Best Restaurants in Miami

Miami offers thousands of great restaurants from which to choose, leaving it up to you to try to pick the best ones. To make your life easier, here is a condensed collection of the best restaurants in Miami.

The River Seafood & Oyster Bar

As the name suggests, this restaurant serves oysters – you'll find around a dozen varieties or so on any given night, ready to be shucked at your request. But this is no simple raw bar or run of the mill seafood restaurant that's been aimed at unsuspecting travelers. The River is a local favorite, and you'll find an array of fantastic seafood and land borne dishes from which to choose. If you've come to the best restaurants in Miami seeking seafood, order the monkfish paella or the lobster pot pie.

Beef lovers will want to try the braised short ribs. The River is noted for its excellent wine list and impressive collection of specialty brews on top, so don't be afraid to ask for guidance when selecting your drink of choice. This restaurant thrives on local business, so it is priced like a local restaurant and you'll find that it is very reasonable. If you just want to sample the oysters, strongly consider coming in for happy hour. From 4:30 – 7:00, you can get half priced oysters, which are accompanied by nightly drink specials.

Capital Grille

Business guests and travelers looking to splurge will want to know which of the best restaurants in Miami serves the finest steaks. Look no further than Capital Grille, which is regularly honored as one of the top steakhouses in America. Capital Grille's dry aged steaks are renowned for their richness, and many of its seafood dishes feature catches from local waters.

Try the hand-cut porterhouse or grilled swordfish, paired with the likes of onion rings, potatoes au gratin, and roasted mushrooms. Make sure to leave room for dessert, because the Capital Grille does not disappoint in this department. Ice cream is made in-house using seasonal flavors, the crème brulee must simply be experienced to be understood.

Puerto Sagua

You'd be doing yourself a disservice by coming to Miami without eating at a local dive restaurant. Puerto Sagua is a Cuban haunt that is considered one of the best restauarants in Miami for its sandwiches. Order a Cuban sandwich with rice and beans for a cheap and filling meal. Puerto Sagua is open until at least 2 am every night to accommodate the post-party (or, for the hardcore, pre-party) clubgoing crowd. If you're a part of this crowd, order a shot of espresso with your food to make sure you get back to your hotel.

Joe's Stone Crabs

Joe's Stone Crabs is a Miami institution. It is Miami Beach's oldest family-owned crab house, having opened as a lunch counter in 1913, and it claims to have been the first establishment to discover the delicious sweetness of steamed stone crab legs. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant, and when it's stone crab season (mid-October through mid-May), you simply have to eat here.

The bill can run high for a no holds barred experience, clocking in at around $150 – 200 per person, so it is definitely a place to splurge or celebrate. However, you'll find that the crab legs are as sweet as lobster, and the sides, which include hash browns and creamed spinach, are top notch. For dessert, there's simply no better choice than Key lime pie. This is one of the best restaurants in Miami that doesn't take reservations, so expect a wait on a busy night.

Find a Miami hotel near the restaurant that looks best to you.