There was a time not long ago when I had to defend Florida restaurants regularly. Some friends from up North would try to tell me this state was nothing but theme park restaurants and overpriced fish shacks. I’d try to explain that they were idiots.
In the past generation, cities from Coral Gables to Clearwater have put chefs in charge of their kitchens, creating sushi spots, dry aging fish in strip malls, tasting menus behind unmarked doors, and the kind of tells-a-story-through-the-menu restaurants that would destroy in Manhattan.
Luckily, the Michelin Guide arrived in 2022, and now I no longer feel like one of the only ones to be shouting about Florida restaurants. The first edition stuck to Miami, as if the inspectors were easing themselves into the deep end. Then the stars started appearing in Orlando, Tampa, and the Palm Beaches—proof that the state’s best cooking is happening everywhere from hotel rooftops to omakase counters with eight seats.
We still have our share of Florida Man headlines and bottomless frozen daiquiris. But if you care about where the real eating happens, it is at the Michelin-starred restaurants in Florida, the places that finally made the rest of the world admit our state can cook.
This guide was updated by South Florida-based writer Eric Barton. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.
Dining and Cooking