Gourmet Carrot

This place used to be really really good a few years ago. The food was fresh, and the prices were just right. I think they sold it and there are new owners because the food is just not as good anymore. The prices have doubled you can almost got a for a nice dinner in South Beach. It is a Kosher restaurant they play off as a heath food joint. They do that so they do not only cater to the Kosher people. I just find this place to be very average. I drove by the other night, and there was not one person in the entire place. Kind of strange, especially in South Beach with outdoor tables.

Boring food. Uninspired with little taste. Guess it’s great if you keep kosher. My friend likes the carrot juice but when we last went it had so much Ginger that it was undrinkable. There are tons of better options even for the vegetarians out there.
Again for those Kosker keepers, I guess it’s about as «gourmet» as it gets. Try Oliver’s down the street for a much tastier meal.
***As of 2÷17÷2011 the restaurant is still in complete operation under another name. Menu is pretty much unchanged and has not undergone renovations. It’s called something like «West Avenue Café» now. Still closed on Friday nights and Saturdays due to religious reasons.

Unless you need kosher food, head somewhere else because their service is so poor and they’re overpriced (but then again, you’re on South beach). By poor, i mean, we couldn’t even get our water refilled after asking for it about 4 times. Same with the bill, we should have just walked. Some of their wait staff is very rude and like most beach restaurants a tip is included in the bill so they could care less about service. The food is decent, nothing to rave about. And even though i just live down the street, i am not going their ever again. If you want a decent priced juice bar and sandwich place, i would recommend La Sandwicherie. It’s nothing fancy but your experience will be much better.

Cute café with satisfying food, all within walking distance from my awesome new apartment. I had dinner here with a friend, kind of an unplanned event. The gorgeous waiter was unfortunately aloof and takes his time, but nevertheless easy on the eyes. We had excellent, very garlicky babganoush for appetizer, and my chicken burger/​salad was large in portion and quite tasty, and my friend savored his tofu stir fry, «finger-​lickin’ good» he says. However, the mood was ostentatiously lackadaisical, with most customers geriatric, somewhat anti-​South Beach. All in all, not the Miami dining experience one hopes (except for the hot waiter with an attitude), but probably a place to grab a quite bite after a busy day.

We have lived in Kendall since 1976 and travel all the way to the beach almost every week to see a movie by Lincoln Road and eat at the Gourmet Carrot. I just read the negative posted reviews and either someone is mushuga or some crazy thing happened when they ate there. We have never ever experienced any of that bad stuff those negative posters said happened to them. I am in love with the GC’s Chilean Sea Bass cooked any of the ways they do it. It comes with stir fried veggies and your choice of potato and I get their incredible fries which to me are the best anywhere and they give you a load of them. I used to only eat meat at kosher restaurants but their fish is so great I only get the fish now. The restaurant does sell steaks and burgers and they are great too. They have one of those orange squeezing machines and I always get a giant glass of OJ too. Also they always have 2 soups and it’s hard to pick one so my wife and I get different ones. The owner is a South American and they have a huge amount of choices on the menu which includes many south of the border saucy treats too like grilled chicken breast with chimichourri. This is the best tasting cleanest most reasonably priced Kosher restaurant anywhere with the biggest menu. AND when you eat there either inside or outside, one would never know it’s a Kosher restaurant unless either someone told you or you saw the posting by the door! I’m Dr. Richard Weissman in Miami and I do not know the owner and I am not related to this business in any shape or form other then as a customer.

The food is not so fresh, Ive eaten there a couple of times and been sick both times, the service is horrific, but most of all the owner seems like he is a very ill mannered human being to say the least! He downtalks his employees, I will never go back there again.

The orange/​carrot juice was excellent along with the chicken soup. My friends enjoyed their sandwiches and salads, but the service was pretty bad. The server was good, but the problem was the food runner — I would have sent the food runner home if I was the server. The food runner probably messed up four different tables in various ways: bringing us the wrong drinks (they were close enough that we thought the waiter may have entered the wrong order and we wanted to be accommodating), bringing out hot soup ten minutes before cold salads, bringing lemons when we asked for limes (twice) and not clearing the tables in an efficient manner.
Even though I only gave it two stars, I’ll definitely go back to see if the food runner has been properly trained.

Sometimes you just want a cheap and decently prepared meal. Nothing fancy. A place to fill you stomach with minimal fuss.
Gourmet Carrot fills the bill.
The menu offers variety. Salads, entrees, wraps and sandwiches. The health food thing is promoted here — exactly how healthy is somewhat of a mystery. Nevertheless, the food is OK.
They also prepare juice concoctions that are nice when you feel like you need some extra healthy nutrition.
Service and atmosphere are on the so-​so side. You can sit outside under an umbrella or cool your heels inside in the orange painted dinning room. The owner can usually be found sitting on one end of the bar — a good sign.
And when you are finished, walk next door and get a coffee and cookie at Starbucks.
The all in cost will be under $ 20 per person — about right for lunch or dinner out during the Great Depression of 2009.

I was in the area and so ended up coming here for lunch. The food is healthy and kosher and fresh. However, it was the service that loses the stars. They take a really long time and most of them with the exception of one older lady communicate very little. I wasn’t in a rush and still felt like everything took longer than it should. It’s a shame because the food is great and if service improved they would be a winner. Although, they are trying they just need to be more timely and train them more.

