Coconut Grove lost a lot of restaurants in 2025. Not a few — enough that the closures became their own local story, a wave that residents tracking the neighborhood's dining scene were watching with real concern. Spaces went dark on Main Highway. CocoWalk had a prominent second-floor void where Planta Queen used to be. The corner where McFarlane, Grand Avenue, and Main Highway converge sat quieter than it should.

What has happened since is worth paying attention to — not because the Grove is bouncing back in the generic sense, but because of who specifically is moving into those spaces. The operators filling the vacancies are Miami chefs and hospitality groups with existing roots here, not concepts arriving from New York or Los Angeles to test the market. That distinction matters more than it sounds. It's the difference between a restaurant that needs this neighborhood to validate a national rollout and one that has already decided the Grove is home.

What Closed, and Who Moved In

The turnover tells the story better than any list of new names:

Planta Queen departed more than a year ago, leaving one of CocoWalk's most visible restaurant spaces empty. Grand Public Kitchen + Bar, opening this May, is filling it with a concept built around happy hour and weekend brunch — wraparound bar, curved banquettes, floor-to-ceiling windows that shift from day lighting into something more intimate at night. The peacock logo is a deliberate nod to the Grove's well-known wild peacocks. Co-founder Matthew Tsoumaris has described the Grove's close-knit community as the reason they chose this location.

At 2996 McFarlane, Miami Slice — the award-winning downtown Miami pizza operation — is preparing to open its first South Florida expansion in the space Harry's Pizzeria left behind. The format is New York-style slices from a Miami-founded operation. That corner already holds Jaguar Restaurant, Sushi Garage, and J-Rocks. Miami Slice doesn't need the Grove to anchor its identity; it's choosing to expand here.

The May Openings Worth Marking

Two restaurants are arriving this month.

Grand Public Kitchen + Bar (3015 Grand Ave, Ste. 201, CocoWalk) takes the former Planta Queen / Cheesecake Factory second-floor space. The design is indoor-outdoor, built to work as well for a casual weekday cocktail as for a full dinner. Happy hour and brunch specials are central to the concept. For a space that sat empty for over a year, this is a meaningful reset.

Manoli opens in May at Grove Garden. It's a Greek concept, described as rooted in tradition and shaped for a modern Miami audience. Two Greek-influenced openings in the same neighborhood within six months of each other — Manoli and AVA MediterrAegean, covered below — is a pattern, not a coincidence. The cuisine category is less interesting than what it signals: operators watching the Grove closely enough to place multiple bets.

Already Open, Worth the Visit

AVA MediterrAegean (2889 McFarlane Rd) opened in November 2025 as the flagship for Riviera Dining Group — the Winter Park location came first, but the Grove is where the brand planted its flag. Designed by Lazaro Rosa Violán with travertine, limestone, and coral stone, the space runs an open-air terrace alongside an enclosed dining room and a members-only inner retreat called AVA MM. Weekend brunch launched in January 2026, Saturdays and Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Greek-inspired and à la carte.

Le Specialità Café & Market (2655 S. Bayshore Dr, inside Mr. C Residences) opened in March 2026 — the Cipriani group's more casual, all-day format. The two-story space runs from morning espresso and pastries through pasta, panini, and a full dinner service. For a neighborhood historically stronger at dinner than breakfast, a well-run all-day café at this address fills an actual gap in the daily routine.

Chèvre (3065 Fuller St) arrived in late 2025 at the Ziggurat building, joining Vinoteca, Barracuda Taphouse & Grill, and Le Bouchon Du Grove in a cluster that has quietly made Fuller Street one of the more interesting blocks in the neighborhood. The concentration of options on a single block is worth knowing about if you haven't walked that stretch recently.

The Sunday Ritual at the Mayfair

The Grove Bazaar runs every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the courtyard at the Mayfair House Hotel & Garden. Chef Giorgio Rapicavoli — who now runs the Mayfair Grill inside the same hotel and previously launched Glass & Vine — anchors the market with mimosas and brunch. Vendors include Miami women's clothing brand Mann, Left on Saturn vintage, and Hallandale's Mintage Records.

Rapicavoli is a specific kind of operator: long Grove history, multiple concepts, and a track record of restaurants that outlast the hype cycle. His presence running the Mayfair's Sunday program is a signal about that property's commitment to the neighborhood's social fabric rather than just its dining room count. The Bazaar is a reason to be in the courtyard for five hours, not just a meal.

The Anchors That Earned Their Place

Two restaurants deserve mention not because they're new, but because they're still here — and that context is relevant to everything above.

GreenStreet Cafe has been operating on Main Highway for more than 30 years. Breakfast runs from 7:30 a.m. daily. In a neighborhood that has watched restaurants open and close across multiple boom-and-bust cycles, GreenStreet's continued presence is its own argument.

Glass & Vine in Peacock Park runs weekend brunch from noon to 4 p.m., with a raw bar and a locally sourced menu. The garden setting, on the park side of South Bayshore Drive, offers something most of the newer concepts cannot: a reason to eat outdoors that isn't just a patio off a commercial corridor.

Both have survived conditions that closed other restaurants. The new operators arriving in 2025 and 2026 are entering a neighborhood that has already proven it can support serious, long-running dining — which is a different kind of bet than opening somewhere still looking for its identity.

Still Ahead

La Sponda is set to open at Vita at Grove Isle (4 Grove Isle Dr), the luxury development nearing completion on the Grove's private island. The concept comes from Gioia Hospitality Group, the team behind Daniel's Miami in Coral Gables — added to the Michelin Guide within six months of opening. La Sponda is described by Miami New Times as a coastal Italian restaurant rooted in seasonal Mediterranean-inspired dishes, with weekday lunch, weekend brunch, and nightly dinner service framed by Biscayne Bay views. The interior is being designed by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio. It will be open to the public, not limited to Vita residents.

A Michelin-tracked hospitality group choosing Grove Isle for its next South Florida concept is worth noting. The waterfront dining opportunity on that island has existed for decades. Someone has finally decided it's ready.

The Grove has been here before — a boom, a correction, a rebuild. What's different about the current reset is who is doing the rebuilding. Beltran, Sealey, Rapicavoli, Tsoumaris, Gioia Hospitality Group: these are not names testing a concept. They are operators who have already earned their positions in Miami and are expanding deeper into a neighborhood they understand.

For residents, the practical result is a dining map that is, by most measures, better in May 2026 than it was a year ago — and anchored by operators with more reason to stay than to go.

If you'd like to talk through what's happening in Coconut Grove beyond the restaurant scene, Mariana Boccia is available for a conversation.