The Best Restaurants In Wynwood

Uchi has excellent sushi—but there are more delicious things on the menu. Raw fish should be part of your meal here, but so should a couple of hot dishes, which will help you get full without spending a lot of money on nigiri. Go for the excellent karaage chicken or the kinoko nabe, a hot bowl of crispy rice, mushrooms, an egg yolk, and short rib. But the best thing about Uchi—and the reason we don't panic at the sight of their overwhelmingly large menu—is that everything is excellent. Plus, the restaurant is appropriate for special occasions, but also casual enough to walk in wearing a t-shirt and sit at the sushi bar for a solo meal. 

We tend to be as suspicious of big Wynwood restaurants as we are of an unknown number that wants to talk to us about the money we’re owed by the IRS. But dinner here is as delightful as finding out the IRS does, in fact, owe you $5,000. The big Aegean restaurant has some lovely outdoor seating and a spacious dining room that’s pretty enough for a date but casual enough for an easy Wednesday dinner. The best part about Doya, though, is the big list of very good meze plates: octopus as tender as fresh mozzarella, great kebabs, grilled prawns, and lots more.

Even though it’s on the roof of a shiny new building, Shiso reminds us of hashtagging our way through the Wynwood art walks of the twenty-teens. The indoor-outdoor restaurant has big cement columns tagged with graffiti. It’s fun, loud, and the Japanese menu has a Caribbean influence that feels refreshingly original in a neighborhood where everything is either a taco shop or an Italian restaurant. The meat-heavy menu includes dishes like duck dumplings, oxtail udon noodles, and a sliced short rib that comes with materials to make your own handrolls.

Cowy Burger was worth stalking when they were a pop-up, and now that they have a permanent home, they’re worth enduring the late-night Wynwood chaos. This spot makes smashburgers as thin as your patience after waiting in line at the DMV. And the burgers have only gotten thinner, crispier, and more delicious. The Cowy burger (our favorite) oozes chunks of housemade bacon jam, which should be sold in jars at your neighborhood farmers market. They also make a great tequeños and have enough burger options to come every day for a week and try something new each time (but you’re never going to do better than the original Cowy burger).

Zak is not only partly responsible for establishing Wynwood as a place to eat delicious things, but this minimal kosher bakery continues to make some of Miami’s best bread and an assortment of pastries that should absolutely be coming home with you. Get the babka, a bagel, or any sort of eggy sandwich. Crowds can be intense, but takeout is an option or they'll text you when your table is ready, so you can kill time by wandering around Wynwood for 30ish minutes. They also take reservations.

Hiyakawa wins the award we just made up for Most Interesting Ceiling In Miami. But beyond the beautiful curved architecture of this upscale place, which makes you feel like you’re eating inside a fancy cave, there are some excellent Japanese dishes and sushi. Try to hit just about every section of the menu when placing an order—especially the sugata-mori appetizer. It's a rotating fish that's presented whole, with delicate strips of sashimi you get to grab right off the fish's belly. You'll spend significant money here no matter how you order, but if budget isn't much of a concern, go for the $180 per person tasting menu.

Before Wynwood was Wynwood, it was a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood known as Little San Juan, and El Bajareque is one of the last remaining reminders of that. This place has been around for more than 40 years and it feels like little has changed since then (this is a good thing). It’s a small spot with some tables and countertop seating. The food is mostly familiar classics like mofongo, chicharrones de pollo, and alcapurrias—order all three if you have a hungry eating partner or just want a ton of leftovers.

These days, if a restaurant is smashing burgers or selling pasta, there’s an 80% chance it’s happening in Wynwood. But Pasta has a refreshingly light cacio e pepe, razor clams topped with ‘nduja, and a funky gorgonzola and mascarpone cheesecake that proves there is room for another Italian restaurant in Wynwood—especially if it’s this good. Other than some starters and dessert, pasta makes up the entire menu. It has the standard Wynwood look of minimalist decor and exposed ductwork, so nothing here will distract you from the cacio e pepe. It's outstanding—and tossed in a cheesy sauce that doesn’t overwhelm the true star of the plate: the fresh noodles.

Pastis is another entry into Miami’s big-name NYC restaurant repertoire. But unlike some, it’s pretty good. The French spot is kind of a clone of its Manhattan counterparts—subway tile, walls meant to appear stained with decades of cigarette smoke, and great steak frites flying from the kitchen like chocolates in I Love Lucy. You can come here for a martini and cheeseburger at the bar, or a big celebratory group dinner if you’re patient enough to hunt for the reservation.

Barcelona Wine Bar is the Vicks VapoRub of restaurants. The tapas bar is a reliable Lagniappe dupe, a great place to meet for a first date, and the solution to just about any dining dilemma within a five-mile radius of the Wynwood Walls. They have a long and suspiciously affordable wine selection with bottle options under $40. And the already cheap wine selection gets even cheaper during Happy Hour Monday through Thursday from 4pm to 6pm. This is where you should spend the last hour of your workday with a glass of albariño to go with those damn spreadsheets.

