Stephanie G.
Yelp
I feel obliged to start this review by saying that i'm a huge fan of the 1 Hotel. I absolutely love it there. Each time i've visited, i've thought the service was spectacular. So, when a good friend told me about Wave, I just had to go! Six of us visited Wave for brunch on new year's day and made a reservation several weeks in advance. We arrived right on time for our reservation and the hostess asked where we'd like to sit. I hadn't been before and my friend that had been there before hadn't yet arrived, so I asked the hostess to suggest a table. She pointed to a long table and said that the "buddha" table was very popular amongst guests. Since I didn't know any better, I took her advice. Once we arrived at the table we realized there was no shade except for two small and flimsy umbrellas (it was 12:30 PM), and there were big cushions on the floor instead of chairs. Immediately upon realizing we were in for a very uncomfortable afternoon, I asked if we could possibly move to another table. Low and behold, it wasn't their "popular" table, it was just the only table they had available because all of the good tables had been specifically reserved. Surprisingly, no one thought to reserve the "highly coveted" buddha table! Since we had no other options, we asked that the umbrellas be shifted to make it bearable and made the best of it.
Once we were situated we ordered water and a round of drinks. I do have to say that the drinks were tasty. I had the Gypsy Woman and the frosé, both were delicious. Keep in mind that if you opt for the bottomless option you must stick with the same drink the whole time (at least according to our server).
To start, our group shared the mezze platter and the breadfruit tostones. I'm usually a big fan of mezze platters, but wasn't particularly thrilled with theirs. I found the hummus and the muhammara to be quite salty. The tostones were one of the best things we had there. Each of us then ordered a separate dish for our entrees: the grilled octopus, the loup de mer, the broken eggs, three lamb asado Kebab + tzatziki from the barefoot grill, and two orders of the truffle fries to share. I wish i'd noticed there was a separate holiday brunch menu as I was ordering from the main menu, because I had the kebab and think i'd have enjoyed the lamb kofta kebobs or the broken eggs much more than the dish I had. Like most restaurants, their menu is online now due to COVID. I was having trouble connecting to the internet due to reception issues, so I sort of rushed through the ordering process and didn't notice there was a separate menu. In any event, I ate less than half of the lamb asado kebab because I found it to be tough and too salty. I had a small piece of my friend's loup de mer and COULD NOT BELIEVE how salty it was. I order branzino at restaurants all the time and had never experienced anything like that before. I also tried a small piece of my friend's octopus and it was even saltier than the fish. She barely touched her dish. The two of us mainly ate truffle fries and drank our calories. The fries were very good by the way. My friend that ordered the broken eggs said they were really good and that she'd order them again. She mentioned the truffle flavor was great and not overpowering. For dessert we all shared the beer layer cake. Six women, one dessert. I know how that sounds, but the dessert was just okay so there was a big piece left of it. Not worth the calories I guess.
Our server was pleasant, but we didn't see much of her. As a matter of fact, we kept having to ask other members of the staff to refill our water glasses. Our server seemed to be spread very thinly across several tables. The service was definitely slow, but we weren't in a rush since it was a holiday brunch, so we were okay. I'd definitely keep that in mind if I were to visit again. The nearest restroom was quite the trek from where our table was situated, which is also something i'd take into account in the future. We had to walk across the entire restaurant, through the sand, and up a staircase. Ladies, keep the sand in mind when deciding what shoes to wear!
Overall, the space is beautiful and can be very enjoyable if you're sitting in the shade. I very much enjoyed the venue, the ambiance, the drinks and the music. I think Wave could be really great if they were to go easier on the salt and buy some more umbrellas.