My wife and I stayed here for our wedding anniversary for 2 nights.

The hotel itself is very nice, great balcony and view from our room. The rooms are nice but I would not rate them as 5 star. Possibly a 4 star at best. Mostly due to the bathroom which was tired and very simple. You would think there would be a jacuzzi or something special. It had one of those bath / shower combos that you would not expect in a 5 star hotel.

It had a huge flat screen HD TV that had not been wired up for HD, so was terrible quality. It only had about 4 basic local channels anyway, that all seamed to be showing baseball all the time (Not good for a romantic getaway!). Even a Days-Inn has HBO. Everything else was pay per view, even the TV shows. Anyway, we didn't go there to watch TV, so not a big deal.

The hotel location is really amazing with great views from everywhere. The pools, deck and bar area were very nice. It is part of a condo development so does have 3 or 4 large building behind the hotel but they don't seam to affect the view. I just thought I would mention that because the website gives the impression it is this little private hotel on an island.

The staff were all exceptional. They were extremely friendly, professional and always knew my name.

The Spa was fantastic. We had a couples massage that was worth every penny. I would definitely go back just for that.

Now the bad news...
The restaurant has to have one of the most romantic settings in Florida. Our table was on a wood deck, right on the bay. However they seam to have forgotten about the food. I made a point to call a week before our stay to say my wife was a vegetarian and was contacted back to confirm what she could eat. I was told that the chef would prepare something special. When I told our waiter, he said they have something amazing.
WELL... she got a plate of veggies. 1/2 roasted 1/2 boiled. With no sauce or flavor of any type. Honestly, she could have got the same meal from Boston Market for about $4.

The table next to us seamed to have some socialite, food critic or something because she had the attention of the chefs and food/Bav managers all night. At one point had 5 staff buzzing around her delivering little dishes of everything. They didn't seam to care too much about anyone else's food.

Not wanting to complain and spoil our evening, I decided to just fill out the review card and leave. My fish was ok, but nothing special. Overall the dinner was very disappointing. I would not eat there again. Do yourself a favor and go eat at Nobu on South Beach instead.

The next morning we ordered breakfast in bed. It took over an hour to come and was stone cold. We were too hungry to care (from the night before) so just ate it.

One last complaint was the Coffee. The coffee in the room and the stuff we ordered with breakfast was truly disgusting. You would think that in a 5 star hotel, they would give you real milk/cream in your room, not that powdered creamer stuff.

My overall opinion is that the hotel layout, location and staff are fantastic. However, the hotel is not what I expect a 5 star hotel to be. The food was very disappointingly.

Spacious rooms with great water views and comfortable beds are this hotel's strong point. The bathroom was on the small side with a cracked sink and faucets that were difficult to turn off and on. The room balcony had comfortable furniture but the noise from what I'm told was the air conditioning system made it unpleasant during the day--at night the system noise cut out. Speaking of noise, at 10:00 am Sunday morning, hotel maintenance decided to run some kind of equipment (possibly a leaf blower). Nobody who wanted to sleep in could do so without earplugs. Housekeeping showed up at a little after 3:00 pm--just when I returned to my room and was desperate for a shower.

The pool deck had definitely seen better days but they had a nice "adults only" section with a view of Biscayne Bay. They also had circulating staff offering free ice water and frozen grapes--a nice touch. Hotel offers tennis and spa services which I didn't use but their fitness center was clean and well equipped.

The island itself is rather nice with a walkway along the seawall which ends in a tiny beach. A young boy was fishing in front of the hotel restaurant and actually catching small snappers which he threw back.

Reception staff was very nice and even let me stay in my room an hour past check out.

Well-seasoned travelers know that Miami is notorious for their poor levels of service so I'm not going to disparage Grove Isle in that regard. Its level of service is on par with what you'll get anywhere else in the area (from the Delano to the Loews to The Setai.)

My only complaint is that the rooms are a terrible value. I stayed here for almost a week due to a friend's wedding. My rate for a room facing the bay with a balcony was almost $600/night.

There is no beach at this resort. Housekeeping frequently didn't make up our room until dinnertime. The service at the restaurants was absurdly slow. The pool is decent but the seating gets filled up quickly. Spa treatment and tennis lessons booked in advance were cancelled by the resort without advance notice. They always seemed to have an excuse for everything.

For the same price, I should have stayed at the Four Seasons or The Mandarin Oriental, and then just driven over to Grove Isle for the wedding events. Never again.

P.S. Don't believe the photos on the website. They make it seem as if the resort is on a private island. In fact, the layout is very strange. Although it is an island, it's also a massive condo development encompassing several enormous high-rises. Many of the resort facilities (like tennis) are actually shared with the condos.

We just return from 4 nights at the Grove Isle. This was our second visit and we felt pampered. The hospitality and service by the staff is at the highest level. Check in was extremely smooth-using a wireless device in our room. Our room had a great water view, excellent balcony for relaxation. We also had a seating area and flat screen TV.
Housekeeping was excellent-we are water drinkers and requested 6 bottle of house water each day-no problem. The only issue we had was the backup alarms from the delivery trucks. This sound seems amplified by the shape of the hotel-very distracting in our room.
The hotel never seems crowded; this could be because of the extensive security required to enter the island as the hotel shares Grove Isle with three large buildings of condos.
While there is a Spa and exercise facility, my wife swam laps in the outside pool each morning and I walked into Coconut Grove and back-50 minutes.
We had breakfast each day in the hotel and it was nice, good selection and good service. However we found some great restaurants near by. First in Coral Gables, 15 minutes away is La Dorado-great fish. Then for authentic Cuban food, we loved Las Culebrinas, 2890 SW 27th Ave-also 15 minutes away. We were one of the few Anglos there-food is great. Then for lunch, best Cuban sandwich ever-Villa Habana at 34th and Coral Way-again authentic.
On our next visit, we play to stay at Grove Isle.