The Ultimate Resy Guide to Splurge-Worthy Dining in Miami

Come dressed for dinner and whatever follows at Amazónico, where live bands play jazz, bossa nova, and Cuban rhythms beneath a canopy of greenery. The menu is as extravagant as the setting: guacamole comes topped with sea urchin, and Maine lobster tail arrives with semolina pasta and coconut bisque. Share ceviche with sweet plantain and duck arroz chaufa before moving on to charcoal-grilled picanha or Australian wagyu ribeye. After dinner, follow the music upstairs, where DJs and tropical cocktails keep the lounge and rooftop going into the wee hours of the night.

Groot Hospitality and Tao Group take their inspiration from coastal Italy at Casadonna, inside Edgewater’s historic waterfront Miami Woman’s Club building. Start with a platter of oysters, chilled prawns, and lobster, then follow it with pasta and wine on the terrace overlooking Biscayne Bay, while at night, it’s a scene, with a dressed-up crowd making an occasion of dinner. Weekend lunch and brunch bring their own chic crowd, plus daylight to appreciate those waterfront views. An anniversary, a birthday, or an excuse to put on something good all work here.

Carbone makes a big night out of Italian American comfort food, with captains in burgundy tuxedos filling the dining room and looking after the tables. The spicy rigatoni vodka gets plenty of attention, but there’s more to dinner here than the pasta you’ve seen on social media. Start with baked clams, then share lobster ravioli and veal Parmesan with friends who came hungry. Order a martini and settle in, whether you’re in the dining room or outside on the tropical patio.

Cost: A meal for two, including drinks, will likely cost more than $125 per person. Antipasti ranges from $24 to $58, pasta is priced from $26 to $58 each, and meat entrees are priced from $52 to $125.

Dinner at Daniel’s can start with chips and dip — though here that means housemade potato chips with Petrossian caviar, caramelized onion, and Florida sour cream. The foie gras crème brûlée with mango, cashews, and toasted coconut is one of the most unique appetizers in this city and another reason to take your time before choosing a steak. Dishes here include a Florida-raised Kansas City strip and several Australian wagyu cuts, with European-style service that suits a long, dressed-up dinner. Anyone skipping steak can be just as indulgent with lobster fra diavolo, made with a 1½-pound Maine lobster and linguine.

Cost: A meal for two, including drinks, will likely cost more than $125 per person. Appetizers and raw bar items range from $22 to $39, pasta is priced from $58 to $85, and steaks are priced from $59 to $375.

David Foulquier brought Fooq’s back to Miami with a new (much bigger) Little River address and a menu harkening back to his Persian and French roots. Bring friends and start with housemade za’atar bread for scooping up muhammara and spicy feta, followed by charcoal-grilled kebabs. Then make room for lamb shoulder with green garlic yogurt, pickles, and sumac onions, with jeweled rice tahdig alongside. After dinner, head upstairs to Lion’s Den for music and another round.

Cost: A meal for two, including drinks, will likely cost more than $125 per person. Mains range from $38 to $48 each, and sharable dishes for two to four people are priced from $75 to $225 each.

Peking duck with Osetra caviar is a good starting point for a decadent dinner at Fontainebleau’s Hakkasan. Order dim sum for the table, including scallop shumai and black pepper duck-and-pumpkin dumplings, before moving onto the main courses. Options like Florida pink prawns come with black truffle, while Maine lobster comes steamed with garlic, stir-fried with ginger and scallion, or Singapore chili-style with a sweet bun — so bring enough people to try a few of each. For wine enthusiasts, the Friday and Saturday sommelier-led tastings offer yet another reason to visit.

Cost: A meal for two, including drinks, will likely cost more than $125 per person. The whole Peking duck is $128, or $228 with 28 grams of Osetra caviar. Maine lobster is $98, and the dim sum platter is $40.

Hiyakawa is one of Miami’s most beautiful Japanese restaurants, with curved wooden slats sweeping up the walls and across the ceiling. Owner Álvaro Pérez Miranda’s art collection gives you plenty to admire between courses, and the cooking deserves just as much attention. Order sashimi and nigiri, but do leave room for steamed egg custard with uni, sea eel tempura, and black cod with saikyo miso. For more of a splurge, add A5 Hitachi wagyu with wasabi cream and roasted potatoes.

A passcode-protected door behind Wynwood’s Taco Stand is an unlikely entrance to a $300 dinner, but that is exactly part of Hiden’s appeal. Inside, just eight guests sit at chef Seijun Okano’s counter for a seasonal omakase of hot and cold dishes, sushi, and dessert. Fish arrives from Japan several times a week, so the selection changes with what’s available. Take advantage of the small counter and ask questions as Okano works away, whether about a fish you’ve never tried or how he prepares it.

