Roni’s By The Ocean

Don’t go! They will charge you like a 5 star restaurant and will deliver 1 star food and service. Extremely overpriced to say the least. The food is nothing but decent. and they are very sneaky on the charges. One example: we ordered a «keebeh» — initially thinking on the Lebanese meat rounded keebeh and ordered 2 (pieces) but the brought us 2 portions with 2 pieces. Hun? We called the waiter and explain and he basically made a face like we were saying something completely out of contest, well he walked out and did not accept to get the second portion returned. The «branzino» is not a branzino but a sea bass with lots of tomato on top. Hard to digest a $ 45 dollar charge on this one. Drinks are happy hour 2×1 but they are $ 18 dollars each. Place does not have a view. Please stay away.

We drove for 25 minutes to this place at 1:20 AM and we found it closed although it says it close at 3 AM. A recpectful restaurant should update its info in Unilocal and different places.

Food is 5 stars, and so is the outdoor sidewalk patio that’s beachside. We REALLY enjoyed the grilled octopus, the hummus, and the taboule. If only the value was better (prices are rather high for portion sizes).

How do the waiters decide who to ignore here? My wife and I were seated without menus, water or silverware. We had to struggle to get any attention at all, including never being brought water. Finally, waiter came back to confirm our order 10 minutes after taking it. I don’t know if the $ 30 entrees are good or not because we had to leave. We are trying to make a flight tonight and don’t have time for this horrible service.

The babaganoush had a very strong garlic flavor. Our biggest complaint though was that they charged us $ 8 for tap water that they had poured into a blue bottle before serving us. Given that water straight from the tap was free, we thought it was very deceptive to first offer us free tap water from a pitcher, and then charge us for that same water poured from a refillable glass container (without mention of any charge until the end).

It’s hard for me to fully express my sheer joy about stumbling upon Ronis in the Ocean Terrace area of North Beach. If you don’t know this area it is adjacent to the north shore bandshell in Miami beach and it is across from the ocean. For some odd reason, this absolutely prime area of run down but gorgeous Art Deco buildings attracts subpar businesses. Until Ronis came along. This sweet little spot has ample sidewalk dining with big couches and an exotically appointed interior that makes you wonder hmmm, what is the theme here? The hookah pipes brought to your outdoor table provide a hint but it would be simplistic to say this is a middle eastern restaurant. Like everything in Miami it fuses the owners roots and adds a touch of Miami magic to it.
So yes middle eastern is the overtone here but with a twist as the owner puts his own spin on things with a some hints of the Mediterranean, of the Middle East and something else very unique. As one of the folks who works there is known as the Hummus master, you can’t miss hummus in any form. The Jordanian style with bits of sautéed beef is deelish. There are kabobs, some standard stuff, and even a curry. Everything comes with little sides of smoked eggplant, dill egg salad, and pickled veggies. I may have to bribe the owner for the egg salad recipe, filled with dill, it brings me back to my grandmas cooking and I am filled with nostalgia.
Full bar menu, lychee martinis, and a pineapple infused vodka all complement the spectacular food. And then, you can ease your full tummy with a nice hookah. The pipes are clean, the hookah is expertly prepared, and the flavor offerings are varied.
After all that, you can stroll over to miamis greatest blessing, the gorgeous beach, for a little post prandial stroll.

Great food, fresh and flavored.
If you like Mediterranean food you should defiantly check this place out.

After 10 hours of travel my party and I decided to go for some Mediterranean food on the beach. It sounded like heaven. However the reality of the situation became something of a hell.
One of the people in my party is a vegetarian and wasn’t very hungry so decided to order a simple side of rice with the customary grilled tomato and unions and a pepper. When my friend asked for sumac, a staple in Persian cuisine– comparable to salt– the waitress just looked lost and confused and said she would ask the manager. We never heard back. When our food came out, I received a plate of kebab with only one skewer. For $ 24, I expected at least two skewers of kebab which is standard. The kebab was good but I was left unsatisfied. The rice was also poorly cooked. When we received the bill, we were scandalized. My friend was charged $ 16 for her paltry plate of poorly cooked rice. Another guest in our party was given pita bread that we assumed was complimentary but ended up on the bill. For upwards of $ 60, we expect a little more out of our meal.

I was craving a Greek salad or something close to it. I was in luck, I got something even better! The Roni salad is so fresh and amazing I would highly recommend it to anyone in need of fresh vegetables and a nice light dressing. I also had the falafels… the best I’ve ever had!!! A must try!!! The hummus is made fresh every day and you can really tell… I would love to have this dish every day if I could!!! The location is very nice, for me even better because I can walk. They have indoor and outdoor seating. They also serve lunch which is great… happy hour from 3pm-​8pm! Everything I ordered was beyond my expectation and you can really tell its homemade.

Not impressed with the food or service. The pita bread and dip/​sauce and pickled vegetables brought out when we sat down was the highlight. The calamari was bland. My husband did like his steak shish kabob, but the chicken one I had was dry. I forced myself to eat the chicken, onions, and 2 tomatoes with a little rice because I was hungry. Didn’t eat the pepper.
Server was not attentive and there were very few people there. My husband was furious when he saw the gratuity was added in.

