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Miami Bars 101: a visitor's guide to the local favorites in Coconut Grove
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Cabana One Rooftop Pool Club and Lounge (courtesy, Mayfair Hotel & Spa)
Coconut Grove is a popular neighborhood within the City of Miami. It is also one South Florida's top tourst destinations. "The Grove" as the locals call it, is located directly on Biscayne Bay, and is an avid boating community, especially among sailing aficionados during regatta season (October through May). Because of the great weather enjoyed in South Florida, and because the village center is so "walkable," there are many outdoor cafes that morph into a "bar scene" as day progresses into evening for happy hour, then into late night.
There are nine hotels in Coconut Grove, and over 50 restaurants and bars, all within relative walking distance of each other. In fact, Coconut Grove is a particular favorite for charity and fundraising events known as "pub crawls."
Grove Bars 101: "Crawling" from North to South, here's a look at 33 in zip code 33133
On South Bayshore Drive, right on the water, you will find:
1. Monty's - a favorite with tourists and local office crowd alike, it is among the Grove's most durable bars settings.
2. Chart House restaurant - has a nice bar mostly used by people also having dinner there. It is a great romantic "date setting," but you could also bring your parents there for "early dinner." The lighting is low enough to accommodate both dates and "parentals." In cooler months the outdoor terrace is a great place for a pre-dinner drink.
3. Scotty's Landing - It is next to City Hall, but literally you have to walk through a boat yard to get to there-- it relaxed, great place for pitchers of beer, outdoor tented pavilion that goes by "candlelight only" at night.
4. Ritz Carlton (27th Ave) - for laid-back elegance, the Lobby Bar features Bellini Fridays.
Walking from Scotty's across the City Hall parking lot, check out the back side of the Expo Center on Dinner Key marina. You may see a little hidden cafe bar there. Alas, you can't have a drink there. It is the set of Burn Notice, and during filming season (spring to summer) it is one of Michael Western's regular hangouts.
5. Sailing Club - membership only, but filled with friendly regular members, so you can probably make friends and get soemone to put your drink on their tab. The verandah is great for its beautiful vantage point of Sailboat Bay, and watching the moon rise over Miami.
6. Atchana's at the Mutiny (on S. Bayshore Drive) - Thai restaurant inside the Mutiny Hotel- this is also great place to relax poolside with a glass of wine or an ice cold Thai beer.
7. Panorama at the Sonesta on McFarlane- on the 8th floor, has another fantastic vantage point for watching the moonrise.
8. Temple - honest to goodness nightclub inside a former temple, it keeps going way late into the wee hors.
9. Cabana One at Mayfair Hotel and Spa (Florida Ave) - Rooftop Pool Club and Lounge - another happening place to enjoy the outdoors and the view, especially great sunsets and happening crowd.
10. Angelo & Maxies, also at Mayfair Hotel & Spa - the famed NYC steakhouse also has a bar that features Friday night wine tastings, and Thursday beer tastings. Heads up to single women: Thursday Beer tastings are a guy magnet.
11. The Improv at Mayfair Promenade - Comedy cabaret and drinks -- a favorite combination and a favorite destination for 2 decades
12. The Bookstore in the Grove - Independent bookstore and local hangout has a coffee bar, which, as the evening progresses it becomes a great place to enjoy a beer or wine by the glass, especially on Poetry Night.
At CocoWalk:
13. Crazy Pianos - first US version of the famed Amsterdam sing-along cabaret features dueling pianos. after a drink or two, you will find yourself singing "...drove my Chevy to the levi...". Even if you don't want to sing along, the acoustics are pretty great so you can still have a conversation.
14. Hooters - right above Crazy Pianos. Wings and other delights, always a favorite with the guys.
15. Fat Tuesdays - known for their assortment of flavored drinks, right next to Crazy Pianos, it offers a great vantage point where Grand Main and McFarlane meet.
16. Chili's has a comfy outdoor terrace bar, and features a specialty recipe margaritas
17. Bice Bistro - ground floor, bar on the courtyard, is a favorite happy hour spot to see and be seen.
18. Panne et Pomme - known to the locals as Olav's - the little hole in the wall on Florida Ave., behind CocoWalk and across from Mayfair Hotel where you can get a beer, hang out on one of the 3 sidewalk tables, listen to live music, and shmooze with Olav and other regulars. The food is pretty good, too.
