Yardbird Southern Table & Bar

Had dinner at Yardbird last night and definitely agree that it is overpriced. We ordered the veggie pot pie and a big salad and side of sweet potatoes. I don't know why an earlier reviewer said nothing healthy is available! Veggie "pot pie" turned out to be a delicious dish... but a bit disappointing because it was not even a pot pie, just a bowl of yummy veggies with some crumbles of bread thrown on top. Quality of vegetables at this place far exceeds that of any other SoBe joint I've visited. If they can tweak the prices to make them more realistic, I think the place will be a gigantic success among the locals. more

Oh Lordy, the food it pretty good, but those menu prices are going to be a tad high for many diners.\r \r Chef Jeff McInnis (who claims many of his menu inspiration comes from those years of cooking in Baja-Alabama - aka the Panhandle of Florida) and the kitchen staff are turning out some 'above-average' down home cooking at Yardbird. The service staff keeps the meal tempo at just about the right pace.....which means you don't feel rushed and have the time to taste and talk.\r \r We loved Mama's Chicken Biscuits (those cute and tasty little chicken slides on the oh so flaky mini biscuits) and salivated over the Morning Quiche (fluffy egg custard loaded with all kinds of perfectly cooked vegetables - even those hard to find butter beans- resting in a 'perfect' and not at all soggy crust).\r \r We'll certainly stop back in for Happy Hour soon and see if we can find a drink deal or two and maybe some bar bites. \r \r But dining there on a regular basis, is going to be a financial challenge considering the pricing structure.....we think a downward adjustment would be a smart move. \r However, Yardbird has attracted a strong following and it's still a challenge to get a table on most evenings. more

Listen, folks: the wunderkind from the panhandle is pure hype. At $26 (yes, you read that correctly), the fried chicken is nothing special -- I'll take Popeye's any day. The $14 "chicken biscuits" -- all two of them -- were fine, but again, you can't seriously tell me that's an acceptable price (you get two for $5 at Chick-a-Fil-a). Is the ambience great? Yes. Drinks good? Yep. But the food is a joke, and any self-respectable Southern food enthusiast will find Yardbird sadly empty. Put simply, it's Southern food for the South Beach crowd (and I don't mean that as a compliment). more

Outstanding! more

We went as a party of five for lunch and everyone was impressed with this restaurant. The food was delicious..I stared with the deviled eggs...the unique filling was mouth-watering good! My partner and I (one from Louisiana and one from Alabama) shared the fried chicken...which was the real thing...wonderful! Finally, we shared the pecan pie and, again, we were thrilled with how savory it was. The service was almost perfect, but it was obvious all were trained to make you fell special. I can't wait to go back and sample more of this outstanding cuisine! more

My wife and I live in South Beach and decided to try this new restaurant as we heard that it aspired to become a local's hangout. We are used to the excellent but pricy fare available in this area. On the positive side, the ambiance, service and food were very good. However, two issues quickly cropped up. The first is that there is nothing on the menu that even remotely be called healthy, instantly precluding any "regular" visits. The second, and more serious, is that the food and drink are greatly overpriced for what you get. They have a wonderful bourbon selection and I ordered one. Unlike most bars where the pour is measured over the glass and then an additional amount added, here the measuring cup is filled away from the glass and then transferred to the glass, assuring that a customer never gets ?too much"> I let this pass until our food arrived. The rib plate ($22) is defined as a "big share". When it arrived, I saw about seven of the smallest ribs that I had ever seen. The dish is appropriate as a big appetizer or small entrée for one person, not to share. When a manager came over to ask about our food, we advised him of this and he apologized and stated that they knew that the ribs from their current supplier were small (well, why didn't they adjust the number?). There was no attempt on his art to remedy the situation. This, together with my experience with the drinks, leads me to believe that the restaurant is trying to maximize its short term revenue. What you get is not worth the price. It will never draw a continuing locals business! more