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From farm-to-table restaurants, trailblazing local chefs and authentic Latin American cuisine, your taste buds will be tantalized. Here are some of the best restaurants in Miami for you to find a new favorite.
Below is a list published by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.
Mandolin Bistro $$
The homey feeling you get from Mandolin is no accident:
more than a decade ago, husband and wife team Ahmet Erkaya and Anastasia Koutsioukis came across a quaint little 1940s bungalow in the Design District (before it was the “Design District”) and determined it would be the perfect canvas for their dream restaurant: a charming little Greek cottage focused on serving simply prepared bites of Greek and Turkish cuisine.
For reservations and more information please visit their website here.
Zak the Baker $
Zak the Baker’s Technicolor building is just billed as «bakery» on the outside—a sign of false modesty if ever there was one.
Zak’s is known for its world-class bread, which some of the city’s best restaurants order to serve to their customers.
For reservations and more information please visit their website here.
Alter Restaurant $$
Since first opening in 2015, not a day has gone by where Alter hasn’t been packed.
While the rock ‘n’ roll atmosphere certainly doesn’t hurt its popularity, it’s the ever-changing menu that keeps diners coming back again and again.
Dinner is tasting menu-only, with a choice of either five or seven courses and, because Kilgore relies heavily on local ingredients, they change quite often. If you’ve got the will—and the stomach space—go for for the Full Chef’s Experience, which, if you’re lucky, will net you one of Alter’s famous soft eggs, served with truffle pearls and Siberian caviar.
For reservations and more information please visit their website here.
Marion Miami $$
The atmosphere can be quiet and cozy one minute, and an all-out dance party the next—Marion diners are the types who don’t mind getting a little wild at dinner.
And while the look of Marion, and even the name, scream “French” the reality of the space is quite different. The cuisine is actually new American with some decidedly Asian influences, as evidenced by its robata grill menu (think Kobe beef, cooked tableside, with garlic wafu, truffle aioli, yuzu soy, and ponzu sauce).
It’s an ideal spot for a girls or guys night out.
For reservations and more information please visit their website here.
KYU Restaurant $$
The crowd here is as fashionable as its Wynwood neighborhood, so expect to see plenty of regulars and art lovers tucking into fried chicken.
And while you’re most likely to hear KYU described as a contemporary Asian restaurant, that feels too simplistic.
Try the duck breast “burnt ends” and Thai coconut cream spinach, which show off the menu’s southern influences, or the shichimi-rubbed wagyu brisket for something a bit more indulgent.
For reservations and more information please visit their website here.
Joe's Stone Crab $$
You’ve got to offer more than just great marketing skills if you want to stick around for more than a century, and Joe’s is the real deal.
But there’s a catch (no pun intended): stone crab season runs from mid-October to mid-May, so your window for giving them a try is only open half the year.
If it is, and if you manage to live through the wait to be seated, you’d better make sure that someone at the table orders them. (Just be sure to leave room for at least a bite of Joe’s almost-as-famous Key lime pie.)
For reservations and more information please visit their website here.
Pubbelly Noodle Bar $$
Pork’s the star at Pubbelly, with a whole section of the menu dedicated to it, including the McBelly, a BBQ pork belly sandwich with kimchee and pickles.
For more daring types, we suggest Veal Brains Meunière, with black butter, capers, blue crab tartar, and beansprouts. (Okay, maybe too daring.)
Just don’t be surprised if you have to wait a while—both for a place to sit, and then for your drinks and meal to arrive. Still, the fun crowd makes the time fly by.
For reservations and more information please visit their website here.
Sugarcane $$
The best thing about dining at Sugarcane is that you can try as many tapas-style dishes as you want, and always order more.
At least that’s how Sugarcane hopes you’ll approach the menu, which includes everything from those now-ubiquitous small plates of edamame and shishito peppers to the kind of dishes you’ll only find here, like bone marrow with veal cheek marmalade, and foie gras fried rice with shredded duck and coriander.
The restaurant has gained such a strong following over the years (there are now outposts in Las Vegas and Brooklyn), that it’s also achieved that very distinct level of fame where even the most casual foodies have heard of it.
For reservations and more information please visit their website here.
Affluent Coral Gables may not seem like the kind of neighborhood where a restaurant with street art on the walls would thrive, but the huge colorful murals are working here.
As are the Cap’n Crunch pancakes and the other whimsical dishes on the menu. But don’t be fooled into thinking items with names like ‘Sorta Caesar Salad’ are frivolous.
Chef Giorgio Rapicavoli serves serious stuff. Even seemingly simple offerings such as the garlic bread are uncommon and come with pickled garlic butter and lardo Ibérico.
For reservations and more information click here.
More than decade on, this is still a buzzy neighborhood joint with innovative, award-winning food—without any pretense.
If you’re spending any time in the Design District, even if you’re just window-shopping (yeah, that’s what we all say), make a point of planning your day around a meal at Michael’s Genuine, whether that means brunch (banana toffee buns much?), lunch, or dinner.
With such a varied menu, it’s truly a something-for-everyone place, and consistently delicious enough to wow even the most demanding diners.
For reservations and more information click here.
NaiYaRa Patio $
Helmed by beloved Miami chef Piyarat Potha Arreeratn, a.k.a. Chef Bee, NaiYaRa is a perfectly mismatched representation of what happens when past and present come together.
Prepare for a flavor overload as Chef Bee uses locally sourced ingredients to meld Thai street food with Japanese specialties and serves them family-style.
That means that you might see something like popcorn shrimp on the menu, but it will come with shiitake mushrooms and spicy mayonnaise.
For reservations and more information click here.
La Sandwicherie $
If the first thing you think upon arriving at La Sandwicherie is, “Wait… am I in the right place?” you have arrived.
