Gorgeous waterfront Italian restaurant opens on Miami’s Grove Isle

Waterfront Italian restaurant La Sponda is now open in Grove Isle off of Coconut Grove with stunning views and premium steaks and seafood.

Photo by The Louis Collection

La Sponda, a waterfront Italian restaurant from the father-daughter team behind Gioia Hospitality Group, has opened on Friday, September 18, at Vita at Grove Isle. Thomas and Kassidy Angelo spent three years developing it around Italy’s regional cooking.

Thomas previously operated Fiola Miami, the much-loved Coral Gables Italian restaurant known for its pasta tastings and massive wine collection, under a licensing agreement with chef Fabio Trabocchi. Fiola closed in 2025 and became Daniel’s Miami.

Unlike Fiola, La Sponda is the first Italian restaurant Thomas has built with Kassidy, who joined the family business two years ago. The 26-year-old notes that her perspective often differs from her father’s due to their generational gap. “We both see things from two very different angles,” Kassidy says. “I think that works to our benefit because we each pick up on different details.”

Seafood is a star, including the “Branzino Intero al Sale”

Photo by The Louis Collection

The sea takes center stage

Culinary director Daniel Ganem’s menu opens with crudo and caviar, naturally. The orata crudo pairs sea bream with citrus and Gioia Leccino olive oil, while La Sponda tartare combines Petrossian caviar, bluefin tuna and scampi with tomato sauce poured at the table.

Antipasti include fritto misto with branzino, calamari, shrimp, zucchini and squash blossoms, plus Mediterranean octopus with gnocchi and datterini tomatoes.

Thomas recommends starting with a cocktail and one of the restaurant’s bar snacks; think fried risotto topped with tuna tartare or a hash brown with uni and caviar.

The team even spent six months perfecting its ricotta cavatelli al pomodoro.

Photo by The Louis Collection

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Trips through Italy with Ganem and wine director Daniel Bishop shaped details as specific as serving peppery Coratina olive oil with bread and lighter Leccino with crudo.

Orecchiette Pugliese comes with fennel sausage, broccoli rabe and Calabrian chile, while caviar carbonara uses rye fettuccine and dill. Wagyu cannelloni folds short rib, Burgundy truffles, unagi and béchamel into one dish.

The team even spent six months perfecting its ricotta cavatelli al pomodoro.

The 42-ounce “Australian L’Grown Ranch Wagyu Bistecca Fiorentina” at La Sponda on Grove Isle

Photo by The Louis Collection

“Rather than something focused on one region, like coastal Italian or Northern Italian or Southern Italian, we wanted to give people optionality on the menu,” Thomas Angelo tells New Times. “If they want a great steak one night, we have these beautiful steaks. If someone wants great fish, we have tableside branzino.”

Those choices include a 42-ounce Australian Wagyu bistecca Fiorentina, whole tiger prawns and a four-pound salt-crusted branzino available by preorder.

Main courses range from lemon risotto with New Zealand langoustines to a veal chop prepared Milanese, Valdostana or Parmigiana style. For dessert, house-made gelato arrives at the table with sauces and Amarena cherries, an idea brought home from Barbaresco.

Thomas and Kassidy Angelo spent three years developing it around Italy’s regional cooking.

Photo by The Louis Collection

Three years in the making

La Sponda began three years ago with a conversation between Thomas and CMC Group founder Ugo Colombo about bringing a restaurant to Vita at Grove Isle. Martin Brudnizki Design Studio designed the room with furnishings and stone from Italy. A local artist painted Coconut Grove’s peacocks onto custom lamps.

“Miami does not have a lot of waterfront dining, which sounds a little bit like an oxymoron,” Kassidy says. “It’s nice to be able to have something to look at.”
Thomas wants La Sponda to have staying power and become a restaurant Miami returns to again and again.“We want people to come back the second time because they love the food,” he says. “Then go back a third time.”

La Sponda. 4 Grove Isle Dr., Miami; laspondamiami.com. Now open.