Salty Flame falls into a genre of restaurant that just might exist only in Miami: trendy steakhouse with an Asian-ish menu and a distinctly suburban crowd. The food is as good as it needs to be, the service pretty decent and the look as nice as the outfit you’ve been saving for date night.
On my visit, couples and families with boisterous babies seemed to revel in the bumping unst-unst music and crimson and gold-trimmed decor. Like the gussied-up guests, cocktails were full of ingredients I had to google and garnished with fruits and herbs, ready for their next selfie.
My Thai salad looked just as pretty, a bowl of chopped, julienned and sliced veggies heavily dressed in something bright and tangy. Likewise, we enjoyed the Salmon Togarashi roll topped with thinly sliced, spiced and seared tuna. The simply prepared dumplings and Song Hua Ban Noodles weren’t nearly as photo-ready, though they were well flavored.
We split the wagyu steak, and it arrived raw and ready to sear on a stone so blazing it radiated heat from across the table. Soy sauce and salt and a little sample of pickled cukes worked as the seasoning, and we learned the hard way that it’s easy to overcook the thin slices. It’s a fun dish that will likely impress the couple you invited from Kendall.
In the interest of luring suburbanites to fight Brickell traffic for Asian-adjacent dishes, Salty Flame has competition, including Komodo, Sexy Fish, Gekko, Kaori, Novikov and maybe a dozen others. You’ll eat better at Hutong or Lung Yai, where they serve actual Asian dishes, and at La Mar, where both the food and the view slays. But for that next big night out in the city, should you choose Salty Flame? It depends on what babysitters are charging these days.