Japanese Restaurant Near Me in Brickell: Gekko's Wagyu Steakhouse After Dark

Gekko is a Japanese steakhouse, not a sushi bar, and it only serves dinner: the dining room at 8 SE 8th Street in Brickell opens at 6 pm every night and stays open until midnight on Friday and Saturday. Through Saturday, October 31, 2026, its Miami Spice dinner starts at $65 per person. If your japanese restaurant near me search is really a search for wagyu and a late night, this is where Brickell goes.

The restaurant opened in 2021, and its homepage describes it as a Japanese-inspired steakhouse and lounge by hospitality operator David Grutman and Bad Bunny. The name is the Japanese word for moonlight, which explains the jewel-toned, low-lit room the site calls a moonlit ambiance. Premium steaks share the menu with sushi and seafood starters, and a lounge with DJs runs on the busiest nights.

That partnership sets the tone, and the door enforces it. The dress code bans athletic wear, shorts and jean shorts, tank tops and cut-off sleeves, flip-flops and sandals, and athletic or beverage-branded baseball caps. Dress as if you are going out afterward, because on lounge nights a share of the room is doing exactly that, and a guest in gym clothes will be turned away before seeing a menu.

Begin with the Japanese milk bread with nori and miso butter, $17, a soft pull-apart loaf that is the cheapest dish on the menu with real personality. From the starters, the A5 wagyu crispy rice with onion tare is $34, the bluefin tuna crispy rice with chili crisp is $26 and the pork gyoza in garlic and ginger ponzu is $28. Edamame, steamed or spicy, is $12.

For a lighter opening, the madai crudo with passionfruit, cilantro and smoked corn is $21, and the cucumber salad with roasted peanuts and shiso dressing is $18. The Kyoto lobster roll with ponzu aioli and chili crisp, $29, sits closer to a sandwich than a maki. Two people can easily make a meal from three starters and a roll, which keeps the bill well under the steak route.

Steak is the reason Gekko exists. The eight-ounce prime beef filet with confit garlic is $68, the 16-ounce bone-in New York strip is $79 and the 16-ounce ribeye is $85, with chimichurri, au poivre or Szechuan sauce for $4 each. The Miyazaki A5 wagyu hot stone, four ounces seared at the table with Japanese whisky and tare, costs $120, and it doubles as tableside theater when the slices hit the stone.

Our honest call: if you want one splurge, take the $120 hot stone and skip the $295 Wagyu Experience. The flight of two ounces each of Bushu-gyu, Takamori and Miyazaki is a fascinating comparison, but A5 is so rich that a third style blurs into the second. Share the hot stone between two and add the $41 duck noodle with ginger truffle for something warm and starchy.

Gekko does offer a Chef's Omakase at $350, but it is one line on an a la carte menu, not the format of the evening. Nigiri comes two pieces per order: akami with shiso is $18, Ora King salmon with black truffle is $18, hamachi with yuzu kosho and apple is $16, and chu toro with osetra caviar is $34. The spicy bluefin tuna maki is $29.

For bigger tables, the 12-ounce wagyu skirt steak with wasabi, yuzu kosho and chimichurri is $99, and the six-ounce reserve wagyu rib cap with pastrami tallow and Japanese mustard is $145. The American wagyu dry-aged kombu tomahawk is listed at market price, so ask the server for the number before you order it. Twin Maine lobster tails with blood orange and yuzu kosho are $95.

Entrees cover guests who do not eat beef. The Chilean sea bass with saikyo miso is $68, the crispy snapper with shiso salsa verde is $59, and the lobster XO fried rice with jidori egg is $48. Sides, from the whipped potatoes with nori butter to broccolini with yuzu ponzu and steak fries with sriracha ketchup, are each $18, so the side dishes add up quickly at a table of four.

Read this before the check arrives: Gekko adds a mandatory 20 percent service charge to all food and beverage, which its menu says is paid to eligible employees in lieu of gratuities, with the balance kept to offset operating costs. The dining room is open Monday, Wednesday and Sunday from 6 pm to 10 pm, Tuesday and Thursday until 11 pm, and Friday and Saturday until midnight.

The lounge keeps different hours. It opens only on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, from 6 pm to 4 am, and that is when DJs take over. If you want a quiet steak dinner, book a Monday, Wednesday or Sunday table at 6 pm. If you want the full scene, book a Friday at 9 pm and plan to stay for the lounge after dessert.

Reservations run through SevenRooms, linked from the site, and a sample search for Sunday, October 25, 2026, showed two-person tables at 6 pm, 6:15 pm and 6:30 pm. The Miami Spice menu is available all week for dinner until October 31 and starts at $65 per person, with choices such as madai crudo or pork gyoza, then a prime filet, wagyu skirt steak or crispy snapper served with charred vegetables.

If Gekko is booked solid, walk south to Gyu-Kaku at 34 SW 13th Street, where you grill your own kalbi and wagyu slices at the table for a fraction of the price, and a late-night happy hour starts at 9:30 pm Monday to Thursday. It is the opposite experience in every way except the beef, which is exactly why it works as the backup.

Address: 8 SE 8th Street, Miami, FL 33131, in Brickell. Email: info@gekko.com. Dining room: from 6 pm nightly, closing between 10 pm and midnight depending on the day. Lounge: Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, 6 pm to 4 am. Mandatory 20 percent service charge on all food and drink. Dress code enforced. Miami Spice from $65 per person through October 31, 2026.