My son recommended this restaurant to me. Since he is a picky eater I know if he recommend it, It had to be good.
Well, it’s not just good. It’s OUTSTANDING!
The quiet Oceanside corner, the beautiful décor, the immaculate clean place, the service and OMG the food is just SUPERB! Now I will recommend people. Planning to be back as often as possible. Must taste everything on the menu.

Excellent Place., Roni and Sole are great hosts. The staff is very friendly and courteous. And Leonardo is not only a great bartender and entertainer but a fantastic mixologist ! We will go back many times. Best Mojitos in Miami Beach !

We’ve been looking for our new favorite neighborhood restaurant, and we finally found it! Not only was the service impeccable, but the food was even better! Highly recommend this beautiful place and the following: lamb curry, Jordanian hummus, and the OCTOPUS! It was perfect!
Thank you Roni for an amazing dinner! We will see you soon!

The food is so fresh and tasty. This is a breath of fresh air when it comes to south Florida restaurants .Roni has done a great job with this place. You need to try the Ronis tea homemade special. The atmosphere is chill and relaxing. Makes me feel like I’m on vacation in the Mediterranean. Thanks for an amazing dinner

I went to this restaurant in the look for something different.
Great views from the windows.
THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS, the service very attentive, the staff as well.
Roni the owner was a sweetheart, the wife was also so accommodating.
I will definitely be going back!
I might even celebrate some event there with my company, that is the level of confidence I got from this place,
Fresh Food, Delicious, very good service!

Nice place food was good, service excellent. It’s by the ocean and good location. The appetizers are great. Nice place to have appetizer and drinks. But the lobster dish was excellent

I have been to Roni’s By The Ocean only 2 times and I am totally in love with the place. The service is fabulous and you are probably going to be greeted by or meet at any time during you stay it’s owner Roni, who is cordial, welcoming and grateful of your patronage. Roni’s Mediterranean cuisine is one of the best I’ve ever experienced; my favorites dishes are, the Dolmeh or Stuffed Grape Leaves (the best I’ve ever had), Roni’s Egg Salad (deliciously flavored with dill), the Falafel Platter (fabulous), the Jordanian style Hummus and my favorite, the Chick Peas, Chicken or Beef Sambousak (similar to empanadas. .. but better). I can not wait to go back to Roni’s By The Ocean and try more of their very extensive menu. Oh, and don’t miss trying out some of their specialty drinks, such as Roni’s Island Tea and Raspberry Mojitos!!!

I just want to say if I was able to find a restaurant with this kind of food I would have never opened the restaurant

I came for the 2 for 1 happy hour and enjoyed the mojitos. The service was excellent and I enjoyed the ambience of sitting out side.

First, the good part. This restaurant (real name Roni’s, not Romi’s) has taken over a corner site on Ocean Terrace, which is the North Beach equivalent of Ocean Drive, being a beach drive running from the 73^rd to 76 street. Previous attempts to make this location near the beach have failed, with Fifi’s fish restaurant beach branch the most recent casualty. So this new attempt has nice outside tables and attractive middle eastern interior with lots of hookah pipes at the ready. It’s a pretty place for a drink (despite the very limited wine list — there’s only one white wine by the glass, a chardonnay).
As for food, service and prices, forget it. We found the owner’s attitude a little arrogant vis a vis his competition, and the waiter was very green. A couple of appetizers came out, and the babaganoush was very watery and not at all up to par. So we just ordered a chicken kebab and a couple of salads, figuring simple dishes like this are a solid test of how good a Mediterranean restaurant is at the basics. The $ 24 chicken kebab was very skimpy, with some forlorn, dried out and chewy pieces of chicken resting of a bed of poorly cooked rice alongside a couple of scorched tomatoes. Not a sign of the juicy texture and flavorful marinade one looks for. There’s just no comparison to the far superior $ 18 chicken kebab at Mandolin, for example.
The Roni’s salad was barely okay. Two of our party have lived in the Middle East, so they were particularly offended by the half-​assed food. Their impression was that these are Spanish guys picking a cuisine out of a hat, who would be better off doing a good Argentine restaurant in this great spot in the middle of little Argentina (which actually lacks one).
The menu is fairly eclectic, with a sprinkling of Indian dishes, like Chicken Tikka Masala ($ 24) and lamb curry ($ 27). The prices are way out of line given the quality of the food. This isn’t helped by the fact that a 3% «resort tax» is added to the bill, as well as an automatic 18% service charge. So you’re looking at 21% added to your bill, along with some attitude.
North Beach is a coming area, but there are already great restaurant choices in the neighborhood, with much better food, service and lower prices. So this place is all about the location across from the beach and the décor, not unlike the Lincoln Road or Ocean Drive clip joints that look to pull you in for a spot of people watching and hope you’ll ignore the food and prices. There, they have the traffic to kinda justify it. Not so here.
It’s a new place, and I hope Roni will rethink the menu, quality and the prices to have a shot at drawing in people from the neighborhood because they’ve done a nice job on decorating he place and it’s a great location.