That’s because there’s no restaurant to walk into—just a counter to order a sandwich at or, if you’re really lucky, to grab a seat. But this isn’t just any sandwich counter; it’s a gourmet, French-inspired sandwich counter where everything comes served on one of the most fabulous French baguettes you’ll ever dig into or a buttery, flaky croissant (you can go the wheat bread route as well, but you’ll regret it).
Note that there are no two Martini lunches here. Beverages are all juices and smoothies.
For reservations and more information click here.
Quinto La Huella $$
The folks behind Uruguay’s famed beachfront eatery, Parador La Huella, have decided to bring that same fire-cooked magic to the U.S. by way of the EAST, Miami hotel.
It’s a testament to the U.S. restaurant’s staying power that Miamians are willing to make the trek to Brickell (and deal with parking) in order to sink their teeth into a plate of Quinto La Huella’s Uruguayan cuisine.
Though meat and seafood dishes hold pretty much equal weight on the menu, most diners swear by the former—and the Entrecôte, a 16-ounce grass fed rib eye that makes its way to Miami via Uruguay, in particular.
For reservations and more information click here.
Yardbird Southern Table & Bar $$
A plate of fried chicken may not seem like the fanciest meal, but Yardbird’s perfect execution of Southern staples makes the restaurant a must for anyone who doesn’t mind indulging.
And with an impressive bourbon list more than 50 bottles strong (some of them very rare indeed), the best way to wash it all down is with a bourbon cocktail.
All you need now is a front porch and a swing.
For reservations and more information click here.
Matador Room $$
Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Matador Room at Ian Schrager’s Miami Beach, EDITION hotel has resurrected the rather genteel concept of the supper club. The design is jaw-dropping and the menu everything you’d expect from a Jean-George restaurant.
Vongerichten takes some culinary cues from Spain, as well as Latin and South America, and the Caribbean.
We love some of the simpler dishes, like the avocado pizza with jalapeno, cilantro, and lime, and the sautéed snapper and apricot-lime sauce.
For reservations and more information click here.
Zuma $$$
The Miami version of Chef Rainer Becker’s famed izakaya restaurant serves sleek and modern Japanese small plates to a celebrity-filled room.
A regular stable of customers come here as much for the buzzy atmosphere as the consistently executed menu of bold flavors and shareable plates. Start off with the suzuki no sashimi (seabass sashimi with yuzu, salmon roe, and truffle oil).
Then, order something from the robata grill or a signature dish like roasted lobster with shizo-ponzu butter. Each plate pairs perfectly with wine from the 350-plus bottle list, plus sake and yuzu-heavy cocktails.
For reservations and more information click here.
Mignonette $$$
The customers here are definitely seafood fans, with those who can tell a west coast oyster from a PEI on site nosing up to the counter, parsing their options with the nerdy enthusiasm of stamp collectors or bird spotters.
But beyond the raw bar, the seafood selection is an exercise in aquatic seduction. The Clams Casino appetizer with bacon and white wine whetting appetites along with seared scallops with andouille and lobster deviled eggs are almost too much.
Extravagance can be catered to with caviar or a seafood tower, or you can happily just sit back with a comforting lobster roll.
For reservations and more information click here.
Garcia's Seafood Grille & Fish Market $
One part fish market, one part restaurant, the Garcia name has been synonymous with fresh seafood for more than 50 years.
It’s definitely a local landmark, so if you don’t have a permanent Magic City address, expect to be in the minority—but don’t feel awkward about it.
This is one place Miamians are happy to share. And forget grabbing your goods to go; pull up a chair at this rustic seafood shack on the Miami River and gaze out at the water as you chow down on the freshest fish sandwich you’ll ever eat.
For reservations and more information click here.
La Camaronera Seafood Joint & Fish Market $$
A cartoonish neon sign and brash colors lead you into this Little Havana seafood restaurant where most people are here for the pan con minuta – a snapper sandwich that’s a whole fish on a lightly-toasted Cuban roll.
Seafood rice, lobster poppers, shrimp tacos – they all come out fresh and tasty and if you’re feeling hungry or want to share, the kitchen will send out whole fried fish or a stone crab or a breaded lobster.
You can’t go wrong, really here.
For reservations and more information click here.
Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann $$
Though award-winning Argentine chef Francis Mallmann may be a familiar face and name to American diners, Los Fuegos marks his first foray outside of his native South America. Which is kind of a big deal.
A master of live fire cooking, Mallmann is known for his love of charred meats and fish, which here includes a Mediterranean branzino with charred Brussels sprouts, eggplant, and quinoa salad, and a skirt steak “a la Parrilla” with a chimichurri sauce.
If you’re dining a deux, opt for one of the dishes for two, like the Meat “Parrillada,” full of skirt steak, bone-in ribeye, and chorizo with charred kale and potato.
For reservations and more information click here.
Byblos $
While there’s probably not a restaurateur in South Florida who doesn’t believe they’re offering diners a one-of-a-kind culinary experience, Byblos is the real deal.
To get most of the flavors, order a range of dishes to share with your group (there’s plenty of vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and paleo-friendly options, too).
Just don’t miss the Middle Eastern fried chicken, served with tahini, za’atar, and a housemade hot sauce with some serious kick, and the short rib kebab with truffle tzatziki and oregano.
For reservations and more information click here.
Makoto $$
You’re here for the sushi. The fish is flown in from Tokyo three times a week and so freshness is guaranteed.
There are some, let’s call them «American-friendly» options—your spicy tuna and soft-shell crab rolls—but they’re done to perfection. Head for the far corners of the menu, though, and delight in the barbecued freshwater eel, the live scallop and the sea urchin.
The sushi and sashimi samplers offer outstanding value, and if you’re feeling celebratory, there’s also caviar.
For reservations and more information click here.
