Alisa’s Painted Bistro Color Me Mine

Reading other reviews here, which are also 2 to 3 years old… either time made a difference, or I was lucky the day I went to Alisa’s…
I can only rate the cupcakes, because I didn’t try any sandwiches or anything like that, but the carrot cake cupcake is to die for! The cake itself is moist and the frosting is very cream-​cheesy!
This place is inside the Aventura Mall, right at the third level, very close to the movie theatre and Johnny Rockets. Best way to access it would be to park near the Cheesecake Factory, go up the outside escalator to the 2^nd floor, take the inside escalator to the 3^rd floor, and this bistro is on the right side.
If you’re watching a movie like I did, be smart and buy 2 carrot cake cupcakes (yes, BOTH for yourself), hide them inside a big purse (just in case) and skip the popcorn! They also have many gelato flavors that looked very yummy but I didn’t try any.
Also, the lady at the register was nice.
Price, shmice, missy! It’s a cupcake! It cheers you up when your day is sh*tt#! $ 3.05 with tax included is much lower than what I’ve paid in many places in L.A. for a cupcake! P-​lease! Your wallet is *not* bleeding because of that cupcake.
[pulls fan out of her purse and agitates it quickly]
Right… there was pottery and I saw children. But who cares?! Just get the carrot cake cupcake and hit the movies!

I was excited to try Alisa’s out, ordered my turkey panini, proceeded to eat it… and then found bugs in my salad. Not good. Pretty bad, actually. I won’t eat there again.
The place looks fun and artsy, with all sorts of pottery and craft adornments, but I won’t trust the food again. I don’t recommend Alisa’s to anyone looking for a bite to eat, you may get more than you bargained for.

The gelato is good, and they have the Ferrero Rocher flavor. Yum.
Other than that, this place misses the mark. I’ve tried one or two cookies and the s’mores cupcake. The cupcake was mediocre at best, and really small for the price. It was kind of dry, and the only thing that made it a s’more was that it was topped with a small marshallow, little piece of graham cracker, and chocolate. The actual cupcake part was plain and boring. It looked like a lot of the cupcakes were like that.
The cookies weren’t good either. They were larger, and a better value for the price, but still not a great cookie.
I’ll come back for gelato, but that’s about it.

the servers are a step up from the ones they had before. and they took away the $ 10 credit card minimum rule!

I was very disappointed with my recent experience at this establishment. I went with my husband and some friends to paint pottery. The service is terrible. We needed extra paint to paint all of our ceramic pieces and had to wait a long time, even though all of their employees seemed to be hanging out with eachother and chit-​chatting while we waited. We also wanted espressos, but no one offered to take our order. Well, my husband and I spent about two hours painting a $ 30 container a nice shade of olive green. We took great care and painted it 6 coats inside and out. About a week later when we went to pick it up, there was a sizable piece chipped off where you could see just white ceramic. When we spoke to the manager, he told us that it would be no problem for them to repaint that area and return it to us fixed. Then we received a call a couple of days later saying that they could not fix it because the ceramic was defective. Well, we asked him for a refund and he flat out refused. I was very displeased. We wasted our time and energy and have nothing to show for it. Alisa’s Painted Bistro sold us a defective ceramic piece and it is not right that they refuse to refund our money. I will never return to this establishment again!

A-​okay.
Ok, Carla wasn’t the only one complaining about the wrong name tags. I couldn’t get my vanilla& choc, the girl said it was carrotcake and apologized. so I had to ask her which one was each and went with vanilla with marshmallows, which they have left — almost 3 bucks.
The girl was nice enough to offer me some milk with no charge because the cupcake was over-​powering and I was so glad I didn’t add any sweetener in my 1 shot espresso machiatto.
Marco, who was also there with me, went to sit over at the chairs, but was refused to by the other girl. It was only reserved for the pottery painting people. That annoyed him and said she was rude. lol

Yah… drool…right…
My Mother always said «don’t judge a book by its cover»…
This place had the worst cup cakes, worst service, worst prices I have ever seen!
The staff are brain dead! Ask a question about a cup cake and you get a blank stare if you’re lucky…
These cup cakes were so embarrassingly bad, I couldn’t even serve them to my guests. I had to throw them out and get cup cakes from my local Publix! They were DRY, OLD, STALE and TASTELESS. They definitely were not fresh baked. Maybe they had accidentally been put into the kiln?
This place is located in Aventura Mall. They have great packaging and great display. The cup cakes looked like they would be delish, but don’t be fooled… unless you want your cup cakes kiln baked, save yourself the money!

Oh wow! So bad I couldn’t believe it! I am talking about the cupcake not the pottery part.
Let us start with the fact that the prices for these ridiculously overpriced cupcakes were posted. NOWHERE. Being mothers day, we didn’t really care too much, que sera, sera.
We were looking at the options and there were few. I decided to try the Red Velvet, one daughter the Coconut Chocolate, the other some concoction that was red on top with oreos in it (we will get to this in a sec) and my hubby a Chocolate Dulce de Leche.
We go to order and ask the girl what the red oreo one is and she goes, the names are in front. It said Chocolate Vanilla… we look at her and say «That is not a Chocolate Vanilla, ITS RED what is it?» She gives us a blank stare and goes «OH I dont know» then my other daughter looks at the frosting on the one under the Red Velvet sign and says, «This looks like Cookies and Cream» — Girl says «It is I guess»
Sigh. so this dimwit had no clue what she was selling. We choose based on looks because we have no idea what they will be. so they will be SURPRIIIISE cupcakes!
I also order a double espresso. she gives me a blank stare, hands me the cupcakes and goes on to the next person. I ask «So what about the coffee, do I have to come back for it?» She says yes.
FINE.
I sit, other person leaves she stands there staring into space. I get up and go «Coffee done?» and she snaps out of it and goes «OH thats right».
And so I begin to pray: My God in heaven please give me some patience to deal with the seriously airheaded.
She brings it. it was a single. I pointed this out and she insisted it was a double. I drink doubles, this was not a double and I got charged as if it were.
Now to the cupcakes. They were terrible, the frosting had no taste and the cakes themselves were dry and just plain bad.
I felt so robbed. $ 15 for this??? I almost had a heart attack when I saw the price of these sub par (and by sub par I am being NICE) cupcakes.

Don’t be fooled by the pottery options — this place has some cookies and cupcakes that will make you drool just by staring through its windows.
Trust me! I know! I did!!! :-)
I’d have to take away one star because although their cupcakes are delicious, they’re a little dry and just don’t stack up to the best I’ve ever had. Oh yeah, and there were lots of little kids around — I think for a party. But who am I to complain when I get just as excited at the sight of the sugary cupcakes at Alisa’s?!

Although you may be confused by the fact that half of this bistro is dedicated to a paint-​your-​own pottery place, the food and especially the desserts here are great! The bistro is located in the Aventura Mall on the third floor right outside the movie theater. Their gelato is soo good and I usually get it before a movie. I like the sky cream and banana split varities. They also have salads, sandwiches, wraps, juice, and other light gourmet options. There cupcakes are adorable and would make the perfect gift for a dinner party or special occasion. This place is colorful, adventive, and the food isn’t bad as well.