19. Jaguar Ceviche Spoon Bar and LatAm Grill (Grand Ave next to Cocowalk)- is known for their Thursday Recession Decompression.
20. The Sandbar - (Grand bet Fuller & Commodore) favorite with the UM set, also a great place to catch Hurricanes game. Great fish Tacos!
2i. Tavern (Main, bet McFarlane & Fuller)- durable, no-nonsense tavern on the Grove's tiniest street, that is so small if you look the other way you might miss it.
20. Barracuda Bar (Fuller bet Main & Grand)-neighborhood style tavern. 'Cuda is a great place to relax after work and shoot a game of pool.
22. Cherry on Top (Main Highway). Cheeses and other gourmet delights downstairs, but the title refers to the wine bar upstairs.
23. Aladdin's Middle Eastern sidewalk cafe where you can enjoy a "Hookah." On weekends the belly dancer is known to occasionally stop traffic.
24. Bertoni's (Main Hwy bet Fuller & Commodore) - another little hidden gem-- you have to go down a little alleyway with light imbedded on tthe walkway, alongside the Gelatto store to access this pizza lounge directly behind it. It is strictly outdoor and has a great laissez faire feel in the little courtyard lounge setting with low lighting hanging from the huge tree in the corner.
Commodore Plaza - the jackpot of outdoor restaurants and bars, is now closed to car traffic on Saturday nights this summer, until 4 am. On it, you can find:
25. Le Petit Paris - sidewalk cafe and bar - great vantage point from comfy outdoor seating on the corner of Commodore and Main.
26. GreenStreet- across the street, on the other corner; probably the Grove's most recognized outdoor cafe, its Victorian-style couches make it easy to slip from Happy Hour to into theearly hours.
27. Mr. Moe's - Lodge style bar and grill - open until 4 am - another favorite place to catch UM Hurricane games. sidewalk area features unique glider banquets.
Georges - this is a popular dining bistro, but owner Georges Farge has installed a 'living room" on the sidewalk where guests await a table while enjoying a (usually complimentary) glass of nearly-red bubbly.
28. Al Fresco - across from Georges' on a piazza that is actually the urban setting of a charter high school of the arts, it serves as the school's "cafeteria" during the day and a restaurant and lounge at night. It is also a favorite place for outdoor movies in the cooler months. Great brick-oven gourmet pizza.
29. Chicago's Steakhouse - Large and roomy, the bar is filled with Chicago murals and features a piano, on which one can find Mel Dancy, crooning and tinkling jazz standards. It's a great place to get away from the hot outdoors -- or embrace it, on one of the "campaign tent" style outdoor banquettes.
Steven Anton Rehage is actually not a bar, but an eponymous designer jewelry boutique on Commodore, however, since designer "Rage," serves wine and champagne so often, you may as well go in, enjoy a glass or 2 (or 3), and buy a beautiful pair of earrings or other adornment for about the same price you would spend on 3 glasses of bubbly or martinis in another part of town.
Cita's Italian Chophouse - has a great little courtyard out back to get away from it all and enjoy a glass of wine or 2.
Havana Grove - at the end a the block, is the perfect place to switch from alcohol to espresso.
31. Taurus...another round. (Main Highway), just past the Playhouse, is the oldest bar in the Grove, fittingly, in one of the oldest buildings in South Florida, a cottage that once served as a tea house for the offspring of "pioneer" Commodore (hence the street nearby) Munroe, whose wonderful waterfront estate (also across the street about a block north) is now a State Park. Taurus has recently been restored and brought back after 7 years. This is another local "Grovite" favorite, including the ring tos pass time(ring on a string in the tree out front must be hooked on to large nail on the eave of the cottage).
32. Calamari - Across the courtyard from Taurus - a spacious bar where you can catch a game or the news and stay for Italian seafood dinner.
Coming soon:
33. La Bottega - opening in the summer- a wine/gourmet "enoteca sociale" where tasting and sampling is part of the experience. It also shares the courtyard with Calamari and Taurus.
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