Where Palm Beach Is Actually Eating in 2026 — From Worth Avenue to a Michelin-Starred Cuban Counter

The culinary landscape in Palm Beach (like Miami) is evolving like never before. In fact, the most talked-about new restaurant in Palm Beach County isn’t technically in Palm Beach — it’s a 16-seat tasting counter in West Palm Beach that just became the first Cuban restaurant in the world to earn a Michelin Star. That alone would make 2026 a landmark year for dining in Palm Beach. But Palm Beach itself has been moving too, adding new openings and deepening the institutions that have defined it for decades. From Worth Avenue fixtures to grand hotel dining rooms to the Argentine-inflected newcomer that has already built a waitlist, here is where Palm Beach is actually eating right now.

The Polo Room

The Polo Room, co-owned by Argentine polo star Nacho Figueras, brought a polo-inspired concept to Sunrise Avenue in December 2025. The continental menu leans into Figueras’s own heritage: hand-cut empanadas, a raw bar, crudos, house-made pastas, and asado-style steaks and seafood grilled over an open flame, alongside signatures like lobster frites with béarnaise. Polo photography and equestrian-inspired décor set the tone, and the room has quickly earned a reputation for delivering Palm Beach polish without trying too hard.

Café Boulud

Tucked inside The Brazilian Court hotel, Café Boulud is the closest thing Palm Beach has to a sure thing. Chef Daniel Boulud’s French-American menu leans on classic bistro technique filtered through a South Florida lens, incredibly fresh local seafood, peak-season produce, and dishes that read as comforting rather than fussy despite the pedigree behind them. A curved staircase leads to a private upstairs dining room for anyone who wants the same kitchen with a little more discretion.

Sant Ambroeus

Photo Credit: Sant Ambroeus

Sant Ambroeus brought its Milanese gran caffè sensibility to the Royal Poinciana Plaza in 2016 and has held its place as an all-day favorite ever since. The pastas and veal draw the most loyalty, though the espresso bar and gelateria alone are worth the stop for anyone walking through the plaza. No visit is complete without the Principessa, the restaurant’s signature princess cake: a bright lemon sponge layered with vanilla pastry cream and whipped cream beneath a smooth pink almond marzipan shell. The recipe dates back nearly 90 years to Sant Ambroeus’ original Milan location and has developed a cult following in recent years, inspiring its own line of candles and soaps. Dine inside among mahogany and Italian stone, or take the courtyard terrace for something looser.

Renato’s

Renato’s has been a Worth Avenue fixture for decades, and its walled garden courtyard remains one of the most romantic settings. The Italian menu stays close to tradition, but it’s the setting, string lights, greenery, a genuine sense of privacy in the middle of the island’s busiest shopping strip, that keeps regulars coming back.

Florie’s

The first U.S. restaurant from three-Michelin-starred chef Mauro Colagreco, Florie’s brought serious culinary pedigree to the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach. Live-fire cooking from an open kitchen meets Mediterranean technique and Florida ingredients, with Colagreco’s own gardening background showing up in produce-forward dishes that lean lighter than most of the island’s dinner menus. Ocean views from the patio don’t hurt either.

Buccan

Photo Credit: Buccan

Buccan has been Palm Beach’s most reliably packed room for over a decade, and reservations are still genuinely hard to get. James Beard-nominated chef Clay Conley builds the menu around shareable, globally inspired small plates meant for mixing and lingering, not the plated formality most of the island defaults to. It’s the rare Palm Beach restaurant where locals and visitors end up at the same bar for the same reason. Around back, Conley also runs an entirely different kind of institution: the Buccan Sandwich Shop, a walk-up takeout window that’s become just as much of a local obsession as the restaurant itself. The beef carpaccio sandwich has developed a genuine following, thin-sliced tenderloin piled with arugula, Parmesan, crispy onions, and lemon vinaigrette on a house-baked baguette. The rest of the menu holds its own too: a turkey club, a corned beef Reuben, and a seasonal Maine lobster roll sourced directly from a lobsterman Conley knows personally. It’s a five-minute stop that regularly gets talked about with the same enthusiasm as the tasting menu next door, and it’s popular enough that Conley opened a second location at his West Palm Beach restaurant, Grato.

Le Bilboquet

A short walk from Worth Avenue, Le Bilboquet trades on the same chic, see-and-be-seen energy as its Manhattan original. French bistro classics, moules marinières, a well-built cocktail list, and blue velvet walls set the tone for a room built as much for people-watching as for dinner itself. Around the corner on Peruvian Avenue, Le Bilboquet Market extends the brand into an all-day gourmet café and shop, helmed by James Beard Award-winning pastry chef François Payard. Locals grab espresso and quiche there in the morning, then return in the evening for caviar, imported pastas, and a slice of the market’s own take on a Parisian pastry case.

Echo

Echo takes on the ambitious task of representing Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Korean cooking under one roof, and mostly pulls it off through a menu that rotates several times a year. The Dragonfly Lounge’s cocktail program and an outdoor garden with a fire pit make it one of the better late-night options tied to a major hotel.

HMF

Named for Henry Morrison Flagler, The Breakers’ founder, HMF is the resort’s flagship dining room, renovated by architect Adam Tihany into a space with the polish of a New York or San Francisco destination restaurant. Nearly four dozen small plates share the menu with access to roughly two-thirds of the hotel’s 2,200-bottle wine list, guided by a dedicated sommelier team.

Emelina

The story of the year in Palm Beach County dining didn’t happen on the island at all. Emelina, a 16-seat tasting counter in West Palm Beach’s Flamingo Park district, became the first Cuban restaurant in the world to earn a Michelin Star in 2026, just four months after opening. Chefs Osmel González and Camila Salazar build a tasting menu that asks what Cuban cuisine might have become without decades of political isolation, sourcing most ingredients from South Florida farms and ranches. It’s an intimate, chef’s-counter format, and reservations move fast.

Imoto

Sitting next door to Buccan and sharing ownership, Imoto offers an Asian fusion counterpoint to its sibling’s global small plates, with sushi and Japanese-inspired dishes built for the same mix-and-share dining style. It’s an easy pairing for anyone splitting a night between the two.

La Goulue

La Goulue made its name in 1980s Manhattan as a ladies-who-lunch, celebrity-watching institution. Its Palm Beach outpost carries the same classic French menu south: cheese soufflé, rack of lamb, duck confit, crêpes suzette. Go early and take the outdoor seating for the best version of the experience.

BiCE Ristorante

Holding down the west side of Worth Avenue, BiCE brings a chic, established version of Italian fine dining to the island’s main shopping strip. It’s a dependable pick for a polished Italian dinner without straying from the Worth Avenue corridor.

For more of Haute Living’s Florida dining coverage, explore the best restaurants in Miami right now and the best restaurants in Brickell.