Cita’s Italian Chop House

now closed, Saw it closed with all the windows papered up today

I went to Citas for my birthday. I was very pleased with the service and food. We sat in the pation which made me feel like i was somewhere else besides the Grove. We had a bottle of vine, two appetizers, the scallops wrapped in prosciutto was amazing. Thr salads are very plentiful as well. Now to the good stuff. I had the short rib which was very very good, one of the better short rib i have had. All and all Citas was a good time, but i do agree it is a little pricey, but we do live in miami and thing are overpriced. I will go there again!

Room for improvement
Four of us went to Cita’s for dinner. It’s a pretty restaurant with an attractive patio area just off Grand Avenue in Coconut Grove. You’d think it had everything going for it. I want to tell you why it doesn’t.
We were solemnly ushered to our table and asked whether we wanted sparkling or flat bottled water. We chose flat. We needed water because the temperature inside was what can only be described as equatorial. It remained so despite our asking them to adjust the air conditioning.
After five minutes just sitting there, I asked one of the six waiters hovering around our table doing nothing but stare at us, to bring us some drinks. Imagine my surprise when I ordered a cocktail and was informed they only have a beer and wine license. So we had to drink wine, no hardship, but I am talking about a restaurant that puts itself in the same league as The Capital Grille, Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris, with prices according. Their steaks start at $ 29 and go up to $ 65, sides are extra. And you can’t get a cocktail. Hmmm.
Instead of bringing us bread, their gimmick is to bring a giant popover, which you have to tear apart with your hands. It’s ok but I’ve had better — in this case bigger isn’t better, just bigger.
We started with a watercress and pear salad ($ 13), a chopped salad ($ 14), an arugula salad in a ‘golden balsamic vinaigrette’ ($ 14) and one sautéed broccoli rabe (8). All the starters were mediocre, not memorable.
For our main courses we ordered raviolini stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach in a butter-​sage sauce; fettuccine with wild mushrooms in a truffled Alfredo sauce; spaghetti in a tomato sauce ($ 18) and grouper in a white wine, lemon and caper sauce ($ 29). My friend who ordered the fish asked if, instead of the veggie-​basmati rice accompaniment, she could have a couple of spears of asparagus as she is on a low carb diet. She was briskly informed «No substitutions». At $ 29 for a piece of fish, you would think they could extend their generosity somewhat to put a couple of asparagus spears on the plate and remove the rice. But no, there was no «let me speak to the chef, I’m sure we can do something», the waiter curtly told her «that’s the way that dish is configured, so you can pay the extra for a plate of asparagus and share it with the table». She declined, so she got the rice and left it on the side of the plate. She described the sauce on the fish as so salty that it was unappetizing. Otherwise our meals were ok but undistinguished. My fettucine had obviously been thrown into the pot in one batch because there were clumps of strands stuck together, which I had to separate because they’d stuck to each other while in the pot. The sauce was not covering the pasta, I had to toss it myself and I could not taste any truffle at all in it. I had hoped there would be a little shaved truffle on top, but no.
Two things that annoyed us somewhat were, that without asking us if we wanted it, our waiter brought a second bottle of mineral water to the table ($ 8) and poured it — before we realized. We shrugged and went along with it, but when he brought bottle number three and started to pour, we stopped him and told him we didn’t order it, he looked amazed that this would matter to us. The second thing was that they are clearly overstaffed — there is a fierce-​looking maitre’d, who scowled and gave us withering looks and the other waiters stood in a loose circle around our table and stared, they didn’t do anything, just watched us closely as we ate, it was a little unnerving. Our own waiter was condescending and supercilious.
The bill (for which we had to wait twenty minutes) for the four of us, starters, 2 bottles of water, four glasses of wine and four main courses, came to just under $ 300 including the tip. That’s a lot of money that could have been better spent somewhere much more congenial and with better food.
If I want to have a really good Italian meal, I’ll pay the same price and go to Oggi in North Bay Village. If I want a really good steak, I’ll go to Prime 112 or The Capital Grille. And I’ll have a cocktail.
But I won’t go back to Cita’s Italian Chop House.