Coconut Grove gained three new restaurants between late July and mid-September. Around the same time, it lost a burger counter that had been open 15 years and a longtime health-food spot on Grand Avenue. The new places are good for a long dinner. The places that filled a Tuesday lunch or a Saturday morning coffee are gone, and the businesses announced since are still on the way.
That gap between evening and daytime is the clearest way to read the Grove's restaurant year. Below is what has opened, what has closed, what is still on its way, and how Harvest week, which starts tomorrow, uses both halves of the day.
The new places that have opened
All three confirmed openings since midsummer are sit-down dinner restaurants.
| Restaurant | Address | Opened | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manoli | 3540 Main Highway | July 22, 2026 | Greek shared plates, seafood and grilled meats |
| Miami Slice | 2996 McFarlane Road | August 12, 2026 | New York-style pizza with a full plated menu |
| La Sponda | Vita at Grove Isle, 4 Grove Isle Drive | September 18, 2026 | Waterfront Italian focused on seafood |
Manoli on Main Highway
Chef Emmanouil "Manoli" Aslanoglou's menu covers Greek shared plates, seafood, traditional dishes, reworked American dishes, housemade pasta, and grilled meats and fish, according to Coconut Grove Magazine's opening preview. The same report named several dishes to look for: crispy feta with thyme honey, gyro tacos made with Black Angus ribeye, tuna and beef tartare, Pastitsio, Athenian Lobster, Greek-style lamb chops and whole branzino. Desserts come around on a tableside trolley with profiteroles, baklava, chocolate cake, custard, and yogurt with preserves. Greek donuts are made to order.
The hours published in July are dinner only. Manoli is open 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 5 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday. It is closed Monday and Tuesday.
Miami Slice on McFarlane Road
Miami Slice took over the former Harry's Pizzeria space near CocoWalk, The Burn reported on opening night. The business started in 2019 as a pop-up inside La Latina's Midtown kitchen. It opened a downtown counter in 2022 and later added a Key Biscayne takeout location and an outpost at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, according to Miami New Times.
The Grove location is built for sitting down, not grabbing a slice. Alongside pies like the Margherita de la Casa, Pepperoni Proper, La Salsera, Leeks on Bacon and Mushroom Truffle, it serves wood-fired cabbage, a watercress Caesar, beef carpaccio and a Caprese salad. Miami New Times' opening review singled out the Pepperoni Proper and a pistachio tart. In its listing the day before opening, the Miami Herald gave the Grove's hours as 5 to 11 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Those are opening-week hours, so check with the restaurant before planning around them.
Going by those published schedules, the Grove's two newest restaurants on Main Highway and McFarlane Road open no earlier than 5 p.m., and both are closed Monday and Tuesday.
La Sponda at Grove Isle
The third opening sits across the water from the village center, at Vita at Grove Isle. Miami New Times reported that La Sponda opened Friday, September 18, from the father-daughter team behind Gioia Hospitality Group, Thomas and Kassidy Angelo, who spent three years developing it around Italy's regional cooking. Diners in Coral Gables may recognize the name. Thomas Angelo previously ran Fiola Miami, which closed in 2025 and became Daniel's Miami.
It is the first restaurant the two have built together. "We both see things from two very different angles," Kassidy Angelo told Miami New Times. "I think that works to our benefit because we each pick up on different details."
Culinary director Daniel Ganem's menu leans toward the sea. It starts with orata crudo dressed in citrus and Gioia Leccino olive oil, and a La Sponda tartare that combines Petrossian caviar, bluefin tuna and scampi, finished with tomato sauce poured at the table. The bread comes with peppery Coratina oil and the crudo with the lighter Leccino, a detail shaped by trips through Italy with wine director Daniel Bishop. The team says it spent six months perfecting its ricotta cavatelli al pomodoro.
What the daytime lost
The new dinner rooms arrived just after two daytime fixtures closed.
LoKal, the Commodore Plaza burger spot, served its last customers on Sunday, June 28, after 15 years, Miami New Times reported. In July, Coconut Grove Magazine reported that The Last Carrot had closed its longtime location at 3133 Grand Avenue ahead of demolition. Coverage of that move has not given a single clear last day.
Both filled the hours the three new restaurants skip, including the casual lunch, the weekday stop and the meal that does not need a reservation.
What has been announced
The businesses headed for the Grove lean the other way. A bakery, a café and a fragrance shop are the kinds of places people visit in daylight, often more than once a week.
- Levain Bakery, 2979 McFarlane Road. The New York bakery is expected to make its Florida debut in fall 2026, according to Miami New Times' fall preview. Levain's Coconut Grove page still says "Coming Soon!" and lists no hours. It will sit on the same block of McFarlane as Miami Slice.
- La La Land Kind Cafe, 3190 Commodore Plaza. The coffee, tea, matcha and food café is moving into LoKal's former space. Coconut Grove Magazine reported on October 14 that construction was underway and no opening date had been announced. One of the summer's closures is directly being replaced by a daytime business.
- Le Labo, 3444 Main Highway. In August, Coconut Grove Magazine reported that the fragrance and personal-care shop was "expected to open soon." Check its status before making a trip. It would bring another storefront to the stretch of Main Highway that already includes Manoli.
Once these three open, the Grove's recent additions will look more balanced, with a pizza dinner and a bakery stop on McFarlane and a café on Commodore Plaza where a burger counter used to be.
Harvest week puts both halves of the day to work
The next ten days show how the village fills a day and an evening. Coconut Grove Harvest, presented by the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District, runs from Friday, October 23, through Sunday, November 1, 2026, according to South Florida Family Life's event listing.
During the day
- A pumpkin patch on Fuller Street, October 23 through November 1. One listed session runs 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- A fall-themed photo spot at CocoWalk, October 30 through November 1.
Halloween evening, Saturday, October 31, 6 to 8 p.m.
- 6 p.m.: Halloween storytelling at Books & Books Coconut Grove
- 6 to 8 p.m.: A live DJ on Fuller Street, trick-or-treating at participating businesses, and The Grove Stamp Scavenger Hunt throughout Downtown Coconut Grove
- 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.: Fantasy Theatre Factory presents Little Monsters Tales on Fuller Street
- 7:30 p.m.: Costume contest
The scavenger hunt runs longer than the festival. It starts on Halloween, and anyone who collects all 10 Grove Stamps gets perks from participating businesses, redeemable through November and December 2026. That puts a stamp card in hand during the same fall season Levain is expected to open.
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and Manoli's published Saturday hours run until midnight. A family could do trick-or-treating on Fuller Street until 8 p.m., then sit down to a late Greek dinner on Main Highway. As with all hours in this guide, confirm with the restaurant before you go.
When a family is weighing a move within the Grove, or a seller wants to know how the village's newest restaurants and shops play with buyers, the details on these blocks matter. If you would like to talk through what is opening near a home you own or are considering, Leodan Leonel Leon is happy to listen and help you prepare. Request a Private Consultation.
