Looking for the best breakfast in Miami?
Miami, Florida is wildly popular, famous for gorgeous beaches, intoxicating nightlife, and beautiful people. Miami on the mainland is the city that anchors the area, though it is Miami Beach, a distinct city to the east on the barrier island, that gives Miami world-wide fame.
South Beach is what makes Miami ultra-famous. SoBe to the locals, this is part of the island south of Dade Boulevard on Miami Beach. Go to Miami to see and be seen, but seriously go to all of Miami for the food! So many great options exist at Miami restaurants with original, creative takes on Latin, Cuban, Italian, French, American, and Southern fare, it is a simple fact that this region is big on flavor, as well as big on fun. Here are 19 great places to start your day with breakfast or brunch in Miami.
19 Best Breakfasts in Miami FL You Must Try
South Beach, Beachviews
1. Yardbird
Run chicken run! This southern food restaurant is a small chain found in 6 cities in the U.S. and Singapore, but this location is the only Yardbird in all the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Yardbird boasts James Beard and Bon Appetit accolades, so if you are in the area looking for an award worthy brunch, you must try it out! Yardbird claims an unapologetically indulgent culinary journey through the menu. For brunch you will find hand pressed juices, “cracked and scrambled” egg options, “odds and ends” of southern staples like grits and fried greed tomatoes, and entrees of “Yardbird Classics”.
Chicken and waffles top this list – a Vermont sharp cheddar cheese waffle topped with chicken and hot honey sauce, chilled, spiced watermelon and bourbon maple syrup. It’s possibly the most expensive chicken and waffles breakfast you’ll ever order, but you’ll die and go to heaven after. Don’t die, though, there are too many greats on this menu.
Maple bacon donuts, smoked brisket biscuits, or salted caramel waffles with bruleed bananas are showstoppers. One of the best breakfast places in Miami for sure.
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2. Icebox Cafe
Palmy, cozy, some might claim a bit shabby chic, this restaurant has been a Miami Beach staple for more than 20 years. It will serve up plenty of surprises, especially if you like cake – Icebox features award winning desserts!
We are breakfast, not here for the desserts (unless you like cake for breakfast, which we do!). Depending on the day of the week, you’ll find two menus. Icebox serves breakfast from 9am to 11am Monday through Friday, and brunch on weekends. Give both a try, the menus are different. For breakfast on weekdays the kitchen creates plates like guava filled French toast on brioche, or lemon ricotta pancakes.
Brunch on weekends ups the game a little, with tuna tartare, latke and egg, or the Icebox Café Eggs Benedict, to which you may add smoked salmon. Icebox Café says it offers a modern American menu with global inspiration, driven by the owner’s desire to “bring diners closer to the fabric of Miami.” Breakfast or Brunch at Icebox is a delicious place to start.
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3. Planta
Planta celebrates the power of plants and states it celebrates plant-based living as a way to better our health, our communities and our planet. You will find this devotion in its dishes, and in the mouth-watering options available at brunch.
The cinnamon bun jumps off this menu, warm and gooey, thick with maple syrup. Falafel tacos are filled with lettuce, tahini, sumac and pico de gallo.
The Planta French toast is loaded with two types of berries, raspberries and strawberries, and filled with coconut cream. Banana waffles are taken up a notch with roasted pecans and chocolate sauce. Don’t miss the truffled scramble, a luxuriant take on avocado toast with truffles.
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4. Orange Blossom
Orange Blossom is unlike any other restaurant in town. The menu is pleasurably eclectic, with fresh, organic ingredients and a clear focus on healthy eating. Ambiance is a huge part of this dining experience. Outdoor seating in the jungle-inspired garden, is unforgettable.
Whether fountainside, or in the charm of the 1950’s inspired dining room, it’s not just the vibe that you will rave over. Weekday breakfast or weekend brunch have two different menus. Weekdays, try various avocado toasts, sweets, fruits, or pastries for breakfast.
Nutella French Toast is always a favorite, with assorted berries, Nutella and chocolate drizzle. For brunch, do not skip the appetizers. Yellow tail ceviche tacos are amazing here or try the tuna tartare punched up with sweet chili sesame oil. Order up eggs, Orange Blossom style, with Orange Blossom Quinoa Sunny Side Fried Eggs, and you will find yourself before a dish of sauteed quinoa, kale and bacon with two runny egg yolks. It is always packed for brunch. Consider making a reservation.
