5 restaurants pushing the envelope in Miami

by OpenTable team

Updated 21 December 2022

Creativity is one of Miami’s distinguishing features, cropping up in the city’s bold approach to art, design, and fashion. Thankfully, it’s also a trait that stretches to Magic City’s dining scene, which sizzles as strongly as the South Florida sun.

In South Beach, a chef places sustainability at the heart of his rotisserie-meets-izakaya menu. An inventive Indian restaurant in Kendall pairs Floridian flavors, such as avocado and yellowfin tuna, with South Asian staples.

Standing out in one of America’s most cutting-edge cities is no easy feat. These are the five restaurants that excel when it comes to offering some of Miami’s most unique meals.

Fiola Miami

4.8

4.8 (3186)

$50 and over

Italian

Coral Gables

About the restaurant

Japanese multi-course menus are all the rage in cosmopolitan Miami. But this Washington, D.C. transplant breaks boundaries by offering pasta-themed omakase, inspired by executive chef Daniel Ganem’s trips to Japan. Fiola’s inventive, six-course menu features an ever-changing selection of an appetizer, four pasta dishes, and a dessert. Dishes such as the porcini mushroom “cappuccino soup” and the carbonara pasta, topped with kaluga caviar, intend to take diners on a Japanese-accented jaunt through Italy. To that, add a striking, glass-walled wine room—translation: a prolific bottle selection—and you’re in for one of Miami’s most exquisite meals.

Top review

Victoria

Dined 3 days ago

So far one of the best restaurant in Miami. Amazing service, Food was delicious, beyond expectations and the place is beautiful. Coming back soon!!

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Mezze Rigatoni Alla Vodka

Sérêvène

4.8

4.8 (453)

$50 and over

French

South Beach

About the restaurant

Executive chef Pawan Pinisetti, who has trained under culinary powerhouses such as Tom Colicchio and the late Joël Robuchon, runs an exceptionally responsible kitchen at this rotisserie-meets-izakaya. At Sérêvène, set in the chic, adults-only Greystone Hotel, the menu unabashedly fuses traditions, featuring foie gras hot pockets and red wine-braised beef cheek with lemongrass coconut curry sauce. Sustainably steers the kitchen here. Pinisetti ensures no scrap goes to waste as he remixes culinary techniques: Vegetable peels and fruit skins are used as broth enhancers, disposable products are made with biodegradable plastics (or avocado pulp), and meat and seafood is sourced from suppliers that offer humanely raised fish and operate on USDA-certified farms. For Pinisetti and co., sustainability isn’t an afterthought, it’s second nature, making a meal here a truly unique experience.

Top review

linda

Dined on 13 Dec 2024

Amazing service and incredible food. We did the pre-fix menus so didn’t have every menu option. The price was amazing and very worthy! Beef tartar ( extra charge I think) prepared table side was excellent. Lovely support staff server explained the dish and the prep. Salmon sashimi appetizer and lobster uni Alfredo was enjoyed by the others. Melt in your mouth sashimi and super flavorful lobster…very rich! I had avocado rolls And Japanese curry ( I’m vegetarian). Avocado rolls were three pieces which were tasty but not exactly what I expected. The avocado was rolled around vermicelli noodles so not a ton of avocado. Japanese curry was beautiful and excellent. Large portion but only one small piece of tofu.. We had dessert as part of our three course menu. 😍 We had the Foie Gras crème brûlée (extra charge ) which was done table side and very lovely with a mix of savory and sweet. Also we had the “pour le chocolate” which we didn’t think was “ soufflé”. It was still really delicious and very chocolatey! They didn’t have the flavor of sorbet I wanted for the Adults only popsicle so I had the chocolate dessert. They presented our bday guest with a free dessert and the service was above and beyond. Although the waiter was quite busy and the staff situation made his job a bit taxing. It seemed he did almost everything for our table. Once the later diners arrived and the restaurant got busy it was hard for him to do everything but he managed quite well, as he had explained the menu and the dishes in detail at the start of our meal. I had the non alcoholic elixir with a shot on the side and the elixir was delicious for my beverage. Others had wine by the glass. The pre fixe was not something we knew about ahead of time. We decided to try it since all the items we wanted were a part of the three course options. Highly recommend and hope to return someday!

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Popular dish

Lobster Uni - Alfredo

Ghee - Downtown Dadeland

4.7

4.7 (1514)

$30 and under

Indian

Kendall

About the restaurant

Miami doesn’t have the most prolific Indian restaurant selection, but when the craving hits, Ghee Indian Kitchen, steered by James Beard Award semi-finalist Niven Patel, hits the spot. It’s a quaint restaurant, lined with jars of fermenting vegetables, and executes an innovative cultural balancing act. Dishes such as yellowfin tuna bhel, avocado bhatura (deep-fried, leavened bread), and turmeric-marinated local fish infuse distinctly Floridian flavors into South Asian staples. Much of the produce here is sourced from Rancho Patel in Homestead ), the chef’s two-acre farm home about an hour south of Miami, where he grows taro leaves, tomatoes, radish, kale, and over a dozen types of mangoes, which all make their way into Ghee’s dishes. By creating this unique farm-to-table ecosystem, Patel not only reduces costs, but also provides the freshest ingredients for his restaurant, resulting in an impressive hospitality doubleplay.

Top review

Scot

Dined 3 days ago

Great food. Amazing flavors and dishes. Reasonably priced. Went for lunch. Only issue was there was no hostess to seat us. We stood around for 5-10 minutes waiting for someone to acknowledge us. It was a lunch 12pm seating. Maybe they had just opened

Sexy Fish - Miami

4.6

4.6 (1980)

$50 and over

Asian

Brickell

About the restaurant

Step past the velvet ropes and into an over-the-top, under-the-sea party at this awe-inspiring spot. At Sexy Fish, which blazes new trails when it comes to restaurant design, both the dishes and the interiors are feasts. The menu is inspired by Asia’s oceans, while the extravagant interiors—massive mermaid sculptures, glass mosaics—come courtesy of award-winning Martin Brudnizki Studio, displaying art by Damien Hirst, plus a multi-million dollar fish lamp installation by Frank Gehry. Many of the dishes, such as the yellowfin tartare, are as dramatic as the surroundings, complete with wisps of dry ice. Once the clock strikes 10 pm, the restaurant turns up the buzz with live music, compelling diners to order another round and enjoy the show at this inimitable Brickell stunner.

Top review

OpenTable Diner

Dined 3 days ago

Great food great service. It’s a must see, perfect night out good crowd.

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Experience

Sexy Sunday Brunch

Experience

Food and Bottle Service Table

Experience

Happy Hour

Pez Loco

3.9

3.9 (42)

$31 to $50

Mexican

Wynwood

About the restaurant

After [speaking candidly about burnout](https://blog.opentable.com/pez-loco-ari-taymor/) during his time cooking in the award-winning Los Angeles restaurant Alma, chef Ari Taymor took time to recalibrate before opening his latest Miami-based restaurant, Pez Loco, in early 2022. Set in trendy Wynwood, the tropical spot offers beach-flavored dishes such as radiatore with octopus-mezcal ragu and Sinaloan tuna crudo. The plates are inspired by the coastal towns of Mexico, areas where Taymor spent time as a child before finding solace in the region’s surf culture as an adult. Taymor is a passionate advocate for his employees’ mental health, routinely encouraging them to find pursuits that bring joy and balance outside the kitchen. The result is an especially thoughtful restaurant, offering a blueprint for balance in a relentless industry.

Top review

OpenTable DinerVIP

Dined on 31 Dec 2023

Really Good food really Nice place. Very dead and quiet which is sad for how good it was