Japanese Restaurant Near Me in the Design District: Nami Nori's Open Temaki

Nami Nori's food menu is entirely gluten-free, its hand rolls start at $6, and the Design District branch at 156 NE 41st Street opens at 11:30 am every day of the week. The restaurant serves open-style temaki, rolled so the filling sits on top like a taco instead of being wrapped inside. If you want a japanese restaurant near me that suits a quick lunch between Design District boutiques, the one-hour lunch seating for small parties keeps it moving.

Nami Nori began in New York, where its locations include the West Village and Williamsburg. The Miami restaurant opened in December 2024, and FSR Magazine reported at the time that it shares a bi-level building with Matsuyoi, Nami Nori on the ground floor and Matsuyoi upstairs. Behind both are Launchpad Hospitality partners Lisa Limb, Taka Sakaeda and Jihan Lee, who met while working under chef Masa Takayama.

The same report noted that Pharrell Williams joined the team in 2024 as a partner and advisor, and that the Design District pair were the group's first projects with him. FSR described the room as inspired by modern beach houses and traditional Japanese homes, with a bright dining room and patio in sandy brown, cream and dusty rose, and oversized dried floral arrangements built from foraged branches.

A temaki is a hand roll, and Nami Nori's open style keeps the seaweed crisp because the rice and fish sit in a half-folded sheet of nori instead of a tight cone. Eat each roll as soon as it lands, while the seaweed still crackles. The menu splits rolls into Original, Classic and Plant Based, and any roll can be upgraded with a crunchy shell for $2, ikura for $4 or caviar for $12.

The Classic list is where the price floor sits. A California roll with crab stick, avocado and cucumber is $7, as is the tuna cucumber. Tuna avocado, salmon avocado, salmon cucumber and ikura cucumber are $8 each. Spicy tuna with cucumber and jalapeno, yellowtail scallion and the red crab California, made with fresh red crab, cost $9, and toro scallion is $14. Uni is listed at market price, so ask before ordering.

From the Original list, the miso cod roll made with black cod and myoga costs $13, the X.O. scallop with tobiko and lemon is $10, and tuna poke with crispy shallots, coconut shrimp with green curry and the salmon serrano with ginger and myoga are $9 each. The Triple, toro with Hokkaido uni and caviar, is $38, an indulgence rather than a standard order.

If it is your first visit, order a set rather than building a list. The Starter set, $30, brings five classics: California, tuna avocado, yellowtail scallion, salmon cucumber and spicy tuna. The Signature set, $36, swaps in five house originals: tuna poke, X.O. scallop, coconut shrimp, salmon serrano and cucumber black sesame. The Primo set at $62 includes maitake with fresh truffle, spicy lobster, toro scallion, miso cod and uni.

Our honest call: skip the Primo on a first visit and take the Signature set plus a single miso cod roll. That gets you the five rolls the restaurant built its name on and its best cooked fish for $49, close to $13 less than the Primo, and you can judge whether the uni and truffle upgrades are worth it next time. The $9 asari clam soup with miso, butter and potato is a better add-on than a sixth roll.

Plant-based rolls cost $6 to $8. The tofu chimichurri with micro cilantro, sweet potato tempura with sweet chili soy and eggplant with red miso and gobo chips are each $6, and the avocado toast roll with beets, carrot and a crunchy shell is $8. The menu marks vegetarian and vegan dishes, and since the whole food menu is gluten-free, a mixed table rarely needs special requests.

Start cold if you are sharing. The Japanese potato salad with cucumber and paprika is $9, and the menu offers ikura on top for $8 more. The Nami Nori salad with buttermilk nori dressing is $12, the cucumber tataki with wasabi and sesame is $10, and the vegan miso soup with fried tofu and carrot is $8. The vegan mushroom dip with black garlic and tofu cream, served with crispy rice chips, is $12.

From the kitchen, the Japanese fried chicken with koji white barbecue sauce is $15, the furikake fries with tomato tonkatsu sauce are $9, and the shishito peppers with smoked honey miso are $12. Cold plates include ocean trout sashimi with orange ponzu for $16 and a yellowtail ceviche with ume leche de tigre for $18. The spicy tuna dip with crispy rice chips is $17.

For a celebration, the caviar service pairs golden osetra caviar with crispy rice chips and onion cream for $55. It is the one dish here meant for lingering, and it works best before a round of rolls rather than after. Please tell your server about allergies, as the menu itself asks, since several rolls carry tobiko, ikura or shellfish as garnishes.

Reservations open on OpenTable up to two weeks ahead, and the restaurant holds a limited number of seats for walk-ins. There is a ten-minute grace period for late arrivals. At lunch, tables are held for one hour for parties of up to three and ninety minutes for four or more; at dinner, it is ninety minutes for up to three, two hours for up to five and two and a half hours for six or more.

Since only a limited number of seats are kept for walk-ins, the opening at 11:30 am is the safest moment to arrive without a booking. If there is a wait, order takeout, which runs during all business hours, and eat outside in the district. For a slower, more formal Japanese dinner, Matsuyoi upstairs in the same building is the natural next step, and it is booked separately.

Address: 156 NE 41st Street, Miami, FL 33137, in the Miami Design District. Hours: Monday to Saturday 11:30 am to 10 pm, Sunday 11:30 am to 9 pm. Takeout and delivery during all business hours. Reservations up to two weeks ahead on OpenTable, with some seats held for walk-ins. The food menu is entirely gluten-free. Temaki sets: $30, $36 or $62.