5. Havana 1957
Traditional Cuban flavor with the “enchantment and sophistication” of Cuba in the ‘50’s is how Havana 1957 describes itself. Excellent is how people describe it. This family friendly restaurant on Ocean Drive is not just for tourists.
Locals love it! Havana 1957 offers authentic, true to origin Cuban food, no spin here. Tradicional breakfast is three eggs any style with ham or bacon, with Cuban toast. Bistec con huevos is classic steak and eggs, with Cuban steak.
Breakfast sandwiches are big part of this breakfast menu. You will want to try the pan con tortilla, a Cuban bread with 4 egg omelette and potato sticks, made to order with ham, cheese, or sausage. The Havana 1957 sandwich is a staple here, the most old fashioned sandwich. This is a traditional roasted chicken in delicious Cuban gravy, Cuban bread and lettuce and tomato. Trust us and order the bloody mary.
One of the best cuban breakfast spots in Miami beach.
6. The Social Club
For inspired brunch by Executive Chef Javier Carballo, try The Social Club, in the heart of South Beach. Brunch at the Social Club is famous. Nothing is plain or ho hum at the Social Club. Eggs Benedict, for example, is prosciutto, with roma tomato, fried capers, lake meadow eggs, English muffin and housemade bearnaise.
This may be topped with short ribs, or smoked salmon. If not eggs, sweets might be more enticing. Try donuts for three flavors to savor – ricotta, espresso-hazelnut or dulce de leche. Havana cakes are three white chocolate pancakes, with macadamia nuts and mango coulis.
For Club favorites, check out the surfburger, with heirloom tomato, hydroponic boston lettuce, white onion, cheese, chimichurri aioli and your choice to add egg and bacon. The specialty brunch cocktail list is long, and they are so fun you may want to order one based on the name, like Down the Rabbit Hole, Cool as a Cuke, or the Kickstart.
Definitely up there for great breakfast places in South Beach!
7. Rosetta Italian Bakery
Rosetta, as the story goes, was the oldest sister of 5 younger brothers, who used to give them bread to be divided equally, teaching them values prized by the family.
The Rosetta is also a type of bread with a very recognizable shape, almost a pentagon of mounds of beautiful bread dough that bake into a form like a flower. At the Rosetta Bakery, South Beach, you will find happy employees serving delicious rosetta along with many other freshly baked treats. They still prize the values – sharing and helping others – and do this from community tables, and their production kitchen.
The focaccia at the Rosetta Bakery is a winner, any type you choose. They offer original, a famous focaccia recco made with fresh crescenza, topped, or filled with all kinds of toppings or fillings. Coffee here is taken very seriously, which goes great with Rosetta sweets such as croissants served plain, or apricot, raspberry, cream and Nutella. The sweets and cake menus are worth the visit!
South Beach, West of Ocean Drive
8. Sunny Side Cafe
They call it glory on a plate. Sunny Side Cafe earns its tag line, too, with artful, delightful designs in food presentation. There are so many options for breakfast here, they are practically breakfast specialists. From omelettes and benedicts, pancakes, and French toast, waffles, specials, pastries and sides, each and every breakfast category is its own curated collection of winners.
Eggs Benedict options include prosciutto crudo, crab cake, crispy quinoa or smoked salmon along with a traditional ham. Try the dolce de leche French toast, with coconut flakes and nuts. Nutella pancakes are a favorite here, so too are the house specials, like tequila tiradito shrimp tacos.
Tastes and flavor combinations are what keep people coming back, but you eat with your eyes as much as with your mouth. Plating will leave you speechless.
9. A La Folie Cafe
Crepes. A La Folie is a French breakfast place alluring with one word…Crepes! They have more than crepes, of course, but this is where we will start. They are famous for their crepes, and offer two types, salty or sweet. Salty crepes include those such as Galette with butter (and course salt from Brittany), or Forestiere, made with three sauteed mushrooms in garlic, parsley and butter.
