Pao by Paul Qui

The wagyu sucked.
Cucumber salad amazing.
Dessert was good.

I don't really recommend this restaurant

We had an incredible dinner at Pao. From the moment we walked in the restaurant, the service was impeccable. Our waitress, Olga, helped pace the meal perfectly, and she made outstanding recommendations. The few pieces of salmon I ordered were outstanding--even though there are other more "interesting" dishes on the menu, the fresh fish here is worth ordering. I'd also highly recommend the bread service, as well as the cucumber salad and the fried chicken (especially paired together). I will honestly dream about the cucumber salad. For dessert, you can't go wrong with the corn ice cream sando. Yes, it sounds strange, but it is delicious.
Pao is a lively and beautiful restaurant, so it's perfect for a fun group dinner or a date night.
I can't wait for our next meal here!

FOOD: As someone who grew up eating Asian and Asian fusion food in SoCal, I personally felt like the Asian fusion could have been executed better outside of the raw fish dishes. The dishes truly are just one to two bites per person, so definitely an occasion spot. Thinking about the uniqueness of the dish, the quality, and the price point, I'm not sure if I'd return because I thought the food to be just average. The most worth it dish was the fried chicken in my opinion.

SERVICE: this was the best part of the restaurant. Service was very attentive and they gave some great wine recs too

AMBIANCE: it's faena, so expect it to be pretty

Came here on a Friday night. It's located upstairs and wasn't as popping as Fuego downstairs but it was nice and intimate. Great date spot but definitely very expensive for what it is

Food:
Singapore chili crab - not what I expected at all since it's not traditional and the sauce was a bit vinegary; wouldn't order this
Cucumber salad - not what we expected at all and it was lacking flavor
Fried chicken - good
The unicorn - delicious
Mille crepe cake - delicious

Phenomenal! Absolutely delicious and easily one of our favorite experiences. Ambiance is great, and service was excellent. Our server was Vlad and he was incredibly professional and helpful and guided us through the meal. Food was wonderful and so delicious - we loved everything we had. I highly recommend this restaurant- not to be missed!

Very intimate ambiance but after all the hype of the food quality was not as impressed. Unfortunately the "72" hour sous vide was hard and very salty. The sashimi was delicious on the bright side.

There are so many great things about this restaurant, it's almost difficult to decide where to start! Let's just start on the entry, this is a beautiful restaurant, with live music in the evenings. The hostess and wait staff are very welcoming upon entry.

We started with drinks, which are all handcrafted. They were not too sweet, and the waiter made some great recommendations.

Off to the food, this is an Asian fusion cuisine, focusing on influence from Japan and Thailand to name a couple. The nigiri was amazing...we did the short rib, yellowtail and fatty tuna. TOP QUALITY. The tuna literally melts in your mouth, and the short rib had the perfect crisp.

The cucumber salad was very refreshing, served with a yogurt pea sauce...I'm not a fan of peas but the flavors were amazing.

We also had the fried chicken and that was just perfect. Crispy and flavorful.

For entrees we had the Tom Kha Rice, it was served risotto style, a very unique but great dish.

Now the Branzino.. oh my goodness, flaky, amazing flavor profiles and buttery. Still dreaming on this dish. It was served with a white rice which I know sounds simple, but it was cooked to perfection.

Our experience at Pao was a good one, the service was a bit slow, but it may be because they really take their time to course things out. But nothing terrible.

Honestly cannot wait to go back to Miami to experience this restaurant.

Actually made reservations at a sister Faena restaurant, which to my surprise didn't honor a miami spice menu they had on their website. That turned out to be a happy little accident, because I ended up at Pao.

The interior is very classy. Well spaced out. Good aesthetics. They have an outdoor terrace as well, but it was closed tonight. The place had a good flow of traffic and a great supporting staff. Lead server Vlad took amazing care of us from attentiveness to menu guidance, and the second server was very detailed and helpful as well.

Food was presented nicely, with good plating. Used plates and silverware were refreshed regularly by default. Ingredients such as the fish and spices were of high quality and the uniquer, yet familiar recipes hit the spot. They were able to handle my dairy sensitivity without any issue and honored the miami spice menu. Bathrooms were clean and kept clean throughout. Upon reseating napkins were folded and seat tucked in.

Highly recommend and would return. A true five star experience.

