Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann

"Renowned chef Francis Mallmann is an expert at cooking with fire. His restaurant inside the Faena Hotel offers one of the best Argentine experiences in town, fueled by a cinematic ambiance and stellar people-watching. Menu highlights are beef tartare, octopus a la plancha, and a sophisticated wood-fired fish version of parrillada, which feeds two guests and comes with branzino, snapper, prawns, octopus, domino potato, roasted sweet potato, and chimichurri sauce. The sommelier will help you navigate the top-notch global wine list." - Juliana Accioly

"On your way to Los Fuegos, you will walk through the lobby of Mid-Beach’s Faena Hotel, which feels like being in a special Egyptian Pharaoh episode of “MTV Cribs.” If you take a short detour, you can pass an actual woolly mammoth skeleton covered in gold leaf. When you make it to the restaurant itself, you’ll find a red carpet, leopard print booths, and a chandelier that looks like the last thing one might see before being abducted by aliens. It all feels like the lead up to the performance of a lifetime. But dinner at Los Fuegos is less like Cirque du Soleil and more like a traveling circus with an above-average juggler and a hungover clown. Unfortunately, by the time you’ve sat down, the most exciting part of the meal is over. photo credit: Nik Koenig Before we get to the bad stuff, we should tell you about the one thing here that’s almost as impressive as a $15 million gold woolly mammoth skeleton: the meat parrillada. It’s a $175 platter of beautifully cooked red meat that can feed three to four people, and comes with a selection of skirt steak, ribeye, chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), lamb rack, and some very boring potatoes you will ignore. It smells like a butcher shop caught on fire and makes every table within eyesight debate whether or not they should order whatever the hell that is. If that sounds like it’s worth $175 to you, go for it. But even if you do enjoy your huge, expensive steak - which is really the only thing that’s good here - Los Fuegos just isn’t that fun. It’s stuffy and feels like if you get up and touch anything, you’ll be asked to leave. There’s also no old-school tableside carving or grand displays that one might expect from a restaurant full of $135 steaks. From the dining room, you can watch people at the adjacent bar drink $20 cocktails and dance to a cover of “Englishman in New York.” But it feels less like you’re eating at a party and more like a party is invading your dinner. The misses at Los Fuegos - both on the menu and off it - are bad enough, especially considering how much dinner here can cost. But the experience feels especially disappointing after trudging through this swamp of luxury, expecting to be as blown away by the food as you were by the extinct work of art outback. Food Rundown Meat Parrillada Get this and you might walk out of here not feeling completely scammed. It includes slices of a beautiful ribeye, a big spiral chorizo, lamb, blood sausage, and a skirt steak more tender than we thought skirt steak could be. There are a couple pieces of lit charcoal that keep it all warm while you wait for your second and third wind. Wood Oven Empanada It’s a good - but small - empanada, and you only get one per order. Order it if you really love empanadas. Hopefully yours isn’t served room temp like ours. Wood-Fired Artichokes The artichokes are pretty soggy and when you run them through the sesame yogurt, it just doubles the sogginess, making this taste more like a chunky artichoke soup. Whole Florida Lobster This looks sort of exciting on the menu. There’s allegedly a saffron butter sauce involved and a basil and parsley salad. But that butter stuff is nowhere to be tasted and that “salad” just looks suspiciously like a random pile basil and parsley that contributes absolutely nothing to the meh lobster. Hanging Prime Boneless Ribeye This is a big steak that’s cooked properly and has a nice fat ratio. But it’s also not remarkable for any specific reason, and we’ve had equally good or better steaks in a few different spots around town. Roasted Cauliflower This came to the table cold, but even if it was hot, we’re not sure it would have mattered much. The cauliflower has some color on the outside, but still tastes pretty raw inside. Also, you need a hammer to eat the solidified crispy rice underneath." - Ryan Pfeffer

"“Theatrical” barely begins to describe the scale and style of Francis Mallman’s restaurant set inside the FAENA Hotel. Much like the hotel itself, the director of Moulin Rouge is responsible for such décor elements as leopard-print booths, striking red-cushioned seats and flashes of gold that appear on everything from the bar to the carpet.Known for open-fire cooking, Chef Mallman is not outmatched by the room’s design, delivering an asado experience that rivals the city’s best steakhouses. Beets buried under coals for eight hours and festooned with pistachio yogurt and garlic chips are a must, followed by big proteins like Australian filet that's grilled, coated in breadcrumbs and fried.The bustling bar at the end of the room draws a stylish crowd." - Michelin Inspector

"Argentine griller Francis Malmman is the executive chef of the main restaurant at the opulent Faena Hotel, with a menu inspired by South American live-fire cooking. The Miami Spice lunch menu is offered Monday through Saturday in the outdoor patio or the drop-dead gorgeous indoor dining room, a three-course meal priced at $35. Begin with braised lamb empanada with gremolata sauce, followed by an entree of wood-fired salmon or spinach tallarines (South American green noodles) and mushroom topped with butter sauce and parmigiano-reggiano. Dessert options are just as notable — go for the chocolate hazelnut crumble made with roasted pineapple and gianduja ice cream." - Juliana Accioly

"Though award-winning Argentine chef Francis Mallmann may be a familiar face and name to American diners, Los Fuegos marks his first foray outside of his native South America. Which is kind of a big deal. A master of live fire cooking, Mallmann is known for his love of charred meats and fish, which here includes a Mediterranean branzino with beet and sesame cream and quinoa salad, and a skirt steak “a la Parrilla” with a chimichurri sauce. If you’re dining a deux, opt for one of the dishes for two, like the meat “Parrillada,” full of skirt steak, grass-fed ribeye, lamb, and chorizo with Mallman’s famous domino potatoes and sweet potatoes." - Nila Do Simon, Jennifer M. Wood