The Italienne pulls together sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella and prosciutto. Try the Charlemage, with spinach, and Roquefort cheese. On the sweet side, from the humble to the grand, there are eighteen ways to please your palette, with plain butter and sugar crepes (called the Beurre-Sucre) to fancier options like Bourdaloue, made with caramelized pears, or the Suzette, with a butter orange lemon bath and Grand-Marnier-Cognac flambee.
Classically French gourmet breakfast choices fill out the rest of the menu, like tartare de boeuf with quail egg, or quiche Lorraine. Don’t wait, just go.
10. 11th Street Diner
This art deco classic dining car was originally built in 1948 in New Jersey for a restaurant in Pennsylvania. It was relocated to Miami Beach in 1992, where it has been a great local place to go for “straightforward” American favorites ever since.
This is typical diner food, like burgers, sandwiches and shakes. It serves breakfast daily, and brunch on weekends, Friday through Sunday. These menus are not as plain as an old school diner might suggest. Island Benedict makes the menu, with conch fritters and hollandaise, or pork belly benedict, a favorite.
Try the body builder, 6 egg whites with a choice of three fillings from a list of options like tomato, mushroom, olives or jalapeno bacon. Beyond griddle items like pancakes and French toast, you’ll find the waffle bar, with Mother Waffle, made of malted waffle, with a 6oz NY strip steak. You will not leave the 11th Street Diner still hungry.
Downtown, Coconut Grove and South Miami, FL Restaurants for Breakfast and Brunch
11. Amara
For weekend brunch only, Amara is called the “quintessential Miami Waterfront restaurant” from James Beard award winning Chef and restauranteur, Michael Schwartz. James Beard, y’all. Right on the bay, get a reservation and enjoy what awaits.
The menu is pleasantly all over the map. It leads with sweet corn cachapa (oaxacan and chihuahua cheese with bacon, crema and avocado) into pork belly tacos, brioche French toast and a wagyu cheeseburger. There is a raw bar, and small plates with options like foie gras torchon or tinned sardines. Mains are on the heavier side. Grilled dayboat swordfish, or steak fajitas, or shareable plates, like whole yellowtail snapper with fresh herbs and grilled citrus.
A side worthy of mentioning all on its own? Jerk-spiced mushrooms with parmesan and cilantro. You’ll thank us.
12. Café Bastille
All day French food in downtown Miami means one place – Café Bastille. A super cute French place by a super cute French couple, Café Bastille takes all the inspiration from France. Try one of their frenchtastic benedicts, like smoked salmon and avocado.
Or a hazelnut cruffin. French shakshuka makes the list, a ratatouille, egg, tomato and toasted multigrain with paprika and cilantro. There’s classic croque monsieur, as well. There are pancakes, French toasts, omelets, and crepes here too, of course, but nothing at this establishment can be called stuffy, not with Bae’s XL Toast on the menu.
For more humor and great refreshment, pay close attention to the brunch safety kit, the list of bottomless brunch drinks like the always present mimosa, sangria, or favorite, Bellini, in peach, strawberry or lychee.
13. GreenStreet Cafe
GreenStreet is a true favorite for locals. Most people prefer the sidewalk outdoor seating, like a plush couch along Main Highway, to watch people coming and going. The café highlights that it is a favorite place for athletes, celebrities, and politicians with tourists “in equal measure”.
The Miami New Times calls it the Best Sunday Brunch. Is the hype worth all the fuss? We’ll let you decide, while we focus on the food. There are all the traditional American options: pancakes, omelettes, eggs with potatoes and toast, French toast or a myriad of continental breakfast choices, like homemade granola, bagel and cream cheese or grilled cinnamon buns.
Try the caramelized banana pancakes, or the goat cheese and tomato omelette. Do not forget the drinks. The GreenStreet CBD bloody mary might catch your eye as well as your tastebuds. The Manmosa beer at breakfast also has a chilled appeal, with blue moon, grey goose, l’orange, OJ and giulia. But back to the food, Then, as GreenStreet says, chill, unwind, people watch and comfort your palate.
14. Versaille Bakery
This is Miami’s most famous Cuban restaurant, they claim, or possibly the “world’s most famous Cuban bakery”. What is now part restaurant, and part bakery, started out as a restaurant only hub for Cuban customers in diversifying Miami of the 1970’s.
