‘The toughest summer we’ve seen’: How will Miami restaurants survive a brutal season?

With the blistering heat, the daily threat of late afternoon thunderstorms and a distinct lack of tourists, summer in Miami has long been the nemesis of the restaurant industry.

But according to many local chefs and restaurateurs, the summer of 2025 is shaping up to be the worst.

Reservations are down, and foot traffic is non existent. Closing announcements pop up with alarming regularity. Getting a table is a breeze almost everywhere, and you can find street parking in the most unlikely spots (like the South of Fifth neighborhood on Miami Beach, where street parking is largely a myth). 

“This is the toughest summer we’ve seen,” said Kevin Rusk, who has owned and operated Titanic Brewery & Restaurant for 28 years in Coral Gables. “We are really feeling it.”

“You go out in Wynwood and it’s empty,” said Janice Buraschi, who with her husband Juan Manuel Umbert owns and operates Pasta in Wynwood. “No one’s walking in the streets.”

Even restaurants far from the tourist neighborhoods like South Beach and Wynwood are feeling the heat.

“We’re in west Kendall, in a pretty residential place, and we don’t usually get affected by the seasons,” said Eileen Andrade, chef and owner of Finka Table & Tap. “But we see a dip this year. I’d say we were down 20 to 25 percent this summer over last summer.”

Miami’s feeding frenzy slows down

In addition to many economic factors — the rising cost of food, insurance and rent and unexpected tariffs among them — the restaurant market of 2025 looks a lot different than it did in the wake of the 2020 pandemic. After years of out-of-town restaurateurs flooding Miami, a move that only intensified after the arrival of the Michelin Guide in 2022, the Miami market now feels perilously close to oversaturation.

“We had one beautiful summer, and that was 2021,” remembered restaurateur Alvaro Perez, who owns and operates the Japanese restaurants Hiyakawa and Midorie as well as the Michelin-starred omakase spot Ogawa. “2021 was the best year. Restaurants were packed all summer.”

Now, that heyday is just a memory, at a time in which economic uncertainty weighs more heavily on diners, who have an overwhelming number of choices and yet seem to be cutting back on expenses. And unless your restaurant is one of the chosen few— like the runaway national hit Sunny’s Steakhouse in Little River, where you can only find reservations very early or very late — you are counting the days until fall.

Felix Bendersky, founder of F&B Hospitality Leasing, also blames city officials and developers for luring out of towners with outlooks that are far too rosy for the current moment.

“People think it’s easy to come to Miami and open a restaurant and be Sunny’s, but it’s not,” he said. “Restaurant owners are getting painted a picture that Miami is a 12-month-a-year city. Much as we all want it to be, it’s not. We get operators from all over the country. If they don’t know how to navigate the seasons in Miami, they won’t make it.”

With so many restaurant openings over the past few years, closings are inevitable. Even so, the recent string of shutdowns is disturbing.

The Chinese icon RedFarm from New York closed in Coconut Grove after a year, as did the Michelin-recommended Portuguese spot Sereia. Sardinia Italian restaurant in Miami Beach closed after almost 20 years, while Tablé by Bachour in the Design District quietly vanished. National chains aren’t immune: Velvet Taco in Wynwood is shuttered less than a year after it opened.

Not even award recognition can save a restaurant. Peruvian restaurant Maty’s from James Beard Award winning Chef Val Chang closed in the Design District. Michelin-starred EntreNos closed in Miami Shores, though it was because their lease was up. Some restaurants say their closures are temporary, like Massimo Bottura’s Torno Subito, which claims it will return in the fall, as does the New York import Ensenada, located at the Vagabond Hotel. 

Those reopenings remain to be seen. And another grim fact is that Miami’s off season is getting longer, with business falling off long before June and the season starting later than ever.

“The season is getting further and further away,” Bendersky said. “The season used to restart in September. Now it does not come back until after Thanksgiving.”

Using the off season to revamp

So what are restaurants doing to stick out the next few months? For some, the answer is making changes.

Jorgie Ramos, owner of Cebada Rooftop, has lured a slew of customers by converting his South Miami spot Bar Bella into a pop-up of his popular west Kendall pizza place Vice City for the summer. The move has been so successful that Ramos is launching weekend lunch service and considering making the change permanent.

“We wanted to bring energy back to the restaurant during the slow season,” said Ramos, who added that he had been weighing opening a Vice City location in South Miami anyway. “It was a risk we took that paid off. We’re doing very well. Vice City is a simpler concept to operate. We know it’s very approachable and price points are better for families. And if it’s doing this well during the summer, how well will it do during the season?”

Alvaro Perez is also making a change for the summer. He’s turning the upscale Hiyakawa, which serves contemporary Japanese cuisine, into a Tokyo-style izakaya, creating a pub-like space with lower lights, louder music, a more casual vibe — and a less expensive menu.

Slashing prices on a restaurant like Ogawa, which flies in fish fresh from Japan almost daily, would be impossible, Perez explains. But offering a different, more casual menu for a month can introduce new customers to the brand as well as test the market for the future.

“We wanted to make it more accessible, and this is the time to do it,” Perez said. “You have more time in the summer to research. In Miami, once November hits, it’s a totally different beast. Summer is about minimizing the losses and trying to make it fun and having the chance to experiment.”

Chef Niven Patel and business partner Mohammed Alkassar, who own and operate Ghee Indian Kitchen in Dadeland and Wynwood; the Italian restaurant Erba in Coral Gables and Paya in Miami Beach, are making changes, too. They’re altering the menu at Paya and have completely revamped their Tequesta restaurant NiMo, changing it from a Mediterranean format to a more casual pizza spot with games like darts and shuffleboard to create a friendly community gathering space.

“It’s no secret that this is the slowest summer I’ve ever experienced in Miami,” Alkassar said. “But instead of trying to survive and get through it, we’re trying to invest and level up. We’re trying to be the best version of ourselves instead of just getting by.”

Andrade of Finka Table & Tap, which just celebrated its 11th anniversary, said she and her team aren’t making big changes but instead focusing on what they can control. With fewer guests, there’s time to perfect service and accomplish tasks around the restaurant.

“We’re using the time to fix up the restaurant,” she said. “We’re reinvesting into the business and trying not to be negative. People are scared to spend their hard-earned money, so we have to make sure it’s worth their while when they do.”

Bringing locals in with dining deals

All of Patel and Alkassar’s restaurants will be part of Miami Spice, the annual promotion that offers fixed-price menus throughout August and September. Erba, their Gables restaurant, is currently part of July’s Taste the Gables promotion. Those promotions cater to locals who may not regularly dine in upscale restaurants by offering them a discount on three-course meals. 

The promotions definitely bring needed business, Patel said.

“It brings more diners into our dining room, which is great,” he said. “We always try to focus on creating a great experience, not a cheap experience. It helps get new customers into our door. It brings a wider audience for sure, and we hope they fall in love with us.”

Chef Jeremy Ford of the Michelin-starred Stubborn Seed is also participating in Miami Spice again this year, but the restaurant is already offering a $99 six-course tasting menu that has proved successful. It will run through July, disappear during Spice but possibly return for October before the season gets underway.

“We started about a month ago, and we’ve seen a great response,” Ford said. “Our sales increase when we take proactive measures. Last summer one of our best months was during Miami Spice.”

Over at the Titanic Brewery, a casual spot next to the University of Miami campus, Rusk has started a summer promotion he first tried in 1997: International Salmon Fridays, with six unique $20 salmon recipes.

“We’re trying everything to get more people through the door,” he said.

This story was originally published July 16, 2025 at 4:30 AM.