The Best Sushi Omakase Restaurants In Miami

In addition to tech workers, iguanas, and real estate prices, you can add high-end omakase restaurants to the list of "Things That Have Rapidly Increased In Miami." What do these very expensive temples of nigiri have in common? Well, they usually cost anywhere from $100-$300 per person, have reservations that get scooped up faster than tickets to a Bad Bunny concert, and (when done well) serve sushi that will make you want to write a thank you note to every tuna in the ocean. Here are the very best Miami sushi omakase restaurants.

MIA Guide

Where To Eat Omakase Sushi In Miami For Under $100

THE SPOTS

We really knew nothing about this nondescript restaurant in Brickell Key before we booked the $280 per person omakase (the only option here), but it turned out to be the best and most unique omakase in Miami. The three-and-a-half-hour dinner does include a stunning nigiri section, but you'll also encounter a constantly rotating mix of local vegetables alongside rare (for Miami) seafood like braised sazae. It’s not a meal for everyone. It’s a quiet, unassuming space where the food is meant to be the main focal point. But if you’re genuinely interested in hours of cured mullet roe, cuttlefish, and dozens of impossibly tiny little Japanese icefish woven together into a single nigiri, then you’ll probably remember your Naoe experience for the literal rest of your life.

Cost: $280 per person.

This is another omakase spot where it’s all about the food. Not only does Hiyakawa’s counter seating offer a better view of the chefs than anywhere on this guide, but it’s a quiet, peaceful space where you’ll have no trouble devoting your full attention to the delicious plates in front of you. Nigiri makes up the bulk of Hiyakawa’s omakase—and it’s phenomenal. There was a back-to-back sequence of scallop and fatty tuna that almost made us fall out of our chair. Most bites here—which range from a tempura course to bluefin tuna served in a soy sauce and sweet sake broth you will slurp from the bowl—have that effect. Hiyakawa really delivers everything we want in a $200-plus omakase. Service is efficient and unobtrusive, the space is intimate, and in terms of food, it’s second only to Naoe for us.

Cost: $250 per person.

Mr. Omakase could be a lot more expensive—and we’d still happily pay for it. There are three options at the Downtown spot, a 10-course ($89), 14-course ($109), and 18-course ($149). We're not saying that's cheap—but the quality and deliciousness of the sushi here is on par with the upper tier of Miami's most expensive omakase spots. Price point isn't the only reason to love this place though. The two-hour dinner is an unforgettable blur of nigiri and sashimi so delicate and tender you barely have to chew it. Every piece of fish, uni, or beef that is put in front of you will get better and better and better, like a well-paced action movie. The space, which only has a dozen or so counter seats, feels private. The service is attentive but never suffocating, and the atmosphere hits that sweet spot between formal and informal.

Cost: $89-$149 per person.

Miss Crispy Rice is the sibling (Wife? Sister?) of Mr. Omakase, but the two are different concepts. Miss Crispy Rice focuses on hand rolls and crispy rice instead of mostly nigiri. It’s also inside a mini food hall, so it’s not as intimate. But the two omakase experiences share a couple important characteristics: quality ingredients and a price point that falls below average for Miami’s upscale omakase. This is obviously the one to book if you're a big crispy rice fan. The meal also involves sashimi, hand rolls, and—for the more expensive options—some nigiri and spectacular A5 wagyu courses. But one of our favorite parts of Crispy Rice's omakase are the seasonal surprise dishes, which could be firefly squid in a sweet chili sauce or little soft shell crabs flown in from Japan. Even the 14-course omakase will leave you pretty full. But the more expensive option you book, the more of those rotating seasonal dishes you’ll receive.

Cost: $87-$175 per person.

If you don’t really want to commit to a $200 per person omakase where you sit inches from the chef and have to try not to burp for two hours, go to Sushi Yasu Tanaka. The quality of fish here is much more impressive than what you might expect from a shiny, casual food hall in the Design District. The $59 omakase platter consists of ten pieces of nigiri, plus a handroll. It’s not a cheap lunch, but it’s also upscale omakase quality sushi served in an environment where you can wear flip-flops and don’t need a reservation. The nigiri is pretty straightforward—beautiful cuts of salmon, tuna, scallop, and more rotating fish draped over a warm bed of rice. Plus, spending $60 here is so much more satisfying than buying a pair of socks at one of the nearby designer stores.

Cost: $59.

The food at Hiden is very good. But what really makes this place special isn’t just the meal, but the whole Hiden experience. A few hours before dinner, you get an email that contains a secret code to get in the door. When you show up, you have to go to The Taco Stand, a casual restaurant in Wynwood where no one is dressed like they’re about to eat a very expensive omakase dinner. You walk to the back in your suspiciously fancy clothes, enter the code, and watch as a secret door silently slides open. Then, you’re in for two hours of excellent Japanese dishes. There are 16 to 18 courses of the usual suspects—uni, otoro, A5 wagyu—alongside a few creative dishes, like grilled eel topped with caviar and baby sardines wrapped in nori.

Cost: $300 per person.

The space at this Calle Ocho sushi bar is only large enough to fit about six—not including the chef and a single server who clears plates and refills beverages. They offer a $130 omakase that can include dishes like sliced otoro arranged into a rose shape and topped with uni, or a maki containing perfect cubes of four different fish with a refreshing shiso leaf separating them from the crisp nori. Drink options are minimal, but they do offer an unlabeled (but exquisite) house sake. This place is smack in the middle of Calle Ocho’s beating heart, so it’s a trip to watch the raucous, reggaeton-scored and cigar-scented carnival happening outside the window while enjoying a quiet meal here. But that just makes Ahi Sushi feel all the more secluded and peaceful.

Cost: $130 per person.

Sushi By Scratch is an omakase with locations in Los Angeles, Austin, and more. Their Miami expansion landed in Coconut Grove. The 16-course meal is far from traditional Japanese sushi. Nigiri is topped with little slices of pineapple, drizzled with melted bone marrow, and brushed with a beet mustard sauce. It may sound chaotic, but everything works deliciously and no ingredient is tossed around simply for the sake of showmanship. Dinner moves along at a good pace, and the atmosphere is fun enough that you won’t have to feel self-conscious if you accidentally get a little drunk off one of the beverage pairings. Reservations here go fast, so set your alarm for the first of the month at 1pm, when they release slots for the next 30 days.

Cost: $185 per person.

The Den is another member of Miami's $200-plus sushi omakase. It's located inside South Beach’s Azabu, in a private room covered in neat rows of sleek wood from floor to ceiling. It's a cool space, although sort of awkwardly laid out: too big to strike up a conversation with your roughly 15 fellow diners, yet small enough to overhear every word they say. Still, it's easy enough to ignore that once the food starts coming. Not every plate in the 20-course menu is an emotional firework, but there are enough of the necessary flavor lightning bolts one expects from an omakase this expensive. There are impossibly tender slices of otoro, dabs of fresh wasabi placed neatly underneath thin strips of flounder, a pine straw smoked salmon nigiri that has a perfect whisper of campfire flavor—all constructed with perfectly vinegary sushi rice.

Cost: $220 per person.