Cost: $300 per person for the omakase.

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Komodo is an ever-busy Brickell fixture, ideal for a dinner that turns into drinks and a later night than you’d planned. The Peking duck has been the draw for more than a decade and remains one of Miami’s best, served with pancakes, cucumber, scallion, and hoisin. Make that the centerpiece of the meal, then add lobster dynamite and garlic king crab lo mein for the table. Leave yourself time for another round.

Joël Robuchon helped define modern French fine dining, and his Miami Design District restaurant gives a front-row seat to that legacy at a counter facing the open kitchen. Go all in with the Evolution tasting menu, beginning with foie gras royale and Parmesan foam before moving through madai with caviar and sake emulsion, olive oil-poached halibut, and wagyu striploin with béarnaise. For the shorter seasonal tasting menu, the four-course journey provides diners the option to choose dishes along the way, including poached lobster with a wheat beer reduction and venison with juniper and sweet potato.

Cost: $295 per person for the Evolution tasting menu; $195 per person for the four-course seasonal menu.

Chef Michael White brings his New York reputation for pasta to Mika, including his signature fusilli with red wine-braised octopus and bone marrow. Start with wagyu carpaccio in brown butter vinaigrette or the Little Gem Caesar before sharing pasta, whether ricotta gnocchi or lobster risotto made with a 1½-pound Maine lobster. If your table has cravings outside pasta, there’s Dover sole and a 36-ounce dry-aged Fiorentina to share.

Cost: A meal for two, including drinks, will likely cost more than $125 per person. Starters range from $12 to $76 in price, pasta is $36 to $79, mains are $42 to $110, and steaks are $72 to $197.

Mila is a rooftop made for a dressed-up night out, with a lively crowd above Lincoln Road and a menu that brings together Mediterranean and Japanese cooking. Start with fried eggplant and zucchini chips with shiso tzatziki, then share wagyu “shawarma” gyoza and lobster tempura lettuce wraps. A whole roasted branzino with shiso chimichurri gives the table something more substantial to work on, though sushi might tempt you into another round of ordering. The five-course tasting menus settle those decisions, provided everyone agrees to participate.

With just five seats and a dinner that unfolds over about three hours, Naoe is one of Miami’s most intimate omakase experiences. Chef Kevin Cory prepares a daily menu that begins with a bento box before moving through individual pieces of nigiri and dessert. The family connections go beyond the kitchen: the soy sauce comes from Naogen Shoyu, his family’s brewery in Kanazawa, founded in 1825, while sake selections include bottles from the family’s Nakamura brewery.

Cost: $280 per person for the omakase.

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Come hungry and make sure to bring someone willing to split a porterhouse at Fontainebleau’s Prime 54. The wood-fired steak section gives plenty to choose from, from Snake River Farms Wagyu skirt steak to Greater Omaha prime Delmonico ribeye and Pat LaFrieda bone-in cuts dry-aged for 30 to 45 days. Add buttery mashed potatoes and béarnaise for the full steakhouse experience. For a closer look at the kitchen, book one of six seats at the chef’s counter, where the chefs prepare a multi-course dinner right in front of guests on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Illustrator Christoph Niemann’s 1930’s-inspired murals and leather banquettes give Stephen Starr’s Bal Harbour steakhouse its old Hollywood feel. Settle in with a martini and oysters or steak tartare, then move on to a 35-day dry-aged New York strip with creamed spinach. For a different kind of splurge, there’s the $100 cheesesteak, piled with shaved wagyu, black truffle, foie gras, fried onions, and American cheese. End the meal with coconut chiffon cake or bananas Foster, flambéed tableside.

Thomas Keller’s Surf Club Restaurant is the ultimate spot for a fancy night out in Miami. They go old-school glam here, starting with Caesar salad prepared tableside and continuing with dishes like the lobster Thermidor or short rib Wellington for two. The attentive and acutely keen service is as much a reason to come as the food, so give yourself time to enjoy it. There’s also a gorgeous bar worth arriving early for, or settling into for a nightcap when you’re not quite ready to leave.

Cost: A meal for two, including drinks, will likely cost more than $125 per person. Starters range from $25 to $48 each, caviar is $185 to $300, and mains are $38 to $245 each.

Florida stone crab gets a Venetian treatment at Massimo Bottura’s restaurant inside The Moore, where chef Bernardo Paladini pairs it with crispy polenta and a sweet-and-sour saor dressing. It’s one of the several courses on Palme, a tasting menu that brings together Florida seafood and produce into Italian cooking. Dishes like local fish crudo come with citrus and fennel, while the signature handmade tortellini is a nod to Bottura’s Emilia-Romagna roots.