I’ve only been here a few times, mostly for lunch during the week, but I definitely don’t frequent this place. It’s not because the food isn’t good, because it’s actually very good for «healthy» food, it’s that most of the times I have been in the vicinity, it’s closed. I still have not figured out the operating schedule to determine when it is open for business or not, because I usually see the umbrellas stacked close to the door. As far as the service goes, you better check this place out when you have time to kill, because waiting for service and food is something you will undoubtedly experience. The two times I’ve been here, my waitress barely spoke a lick of english and seemed as if she was a random family member of the older woman running things behind the counter, who had been coerced into working a shift or two when help was needed. She had almost no idea what was on the menu, or if the items we ordered were even in stock and it was hit or miss if you needed to refill your water etc. I haven’t been in quite a while, so perhaps things have changed, but they didn’t leave a great impression so I’m not exactly in a rush to go back.

I used to live right across from this place, and never tried it because I assumed it was a carrot-​themed restaurant (similar to Chocolate on Espanola). Then, this afternoon, a friend suggested we go for lunch, and I realized the error of my ways.
Fantastic smoothies, really tasty avocado dip, and my hummus pita wrap was literally bursting with veggie-​chickpea goodness. (I had to eat it with utensils.)
I didn’t share the slow service experience that Kelly Z. and Mike T. did – in fact, we were approached for our orders twice before the third member of our party showed up. And the pita bread arrived at our table so hot that we just had to sit and admire it while we waited for it to cool.
I’ll definitely be back for more smoothies, freshly toasted pita bread and healthy dishes at cheap prices.

Service was slow. Like molasses. In the winter time. Running counter Britney Spears’ sanity.
I found myself at Gourmet Carrot on New Years Day, at approximately 1pm. You’d assume the restaurant would have hired additional people for the morning after such a big party, but alas, there were only «Now Hiring» signs in the window, and not many employees buzzing about. Nevertheless, we took a seat on the sidewalk to soak in the sun and get some food to soak up what few memories we still had of the night before.
Being that it is a kosher restaurant, we quickly noticed that the 3 ‘Mos sitting on the side walk were definitely the minority, circled by a crowd of yentas that looked like death warmed over, with a nice leathery coating of many years baking on the beach.
After waiting forever (We thought perhaps we were being ignored because we were so «different» from the other patrons, but perhaps we were just being sensitive and they were just horribly understaffed), we finally placed out order. Time passes. Tick tock. They brought us the wrong drinks. The coffee was curdled. They brought back half a cup of coffee cause they didn’t want to wait to make another pot. They brought 2 meals and forgot the third.
Luckily we entertained ourselves, but eventually when the food arrived it was just alright. Nothing spectacular, considering the wait, but we were on vacation and didn’t exactly have anything pressing to do.
While they had good intentions, they desperately need to hire more/​better staff and make sure they stay on top of customer service. Doubt I’ll be back — too many other breakfast/​brunch options in SoBe (although their selection of smoothies is quite admirable!)

Service was a little slow, but the one waitress that paid attention to us was nice. I have seriously never had a fresher mango juice– it was very thick and very flavorful. I was disappointed that the tostones did not come with any sort of dipping sauce or even pico de gallo, but they were tasty nonetheless. The lightly grilled whole wheat pita (from Pita Pan, reports the waitress) that came with my ‘avocado salad’ (read: unseasoned guacamole) was to die for. The avocado tasted a bit overripe, but man, that pita sure was something. My dining partner, G, had the chimichurri chicken, and declared it delicious. My evil streak came out when I didn’t say anything as G ordered the carrot-​beet-​some-​other-​vegetable juice (oh, and when I dumped hot sauce on the unoccupied portion of his plate after he asked for only a drop), and indeed, he cursed me for letting him order the juice (we both agreed it was bad, especially at room temperature… particularly when room temperature is 91 °F… though maybe some people like carrot juice? We were surprised, given that we both like V8, but this was quite bland. People apparently like wheatgrass juice, so why wouldn’t they like carrot juice? Jus’ sayin’.). The lentil soup was a little heavy for summer weather, but tasty nonetheless. I wished that my whole wheat pasta with broccoli and ‘pomodoro sauce’ (read: regular ol’ pisgetti sauce) had come with some chimichurri instead, though the hot sauce on the table did the trick for me. We finished our meal with the ginger pear sorbet, which had small chunks of both ginger and of pear, which I like, but G thought it was too strong and prefers his ginger with sushi.
In summary: some hits, some misses. Overall an enjoyable meal, despite all my complaints. Kudos for good vegan options, whole wheat products, and fresh fruit juices and sorbets.
Oh, and by the way, to the other reviewer who was wondering what ‘kosher certified’ means: it means ‘slow service, expensive food’ in Yiddish. I keed, I keed. It means that the food served is supervised and acceptable by Jewish dietary law, meaning: no pork, if meat then no dairy (and vice versa), appropriately slaughtered animals, and all that. Oddly enough, kosher certified is often good news for vegans– whatever is vegetarian is sure to not have dairy! (Though still need to ask about eggs)

This is a ‘kosher certified’ place. I still don’t know exactly what that means, but maybe I’ll learn someday. We had a sandwich and a wrap there with a friend of mine, both were tasty and filled all kinds of cool stuff (including carrots) — at least I had a feeling it was pretty healthy. My sandwich was a bit burned up — I’m starting to feel they are doing that on purpose? The waitress was a really nice old lady. Can’t remember much more but I’ll be back there since is just around the block.