If we are ever approached by a genie who claims to only offer restaurant-related wishes, one thing we’d ask for is more great street food tacos in Miami—maybe like the ones LA are so blessed with. Someone apparently got to that genie before us, because Chito’s is exactly that. This food truck is permanently parked in an outdoor space in the North end of Wynwood, near Roberto Clemente Park. There are a handful of picnic benches where you can enjoy beautiful tripe tacos, cheesy vampiro tacos, and massive burritos. Plus, they’re open till 1am Thursday through Sunday, so it’s a great late-night option.

This little pizza stand in the backyard of Gramps (our favorite bar in Wynwood) makes one of the best New York-style pizzas in Miami. Sure, we always seem to crave it after four cocktails, but you can walk in here whether or not you're trying to drink. Even if you aren't really in a pizza mood, they also have great wings and garlic knots. But pizza is certainly the thing to get here—there are about seven varieties ranging from a pretty perfect cheese slice to one with spicy pepperoni and pineapple. You can order them as a whole pie too, in case you’ve got three friends who are also under the influence of Gramps’ excellent moscow mules.

Restaurants on the very edge of Wynwood tend to feel a bit more peaceful than the ones in the center of the madness. This is the case with Lira, a good Lebanese restaurant on the southern border of the neighborhood. It has one of the best patios in the city as well as really good Lebanese dishes like kafta, kibbeh, and all the dips your heart desires. They’re not stingy with the pita either, which we always appreciate. This is just a great spot for a casual, relaxing dinner—not the easiest genre of restaurant to find in Wynwood.

Sometimes, you just want a casual, tasty meal where you don’t have to spend more than $12. There really aren’t any places in Wynwood where you can reliably do that, except for The Taco Stand. That’s why this place is usually crowded—but the line out the door is also because the food is good. Plus, it's one of the only places in Miami for California-style tacos and burritos. So if you’re burnt out on $18 cocktails, come here and drop about $9 on a very good burrito, stuffed with beef, cheese, guacamole, salsa, and fries.

B-Side is one of the better places to eat sushi in Wynwood that isn't a $200 per person omakase. The little counter is smack in the center of 1-800-Lucky, an indoor/outdoor food hall with no shortage of alcohol options. But you don’t have to be in a party mood to appreciate B-Side. They have good sushi rolls, and very good ceviche and tiradito options (which makes sense since it's related to Maty's). B-Side is a perfect call for cocktails and sushi rolls before hopping between Wynwood bars.

And while we're on the topic of 1-800-Lucky, here's another vendor to keep in mind. Sili operates from a small metal booth on 1-800-Lucky's patio. Despite its cramped quarters, there are around eight very good Southeast Asian dishes on the menu, like Vietnamese street pizza made from crispy rice paper and topped with a marbled egg. There are also crispy pork belly lettuce wraps, a hefty banh mi, and garlic noodles that marry chili garlic butter and freshly grated parmesan together in holy matrimony.

Sparrow, with its suited doorman, expensive steaks, and live jazz, aims to be the Wynwood destination for a sexy night out. And while the bar is low (they’re neighbors with The Dirty Rabbit), they succeed. It has the over-the-top energy of a clubstaurant, but the jazz quartet isn't so loud and they actually know how to cook a steak here. A bill for two can go way over $200—and the food’s just fine—so keep this place in mind when you’re not paying or wearing something too tight to eat that much.

Omakai is a good choice if you want to have an omakase experience without paying $300 and going somewhere that requires weeks of reservation hunting. A seat at this casual spot is much easier to find. They offer a few different omakase options ranging from around $26 for six courses to $95 for over ten courses. Don’t expect to sit at a sushi counter and receive your pieces of sushi directly from the chef. It’s table service here, and you can’t even see the kitchen. But the sushi is good and the $50 Oma Deluxe menu—which comes with eight pieces of sushi, sashimi, an appetizer, and a couple of hand rolls—should be enough to fill you up.

Hiden is one of Miami’s most expensive and hard-to-book omakase restaurants—but it’s also one of the most interesting dining experiences in the city. The eight-seat restaurant is located in the back of The Taco Stand, and you need a special code to even get in the door. You’ve got to book your seat weeks in advance and dinner here costs about $300 per person. The sushi is excellent, but it's really the entire experience—which makes you feel like a secret agent on a raw fish mission—that makes it all so special.

Rishtedar utilizes every one of your senses. The dining room is filled with earthy incense. Colorful ceiling drapes and mosaic mirrors make you feel like you’re inside of a kaleidoscope. The food brings big flavors too. Our favorite dish is the mattar paneer. The paneer is tangy, squeaky, and sits in a bowl filled with peas and a rich sauce so spicy you’ll have to order a mango lassi to cool down. At the end of the meal, your server pours a pitcher of cinnamon and cardamom water over your hands and into a brass bowl. As the warm water trickles down your fingers, you’ll feel thankful for another great entree in Miami’s tragically small number of Indian restaurants.