The Best Waterfront Restaurants in Miami

In Miami, the best table in the house is almost always the one overlooking the water. The city is built for waterfront dining in a way that most places simply are not, from the Biscayne Bay panoramas of Edgewater to the yacht traffic of the Miami River, the sunset views of South Pointe, and the bay-facing terraces of Coconut Grove. The challenge is that most waterfront restaurants in Miami know they have the view and get lazy about everything else. The restaurants below have both: the water and the food to justify sitting in front of it for two hours.

Amara at Paraiso, Edgewater

Courtesy of Amara at Paraiso

The most complete waterfront restaurant in Miami, and the one most worth the reservation. James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Schwartz built Amara as a love letter to the city, set in Edgewater with open-air dining and uninterrupted Biscayne Bay views framed by lush greenery. The wood-fired Latin American menu includes seafood towers, standout tuna crudo, and perfectly braised lamb shoulder. The Sunday brunch with multiple stations and an all-you-can-drink beverage program is one of the best in the city, especially when the weather cooperates. Aim for an outdoor table 45 minutes before sunset on a weekday to beat the rush and actually get the view you came for.

Klaw, Edgewater

Sharing the historic 1926 Miami Women’s Club building in Edgewater with Casadonna, Klaw is one of the most refined surf-and-turf experiences in the city with some of the best Biscayne Bay views on the mainland. Ranked among the World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants, it is known for hand-selected dry-aged beef, sustainably sourced Norwegian king crab, and ultra-fresh oysters. The multi-level design includes intimate dining rooms, a dramatic raw bar, and one of Miami’s most impressive rooftop lounges with panoramic bay and skyline views. Expect to spend approximately $150 to $200 per person for a full experience. The happy hour from 4 to 7 PM daily is one of the city’s better-kept secrets.

Casadonna, Edgewater

Photo Credit: Casadonna

Also in the Women’s Club building, Casadonna is a Coastal Italian-inspired restaurant from Groot Hospitality that has taken the Edgewater neighborhood by storm since opening. Drawing inspiration from coastal towns including Naples, Taormina, Positano, and Gaeta, the menu features the finest local and imported ingredients in handcrafted Riviera-style Italian dishes. Nearly 20,000 square feet of indoor, al fresco, and bar seating line a bay-facing terrace that makes it one of the most visually striking dining rooms in the city. The weekend brunch set three-course menu is worth planning a trip around.

Zuma, Downtown Miami

Zuma sits right on the Miami River at the Kimpton EPIC Hotel, with boats and yachts drifting past as you dine on some of the best Japanese food in the city. The robata grill dishes are the move, especially the miso-marinated black cod. The newly expanded covered terrace overlooks both the river and Brickell Key, and the peak sunset hours produce the best riverfront tables in downtown Miami. The crowd is lively, the cocktail program is serious, and the view feels very specifically, unapologetically Miami. Accessible by yacht with a pricey catering menu and sommelier included for those arriving by water.

Seaspice Brasserie & Lounge, Miami River

Courtesy of Seaspice

A sprawling riverfront brasserie on the Miami River with a stunning terrace, private dock, beachy bar area, and cabanas that create the feeling of a Côte d’Azur escape in the middle of the city. The menu leans into elevated brasserie fare with strong seafood and steak options. Whether arriving by boat, by car, or simply walking the Riverwalk, Seaspice delivers the kind of waterfront tableside theater — dramatic presentations, bottle service on the terrace, golden lighting at sunset — that Miami does better than anywhere else. One of the few Miami River restaurants that earns its reputation across both food and atmosphere.

Elia on the River

One of the most elegant additions to the Miami River dining scene, Elia brings Southern Italian coastal cuisine to a riverfront setting that earns the view it commands. Founded by the team behind Miami Beach’s Salt Cafe, the 5,600 square-foot restaurant is designed around luxurious imported marbles, a striking hand-painted mural, moody lighting, and a pergola-covered patio where passing yachts and golden sunsets become part of the dining experience. The raw bar showcases southern Italian seafood including scorpion fish, squid, swordfish, amberjack, and grouper. Handmade pastas, brick-oven pizzas, and land-and-sea mains including grilled lamb chops, whole branzino, and Faroe Island salmon round out a menu that is as carefully considered as the room around it. A weekend brunch runs Saturday and Sunday with live Latin jazz and bottomless drink options. A weekday lunch features a curated three-course menu at $25 per person. For guests arriving by water, dock-and-dine is available with plenty of dockage space. One of the more genuinely beautiful dining rooms on the Miami River and one of the most compelling reasons to explore this stretch of the city.

Il Mulino, Sunny Isles Beach

The Acqualina Resort outpost of the original 1981 Greenwich Village Italian institution, fully renovated in 2026. The dining room now finally matches the food, with vintage glassware, orange bow-tied servers, and a menu of Italian classics that have earned their place over four decades. The oceanfront setting in Sunny Isles is one of the most elegant in South Florida. Expect around $150 to $200 per person for a full experience. The kind of restaurant that makes a Sunday evening feel like an occasion without trying too hard.

Smith & Wollensky, South Beach

For steak with a sunset, Smith & Wollensky at South Pointe Park delivers classic steakhouse energy with unbeatable ocean views and Government Cut boat traffic drifting past the outdoor terrace. Dry-aged prime beef, an award-winning wine list, and a waterfront setting that has made this a Miami institution for decades. The outdoor deck is one of the most scenic dining perches in South Beach, and the straightforward, high-quality steakhouse menu delivers reliably on every visit. Easier to get into than most steakhouses of its caliber, which is a reason to go sooner rather than later.

Rusty Pelican, Key Biscayne

The Rusty Pelican sits on the causeway between Miami and Key Biscayne with one of the most famous skyline views in the city: the downtown Miami skyline reflected across Biscayne Bay at sunset, framed by a terrace that has been one of Miami’s most romantic dining settings since 1970. The menu covers fresh seafood, steak, and coastal American fare in a room that blends Old Florida nautical charm with a setting that is genuinely difficult to beat at golden hour. For a first impression of Miami’s waterfront from the right vantage point, or for a special occasion that requires the most cinematic possible backdrop, nothing on this list quite competes.

Bayshore Club, Coconut Grove

Set along Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove, Bayshore Club’s breezy patio offers front-row seats to sailboats gliding in and out of the harbor while the sun sets over Biscayne Bay. The food is solid, the cocktails are cold, and the salty air and golden hour light make it one of the most beautiful places in the Grove to spend an afternoon that turns into an evening. Old-school Miami in the best possible sense.

Miami’s waterfront dining scene covers more ground than any single list can fully capture, from the refined Riviera-style terraces of Edgewater to the river restaurants where the catch comes in through the back door. The restaurants above represent the best version of each format the city offers. The common thread is that at every one of them, the water is worth showing up for — and so is the food.