greek restaurant inside the Ritz-Carlton, South Beach is not great. Though its beautiful poolside location overlooking the Atlantic makes it worthy of a visit, Zaytinya puts out just so-so dishes that seem to reflect a kitchen uninterested in making them better. If you happen to be nearby, stop in, if only for those ocean breezes.
It wasn’t always this way for Zaytinya. The first iteration of the D.C.-born concept earned generally good reviews. But when a cloned version opened in Manhattan, Time Out New York gave it just two out of five stars, writing that the dishes “hover around average” and the restaurant “seldom zags up to even good’s shallow waters.”
It’s the same here at the far east end of Lincoln Road, where Zaytinya occupies a dining room with parquet floors and blue and white cushioned booths and chairs. Accordion doors give the entire place an al fresco feel, and much of the outdoor area is shaded by an overhang that’ll keep tourists and folks wearing lanyards from that work conference happy during rain showers.
Meals begin with a pretty basket of puffed bread, inflated like a balloon, but a bit underdone. Save it for the dip section of the menu: hummus, labneh, tzatziki and a fairly simple pomegranate seed-topped baba ghanoush. From there, we moved on to the lightly dressed fattoush salad with pita croutons that seemed from a box.
The seared halloumi gets a nice crunch and sweetness from dates, citrus segments, pomegranate, mint and pistachio. The soft cauliflower florets arrive stacked on herbed tahini with pine nuts and capers. Our chicken skewer was well spiced and tender, but so too were the scallops that ought to have been more seared to keep them from having the same creamy texture as the sauce they were served on.
The hardest miss of the night came with our side of mushrooms: well-cooked but oddly dotted with chunks of dates that gave surprise jolts of sweetness on a dish that didn’t need it.
Look, none of the plates were downright bad; they hovered more in the land of pretty good. But if there’s one thing we have in abundance in Miami, it’s excellent versions of these same dishes. Find them at the likes of Doya, Mandolin, Byblos, Bahía, Abbalé, Amal and probably a dozen others.
As a human being, Andrés deserves a lot of love. But, as much as it pains me to say, that’s exactly what’s missing at Zaytinya.
