VinDivine

Delano Florida Room, Rose Bar, Pool Bar

1685 Collins Avenue

Miami , FL 

(305) 674,6700

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VdV Rating: 3.5

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OK, so for you rookies, it’s not just “Let’s grab a drink at Delano”, as Delano has several cool venues – The Rose Bar, Florida Room, Pool Bar to name a few.

And we hit them all. So after gorging a great dinner at D Rodriguez Cuba, then eating again at Quattro (Don’t ask, we were sent there under false pretenses. I’ll review if I get a chance) we went to Delano. I mean, you cannot visit South Beach and not come here. So, big caveat here (but maybe not a big surprise): we were getting hammered, kittens. All day long sipping ‘ritas in the Cabana, some more of those lovely South Beach Cocktails the other J brewed up when we got back to the room, drinks at D-Rod, more drinks at Quattro, and the sun had just barely gone down. Curse you, Miami!

So we were walking (loose translation) on Ocean Drive looking in vain for this spot, and said, “F this, let’s grab a cab, our dogs are howling”. So we hail a cab, demand to be taken to Delano, and have, literally a 45-second drive before the guy drops us off…right at the Delano. Ooops. Let’s just say our bearings were a little off. Anyhoo, let’s keep the party rolling!

First, since the lovely Daniella at D Rodriguez had given us ‘the guy’ to ask for at the door, we hit The Florida Room first before the lines got too annoyingly long.  J&J despise the queue-up. And yes, we were immediately ushered in once we mentioned the secret name (shhh, we’re not telling). This place is in the basement and has an awesome speakeasy-type feel to it. Swanky and cool. Where’s the gangsta hip-hop artists?! I think they come here, but those ballers roll in much later than when we were here. They have a killer specialty cocktail list, some serious mixologists, thumpin’ dance tunes and stylin’ crowd. Definitely a place to look sharp and try to pick up on some hot action. People here dress to impress and look good. Good times. But we had to move on. So many bars, so little time. Plus at $20-25 per drink, I needed to call Visa to extend my credit limit.

Next, upstairs to the Rose Bar. Rose Bar is an old school, authentic bar from the ’50s.  Reminded us of the original Rosewood Bar at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. This place was packed as well, but low and behold ‘ol J&J scored scored two bar seats within a couple minutes of arriving. This bar, as opposed to Florida Room, has more of an old school Sinatra feel to it. Great original lights over the bar, big flower-like numbers that people taller than me kept bashing their heads into. The marble bar is underlit, providing a cool look. The room has upholstered rose-colored walls and big Venetian chandeliers. We had shots of Corzo Repo here, as I recall. The bartender refused to look at us, or anyone else at the bar, and seemed completely void of personality until he’d turn his back to start mixing drinks. Then he’d start singing and shaking his ass to the great ’70s tunes they were playing, but would return to complete Deadpan Man when he turned around to serve it.  Biazzro. Oh, and not to sound snooty, but the crowd here was not near as hot as the crowd downstairs. That’s what a velvet rope gets ya.

Next we stumbled out to the Pool Bar. They have a great pool, and tons of nice little bungalows with great dim lighting. “Hey, if this bungalow’s rockin’, don’t bother knockin’!” Seriously, all I can say about this is, it was nice and kinda chill actually, and we think we had a pretty good time. But we had to head out to the Shore Club, review coming soon!