First time visiting the Faena hotel for dinner and it blew me out of the water! Such a beautiful ambience and the decor inside is just absolutely magnificent with a gold unicorn right in the middle of the restaurant. I took my best friend for his 30th birthday and it did not disappoint. We've been wanting to check out the Faena Hotel and I'm glad that I chose this place. We did the Miami Spice menu had a lot of the great options included in it.

For apps: Maguro, Braised Greens, the unicorn soup (sea urchin and it's a must!)
Our entrees: fried chicken, the short rib asado, and the wagyu short rib
Dessert: Chocolate Mille Crepe Cake

Everything was phenomenal and our server was above and beyond making sure our wines were refilled and explained the entire concept after each dish was brought out. Will love to be back!

By far the best dining experience this year. We visited Pao, for our anniversary dinner and were exited because of all the wonderful dining experiences we read reviews on, also the photos of the food looked simply gorgeous.

The restaurant itself is just stunning. Located inside one of the best hotels in Miami Beach, The Faena. The hotel is beautiful and the restaurant continues that elegant and lux feel. A beautiful brass/gold dome ceiling and a stunning unicorn statue, dead in the center of the restaurant that overlooks the guests, screams lavish elegance.

I believe Marko was our waiter, he had a team that never let a cup of water reach the bottom of the glass, a dirty dish sit on the table long and provided exceptional recommendations and were extremely attentive.

We went with an array of small plates and a couple of large plates as recommend by Marko.

El Secreto Omakase Tasting. I mean wow, we were amazed how something so simple can be so flavorful. The dish came with 6 pieces of nigiri, that could easily be the best I'll leave it to you chef appetizer you've had. I had the tuna piece that was soft, almost butter like, the white fish was sensational with a citrus zest that left my buds wanting more.

The Maguro was amazing, the avocado flavor was enhanced by the sesame oil and tamari. The onions and cucumbers added a fresh touch to what was a bluefin that tasted like a million bucks. It puts in perspective why this fish is so highly regulated and pays out a significant amount per catch.

The unicorn, let me tell you... I mean wow. I can see why this dish got Chef a James Beard award. The mixture of the sweet grilled corn provided the base for the sea urchin. All the other ingredient proved the necessary touches that combined and marinated all these flavors together. While you can taste the subtleness of the chili and lime the corn and crunch of the urchin stoled the show.

The Wagyu Short-rib was soft, cooked perfectly, the right amount of char mixed with the perfect texture of the meat, literally fell apart in your mouth, delicious! The purée was sweet and distinct, not your typical sweet potato, it was airy and creamy, and gave you a good contrast to the protein.

Another hit was the Tom Kha Rice! The rice was almost risotto like, amazing! The mushrooms were quite tasty and the chili oil mixed with the crispy pieces of bacon blended everything together well but that burrata rally gave the rice the final touch you wanted. Make sure to grab a spoonful of the burrata, rice, mushroom and bacon. Your tastebuds will thank you.

Dessert really capped off the stellar night. The passion fruit praline mixed with the pineapple, chocolate and the small almond pieces gave you the sweet, salty and little bit of acidity you want in dessert.

Like i said, best experience thus far of 2023. To add a bow on top Chef Qui was in attendance and came to our table and thanked us for coming to the restaurant.
What an experience! We will be back!!!!

Came here for a weeknight dinner, and we did make reservations just in case. However, even after the almost 3 hour meal this place never got full.

The incredible experience starts as soon as you get upstairs, and you are greeted by the hostess, who was absolutely incredibly gracious.

We were seated at one of the best little booth, which is based right in front of the golden unicorn art piece by Damien hirst.

Our waiter and his assistant were so on top of their game the entire evening it was fantastic. Perhaps it was because the place wasn't totally full, but even as more people started to trickle in Marco and his assistant were fantastic the entire night.

The menu does not really provide a great description of the foods, so please rely on your waiter, or waitress to be able to provide you with a real description. Marco was absolutely fantastic and describing to a T and every detail of the dishes.

So this place is definitely not traditional Filipino but we did come here because the chef is Filipino and an award-winning chef at that. So we knew that the Filipino food was going to have a unique perspective intake on it, especially with some of the Latin influences.

Everything was super tasty and such a great experience. We would definitely come back again and for two people we ordered quite a bit of food and actually did get full. We also ordered each a glass of wine. And in all I believe it was a little over $350 which included the hotels 20% service charge.

I would definitely come back here again as like I said, this was such a unique experience. No complaints whatsoever as every detail here really is paid attention to, and it is quite impressive.