Japanese Restaurant Near Me in Coral Gables: Mottai's Kinoko Hot Pot and Katsu

Mottai's Kinoko Hot Pot, mixed mushrooms in yuzu soy butter finished with an egg yolk and chili crunch over furikake rice, costs $36 and is the dish to build a table around at 2881 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, inside The Plaza Coral Gables. The restaurant opened in February 2026, serves lunch Tuesday to Friday and on Sunday, and dinner Tuesday to Saturday. If you are searching for a new japanese restaurant near me in the Gables, this is the 2026 opening to know first.

Time Out Miami reported on February 26, 2026, that Mottai is the first US concept from Attivo Group, a Brazil-based company behind thirteen restaurants in Brazil. Chef Brian Nasajon leads the culinary development, with executive chef Moritz Esser in the kitchen and sushi chef Hiroshi Shintaku, whose resume includes the Miami restaurants Makoto and Hiyakawa, at the counter. The 150-seat space has a main dining room, a sushi counter and a dedicated bar.

The same report describes the design as drawn from French Japonisme: marble tables, deep blue velvet seating, white crane wall art and soft uplighting meant to shift the room from an airy lunch spot to a moodier dinner room. The restaurant's own site frames the menu as Japanese technique shaped by South Florida, structured for sharing across cold and hot small plates, signature dishes, the grill, rice and noodles, and sushi.

Lunch runs Tuesday to Friday from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm and on Sunday from noon to 3 pm, and the homepage now announces that Mottai is open on Sundays. Dinner runs Tuesday to Thursday from 5:30 pm to 10 pm and Friday and Saturday until 11 pm. Monday is not listed at all, so treat it as a closed day, and remember that dinner does not run on Sunday.

Order the Kinoko Hot Pot for the table and let it anchor the meal; it is mixed tableside, which gives a quiet dining room a little theater. Next comes the Sugi Katsu, panko-crusted cobia with ponzu aioli for $32, a seafood take on tonkatsu that shows the kitchen's habit of bending familiar Japanese formats. The Mottai Crispy Chicken with pickled watermelon and chili sauce is $24, and the Japanese eggplant with miso mustard is $16.

From the signature section, the black cod with caramelized cauliflower, yuzu soy and den miso costs $48, and the pork belly in hatcho yakiniku with bib lettuce is $28. Steamed clams in sake butter with chive oil and furikake are $30, rock shrimp with spicy aioli is $28 and the enoki mushroom tempura with yuzu aioli is $15, an easy add-on for a vegetarian at the table.

Shintaku's counter works by the piece with a two-piece minimum per order. Akami yellowfin, shima aji striped jack, madai red sea bream, hirame flounder, hamachi and sake salmon are $9 each, bluefin toro is $16 and Hokkaido uni is $17.50. If you would rather not choose, the Chef's Nigiri Selection is $45 for five pieces and $78 for nine, and the Chef's Sashimi Selection is $96 for twelve pieces.

Our honest call, which The Infatuation's review shares: go light on the nigiri. Pieces are small for $9 to $16 each, and the review argues you are better off at an omakase if sushi is the goal, recommending the rock shrimp, the overflowing yaki udon and the tableside hot pot instead. Order the five-piece selection if you want a taste of Shintaku's work, then spend the rest on hot plates.

Grilled selections all come with shiso tempura, miso butter and tare. The prime skirt steak is $54, the prime filet mignon $64, the American wagyu flat iron $95 and the American wagyu ribeye $105. U4 prawns in garlic ginger butter are $32. Yaki udon with wild mushrooms and baby bok choy, at $32, is the other filling noodle dish if the hot pot is already on the table.

The maki list runs from an $8 kappa maki to a $25 salmon tataki maki, with a spicy tuna maki at $20, a California eel maki at $23 and a shrimp tempura maki at $18. Temaki hand rolls are priced by the piece, from an $11 spicy tuna to a $28 uni hand roll. Cold small plates start with a $14 crunchy seaweed salad and climb to a $48 tuna tartare with quail egg and caviar.

The wine list leans French and Spanish. Wines by the glass are priced between $16 and $20, from a Boccelli prosecco and a Presquile chardonnay to a Brave Cellars pinot noir from the Willamette Valley and a Napa cabernet, and bottles climb to a $390 Meursault premier cru. Champagne runs to Louis Roederer Brut at $225 and Laurent-Perrier rose at $235, so a celebration here can outrun the food bill quickly.

Every check carries an 18 percent service charge, printed at the bottom of each menu page, so factor that in before you add a tip. Reservations run through OpenTable, linked from the site. Private events are offered in a space the site describes as tailored to each gathering, from a small get-together to a larger occasion.

The Plaza Coral Gables sits on Ponce de Leon Boulevard a few blocks south of Miracle Mile. If Mottai is booked, or you want a lighter Japanese lunch, walk to STAND at 98 Miracle Mile, a Japanese cafe from the team behind Shingo that The Infatuation reviewed in September 2026, praising a karaage box under $20 while warning that eating in is the weak part of the experience. Treat it as takeout.

Address: 2881 Ponce De Leon Boulevard, inside The Plaza Coral Gables, Coral Gables, FL 33134. Lunch: Tuesday to Friday 11:30 am to 2:30 pm, Sunday noon to 3 pm. Dinner: Tuesday to Thursday 5:30 pm to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday 5:30 pm to 11 pm. Closed Monday. An 18 percent service charge applies to all checks. Book on OpenTable.