It then expanded to include its popular bakery. From sweet and decadent desserts, it now also offers a “typical casual Cuban breakfast”. Breakfast items such as croquetas, empanadas, pastelitos y cafes, there are also sandwiches, pastelones and tortillas.
Expect to find the menu in Spanish, and do not stop just at ordering any of the tempting items on the breakfast menu. Desserts include cupcakes (guava is a flavor!) flans, and magdalenas. Expect the menus to be in Spanish!
15. Francisca Charcoal Kitchen & Meats
Almost everything on this menu has a backstory. Don’t we all? Francisca’s inspires sharing some love for Latin America, the headline on their menu.
While the items each are in Spanish, the descriptions will help you understand the dishes, and the love of charcoal chicken and meats.
Try the Francisca sampler, which comes with ½ serving of pork cracklings. The stews are hearty, as a charcoal cooked chicken would suggest, but it’s the main dishes that steal the show. These are multicultural entrees, each from different parts of Latin America. Try Pabellon from Venezuela, or a Bandeja Paisa from Colombia.
16. B Bistro + Bakery
B Bistro + Bakery is a delicious platform for amazing delights from star Miami chef Henry Hane. This “urban oasis” features a rotating menu of breakfast dishes, and freshly made bakery items like Danish, brioche, croissants and excellent desserts such as macaroons, small cakes and tarts.
You may expect your order to be as visually appealing as it is tasteful (notice the edible flowers in your salad!), and the restaurant itself is beautiful, too. Attention has been paid to every detail, from flavor combinations to sights and aromas to the table and your fork.
B Bistro wants you to enjoy your food with as much passion as the chef creates it. Try steak and eggs, with braised shortrib, charred scallions and basil mashed potatoes, or truffle bun, which are scrambled eggs, chedder, truffle aioli, watercress and bacon jam.
17. Berries in the Grove
Don’t miss Berries in the Grove. This great local establishment started simply as a juice and smoothie bar in an old house. It has grown to be a favorite restaurant and bar in Coconut Grove, in Miami. There are two floors of seating and televisions for watching games.
This is a casual, fun brunch restaurant choice. Go with the French toast, eggs and chicken apple sausage. The French platter is full of brioche French toast, two eggs, choice of bacon, and side of syrup.
The Belgian platter is just as delicious, with a crispy Belgian waffle, two eggs, choice of bacon and side of syrup. The eggs benedict comes with a toasted English muffin, with Canadian bacon, two eggs and hollandaise sauce, but can be subbed with spinach, crab cakes, or smoked salmon. Omelets include Mexican, mushrooms and spinach or build your own. So many options await you here!
18. Little Hen
Check out what’s called the “best breakfast in the design district” at Little Hen in Miami. This brunch and breakfast location is a perfect spot for enjoying beautiful décor, and delicious dishes for breakfast, brunch and afternoon tea.
The breakfast and brunch menus include healthy eating options, omelets, pastry, egg benedicts, and traditional pancakes, French toasts and waffles.
Little Hen favorites include chicken and waffle, churrasco divorced eggs, and truffled heuvos rotos, with two fried eggs, truffled French fries and cured ham. Sammies and burgers make this menu too, served with fries. Go for the Bourbon Batter French toast, with bacon strips, caramelized pear and vanilla sauce. And then return for afternoon tea.
19. Honey Uninhibited
Try Honey Uninhibited for “true southern staples in the melting pot of Miami”. Eggs benedicts are called “Bennies” here, and there are so many great options, from the sweet chick bennie, to the avocado bennie, to the lobster benny, a favorite, with English muffin, arugula, marinated tomatoes, spicy tomato sauce and asparagus.
For the sweet tooth, challah bread French toast with vanilla bean custard tops the French toast menu, or try the visually stunning red velvet pancakes, with chocolate chips, cream cheese frosting and strawberry glaze topped with mint.
Order sandwiches here too, only three, but they’re all you will want. There is a southern fried chicken sandwich, a housemade cheese burger with bacon and dill pickle, or the vegan burger. Add a side of jalapeno honey cornbread. Whatever you order, do not be surprised to hear the waitstaff call guests, “honey”!
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