The drinks are awesome and the food is amazing. Joanna James on Facebook said: “I’m glad it’s here! Gay life is alive and well in Miami Beach! Check it out!”Ĭhino Rikan on Facebook wrote: “Just the right mix of class and sex appeal. amazing!! The staff, the drinks and the food. Jeff Pazzo on Facebook wrote: “Simply put…. The feedback on social media so far has been positive. It’s good that we’re rebuilding South Beach.” It’s another gay bar for us to to have a choice to come to. Ray gave me a chance and I’m very excited to see what comes out of this. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time and now I’m able to do it. “But now I’m getting the hang of everything. “It’s a little different being on the other side of the bar because usually I’m the one who’s drinking,” Royale laughs. So far for Royale, accepting Ortega’s invitation to be a part of the Molto team has been “one of the best choices I’ve made in the last couple of months.” (Photo courtesy of Molto’s Facebook page.) Noel Leon is a “dragtender” at Molto Bar and Restaurant, 1237 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. Everyone is seeing them in a different light, not just as a performer at Molto.” I’m trying to bring back a bar I knew 12 years ago but into this era where you have a happy hour, where you have great-tasting food while also giving the drag girls an opportunity to bartend, serve and perform. Molto is a venue where everyone knows everyone, and you can come and day drink or eat great food that are not really South Beach prices. But we’ve lost the feel of having a gay bar on South Beach. “We are not just a drag venue and that’s different because well, we don’t have local gay bars on South Beach anymore,” he said. Ortega says Molto is different from other gay venues. “We offer everything it’s not just one sort of format.
“A bunch of us, the best from the Palace Bar, took over and we’re sort of bringing Molto up from the bottom up,” Ivy said.
He recruited many of the staff and entertainers from Palace and opened Molto. Since Palace closed on Ocean Drive, Ortega sought to bring back the bar he knew 12 years ago but into this era. So when I became a bar manager at Palace, it was an element I always wanted to incorporate back at Palace.” He only let the performances continue, the entertainment part only. “I was there before Thomas Donall took over the lease. “The drag queens there originally were hosts and servers,” Ortega said. He was also a part of creating the drag shows there every day and pushed very hard to do it. The 31-year-old grew up there and was one of the first servers and bartenders there 12 years ago when the third owners of Palace, Doug and Henry, owned it. Ortega’s vision came originally from the roots of Palace. Meet your “transtenders:” Tlo Ivy, left Fantasia Royale, right and bartender Noah Wyche. So we want to offer something different and offer variety.” That’s pretty much it, but they are clubs and we are a bar. “Here in Miami Beach, as far as stable gay places to go, we have Twist and Score. We want to do something different,” Ivy said. That’s what we’re going for.”įellow “dragtender” and “transtender” Tlo Ivy says that’s precisely what Molto is trying to accomplish. We have to be intimate with our crowd, getting on the bar and feeding them shots. Here at Molto, it’s a more intimate setting. It’s something different, something to make the crowd go wow like when I used to perform at the Palace going into the streets. “It just adds an extra effect to our shows. We’re gonna get on the bar and perform,” Royale said. “When I first came here and saw the place, that’s the first thing we started talking about. Molto - at the site of the old Haven - has a similar feel to Coyote Ugly, only the servers are drag queens who perform even crazier stunts - like drag legend Noel Leon doing her signature split on the bar or transgender Fantasia Royale pouring water on her… ahem…big boobs…er, large chest. The famous saloon where the female bartenders perform outrageous stunts on the bar and feed shots to the patrons was popularized on film in the early 2000s. (Photo courtesy of Molto’s Facebook page.)īy Jose Ortega, co-owner of Molto Bar and Restaurant on Lincoln Road, had a vision: to open a gay bar in South Beach where the hosts and servers also put on a show for you - in drag. Molto’s cast of characters, from left: Noel Leon Raymond Ortega, co-owner and head bartender Tlo Ivy and Fantasia Royale. Bar’s staff of “dragtenders” serve drinks, food and put on a show