The useful answer depends on how far you mean by near. In Coconut Grove, Los Félix and Ariete sit a short walk apart on Main Highway, while Boia De takes you north to Buena Vista and Lung Yai Thai Tapas sends you west to Calle Ocho. Start with Los Félix if the search is really about Coconut Grove: it cooks and grinds heirloom corn daily, then nixtamalizes it into masa for tortillas and other dishes. From there, this guide gives you a practical choice between Meso-American cooking, Cuban-American technique, Italian-inspired small plates and casual Thai street food, with the booking rules, prices and parking details that affect the evening.
Ask Karpo in the app about the best Coconut Grove restaurant for your dinner time, budget and preferred level of formality. You can also ask for the most sensible order between Los Félix and Ariete, or whether the trip to Lung Yai suits your plans.
Los Félix, Coconut Grove — heirloom corn made into fresh masa
Los Félix is the clearest answer if you searched for the best restaurants near me and meant Coconut Grove itself. This Michelin-starred Meso-American restaurant cooks and grinds heirloom maiz daily in an in-house molino, then nixtamalizes it into fresh masa for tortillas and other dishes. The cooking is built around heirloom corn, native ingredients, natural wine and vinyl-fuelled dining. The room is compact and indoor-outdoor, with dim lighting, wood and natural-fibre accents, an open-kitchen presence and records shaping the atmosphere. It is a place where the central ingredient is part of the method, not just a line on the menu.
Dinner runs Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday from 5:30 PM to 10 PM, with Friday and Saturday service until 11 PM. Saturday and Sunday brunch runs from 11 AM to 3 PM, and Monday is closed. Published prices include $16 al pastor tacos, $24 day's-catch crudo, $38 pork-cheek carnitas and $22 cocktails. Book with the Monday closure in mind, and do not rely on a quick phone call before service: the restaurant says hosts may be preparing or seating tables and difficult to reach. Street parking is listed, but a nearby garage or rideshare is the safer evening plan.
Ariete, Coconut Grove — Cuban-American cooking with a tasting-menu option
Ariete is Los Félix's nearby Coconut Grove counterpart, at 3540 Main Highway, where chef Michael Beltran applies French technique to Cuban-American cooking and local, seasonal ingredients. It is a Michelin-starred, intimate restaurant with wood-fired cooking, modern technique and a warm, polished indoor-outdoor setting. The bar-oriented atmosphere and tree-lined surroundings make it feel suited to a relaxed Sunday supper, even though the kitchen also offers a daily chef's tasting menu. Choose Ariete when you want Cuban-American flavours interpreted through a more formal culinary structure, or when a tasting menu is the point of the evening rather than an afterthought.
Ariete serves Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 PM to 10 PM, with last seating at 9:30 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 5:30 PM to 11 PM, with last seating at 10:30 PM. À la carte examples include $26 hamachi, $38 rabo encendido and a $44 pork chop. The Versos Sencillos tasting menu is $165 per person, plus a 20% service charge, which is published on every check. That charge matters when comparing the bill with Los Félix. Ariete and Los Félix are a short walk apart on Main Highway, but street parking is limited in this busy Coconut Grove dining zone.
Boia De, Buena Vista near Little Haiti — playful Italian-inspired food in a tiny room
Boia De gives you a destination-style alternative north of the Grove, at 5205 NE 2nd Avenue in Buena Vista near Little Haiti. The 27-seat Michelin-starred restaurant serves playful, seasonal Italian-inspired food from a supermarket plaza, in a small room that is boisterous and distinctly jewel-box-like. Outside, the entrance is marked by a neon pink exclamation point beside a laundromat. Inside, the setting is compact rather than polished in the grand-hotel sense, which is part of the appeal. Go here when you want a more involved drive for a tightly edited dinner and enjoy the oddness of finding it in a nondescript shopping setting.
Boia De is open daily from 5:30 PM to 10:30 PM. The menu lists $16 baked clams, $28 gnocchetti al carrote, $35 tagliolini nero, $45 pork collar and $16 cocktails, putting its small plates and mains in a range comparable with Los Félix. Reservations carry a practical condition: cancelling less than three hours before the booking brings a $20-per-person charge. This is not the close-to-home choice for a Coconut Grove night, so allow extra driving time from Main Highway. It suits a planned destination dinner more than a last-minute decision made after parking nearby.
Lung Yai Thai Tapas, Little Havana — walk-in Thai street food with a lower bill
Lung Yai Thai Tapas is the deliberately casual option at 1731 SW 8th Street in Little Havana. The small restaurant comes from a Bangkok-born chef and focuses on northern Thai specialities, curries, noodles and chile-forward street food. Its compact Calle Ocho room was converted from a Cuban coffee shop, with a simple modern interior, wood and corrugated-tin counter details, plus an outdoor courtyard lit by strings of bulbs. This is the choice when you want shareable food, a less formal setting and lunch service rather than the reservation-led rhythm of Los Félix or Ariete.
Lung Yai is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12 PM to 3 PM and 5 PM to 10 PM, and Sunday from 5 PM to 10 PM; Monday is closed. Prices include $8 dumplings, $18 pad thai or khao soi, $20 crab fried rice and $29 duck basil. There are no reservations: put your name down on arrival, stay present to be seated and place the entire table's order in one go. The restaurant identifies 12 PM to 3 PM and 5 PM to 7 PM as the best seating windows. From Coconut Grove, allow extra driving time and plan around the walk-in queue, not a booking.
How to choose
Choose Los Félix when the search is specifically for Coconut Grove and you want the restaurant's own process to lead the meal: daily-ground heirloom corn, fresh nixtamalised masa, natural wine and a vinyl-led room. Ariete is the nearby alternative for Cuban-American cooking, wood-fired dishes and either à la carte ordering or the $165 Versos Sencillos tasting menu, with the 20% service charge added. Boia De is the planned northbound trip for a 27-seat Italian-inspired room and prices from $16 baked clams to a $45 pork collar. Lung Yai is the value and informality pick, with dishes from $8 and a walk-in system.
For a Coconut Grove evening, treat Los Félix and Ariete as one walkable pairing on Main Highway, while remembering that the wider dining zone has limited street parking. Los Félix lists street parking, but a nearby garage or rideshare is the safer plan. Boia De is north at 5205 NE 2nd Avenue in a supermarket plaza, and Lung Yai is west at 1731 SW 8th Street on Calle Ocho, so both need extra driving time from the Grove. If Lung Yai is the choice, leave room for the queue and arrive during one of its stated seating windows rather than trying to reserve.
One correction before you search
Older Coconut Grove restaurant guides still list Planta Queen at 3015 Grand Avenue, but it permanently closed in 2025. The former space has since been taken over by Grand Public Kitchen + Bar, so do not use those older Planta Queen listings when deciding where to eat in the Grove. For the restaurants covered here, the more useful starting point is Los Félix or Ariete on Main Highway, with Boia De and Lung Yai treated as separate northbound and westbound trips rather than nearby Coconut Grove stops.
Please drink responsibly. Must be of legal drinking age.
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Ask Karpo first
Before leaving, ask Karpo in the app to check which restaurant best fits your timing, budget and need for a reservation or walk-in table. For Coconut Grove, compare Los Félix with Ariete first because they are a short walk apart, then plan parking or a rideshare; for Boia De or Lung Yai, allow extra driving time and organise the booking order around Lung Yai's queue.
