Miami Lakes Restaurants

Greater Miami and Miami Beach is an international dining destination, and Miami Lakes has plenty of must-try restaurants to add to your list. Between business complexes and beautiful residential neighborhoods, the town is packed with tasty, decades-old mainstays perched next to stylish new restaurants with a more trendy, downtown feel. Whether you’re in the mood for authentic, homestyle Asian cooking, a cocktail bar with a Latin American food menu, no-frills Mexican, a Cuban diner or a sophisticated steakhouse, Miami Lakes dining has it and more.

Francisca Charcoal Chicken & Meats

For the best chicken in town, snag a table at Francisca Charcoal Chicken & Meats. Their version is charcoal-grilled, slow-roasted and lauded for its tender juiciness, golden skin and smoky flavor. Founded in 2018, the restaurant is an ode to its namesake Doña Francisca, a woman who built the largest poultry farm in Venezuela and hosted large, family-style dinners for her farmers as a sign of gratitude.

Channeling that same feeling, Francisca’s now welcomes guests at 6 locations in Florida, plus 2 food trucks in Miami and 2 new brick-and-mortar locations coming soon. The menu mixes Venezuelan and Colombian cuisine, but the star of the show is still the chicken.

La Diosa Taqueria

Take your palate on a culinary journey to Mexico when you dine at La Diosa Taqueria, the go-to spot for exceptional tacos, traditional Mexican cuisine and one of the best “Taco Tuesday” deals in Miami Lakes. Go any Tuesday and, for just $5, get 2 of its famous birria tacos with chili-marinated braised beef, white onion, cilantro and a flavorful broth for dipping. Wash it all down with a house margarita or, if you feel like splurging, the Margarita Billonaria – it’s made with Clase Azul or Don Julio 1942 and runs at $60 a pop.

Amazonia Nikkei

Plan your next date at Amazonia Nikkei, where emerald crushed velvet chairs, gold accents, softly-lit lanterns and dark wood tables set the mood for a romantic night out. As its name implies, Nikkei, a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese cuisine, is what’s on the menu.

Start with a cocktail, like the restaurant’s Peruvian twist on a Mai Tai – it has aged rum, pisco, tequila, Cointreau, orgeat and yuzu. Then let the flavors of Japan and Peru melt in your mouth in dishes like lomo saltado gyozas with huancaina sauce, Wagyu Volcano sushi rolls with shrimp or Amazonia’s twist on Peking duck, which is plated with orange honey, Japanese sweet potato purée and grated Brazil nuts.

ML Steaks and Sports

ML Steaks and Sports, located in the Miami Lakes Hotel on Main, is a relaxed restaurant with a large menu and 50 TVs where diehard fans can watch any major sporting event. Start with loaded mojo pork nachos, Tex-Mex egg rolls or chicken wings, and if you’re still hungry, choose from a tasty menu of salads, sandwiches, juicy burgers, mahi-mahi, fajitas, BBQ ribs, steaks and more.

Some menu items are a throwback to Shula’s Steak House (ML Steaks and Sports replaced the steakhouse chain’s original Miami Lakes location), including the flash-fried, lightly breaded calamari fries you can dip into marinara and a house-made mustard aioli. Expect food and fun for the whole family, including a daily happy hour, weekend brunch and discounted wine and martini nights, plus no charge for kids on Tuesdays. 

Korner67

Korner67 joined the Main Street Miami Lakes dining scene in 2021. The brainchild of husband-and-wife duo Cesar Olivo and Adriana Perez Benatar (with Adriana’s brother, Samuel Perez Benatar), Korner67 is a modern and upscale-casual, tapas-style restaurant.

Try as many of the over 50 savory and sweet sharing plates on the menu, including standouts such as truffle hamachi tiradito, pear fiocchi in brown butter and sage sauce, pan-seared Verlasso salmon with a fire corn sauce and a filet mignon stroganoff. Don’t leave without trying at least one of its globally-inspired cocktails, like the White Truffle Old Fashioned made with 1792 Small Batch Bourbon, white truffle honey and chocolate bitters.

Cancun Grill

After more than 30 years in Miami Lakes, Cancun Grill is a neighborhood icon. Go here for dinner and you’ll see multiple families celebrating birthdays with house-made soft pork carnitas tacos and restaurant staff singing its signature bilingual rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

Look over the extensive, mouthwatering menu and try Cancun Grill’s deliciously unique twist on Mexican classics. Get the guacamole with crispy ribeye or the Cuban burrito with pork, sweet plantains, refried black beans and a tomatillo sauce, and you’ll see what we mean.

Casavana

When you want classic, mom-and-pop-style Cuban food, go to Casavana. Like any great Cuban restaurant, the plates are affordable, piled high and practically designed to send you into an immediate food coma.

Open from early morning to late night, you can start your day with Cuban toast and a cafecito, come back for an afternoon croqueta and round out your day with vaca frita, churrasco, Cuban Scampi or ropa vieja. Pro tip: Locals will tell you that Casavana has arguably the best steak vaca frita and rice and beans in town. Who are we to disagree?

Chela’s Miami

What started as a pop-up cocktail bar has become a local go-to. Chela’s fuses Latin-inspired flavors and a vibrant tropical setting with the casual, trendy vibes of Wynwood or Downtown Miami. There are outdoor picnic tables with life-sized Jenga and a weekly calendar of karaoke and salsa nights, Sunday brunch, Taco Tuesday and even $1 Taco Mondays. 

The cocktail menu is agave-forward (we’re partial to the margarita with Jose Cuervo Tequila Plata, agave nectar and lime juice), but there’s also beer, wine and a full bar if that’s not your thing. While we call it a cocktail bar, it’s not just about the drinks at Chela's – the food is delicious, too. Order the short rib empanadas and thank us later.

107 Taste

When Chef Yu Bi and Dr. Lei fell in love, got married and co-founded 107 Taste, they had no idea they were building a mini empire of Asian cuisine in Miami. Now with 5 locations, including 107 Taste in Miami Lakes, their homestyle Asian cooking is giving diners across the destination a true taste of Asian culture. 

Chef Yu Bi grew up in China watching her grandmother, an esteemed chef there in the 1960s, in the kitchen and falling in love with her recipes. Inspired by that childhood, she has created a menu of plates locals keep coming back for, from noodle, rice and ramen dishes, pad Thai and spicy peanut wontons to Nutella crepe cake, Thai donuts and matcha green tea ice cream.