MIAGuide
The Best Haitian Restaurants In Miami
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Haitians are one of Miami’s biggest immigrant groups, and Haitian Miamians have established vibrant communities stretching from Little Haiti all the way up to North Miami, one of the community’s largest enclaves. Haitian food is foundational to this city—and absolutely delicious. The dishes you'll find on this guide are crispy, juicy, and seasoned generously with fiery scotch bonnets and about 75% of a well-stocked spice cabinet. There are many great Haitian restaurants throughout Miami to try, but these are our favorites.
THE SPOTS
If you want options beyond griot, this excellent North Miami restaurant is the place to go. Sundays are the best day to stop by, especially in the morning when they serve an excellent soup joumou. It also comes with a slice of fresh Haitian bread and a ripe banana to round things out. But if you arrive a little later, you can enjoy a truly special Haitian dish of stewed chicken in a cashew-studded tomato sauce (poulet en sauce noix) with a side of djon-djon rice. And no matter when you come, definitely order the “atomic juice”—a lightly sweetened blend of beet, carrot, orange, and other juices that’s L’Auberge’s own unique creation and a refreshing start to any meal here.
photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC
Once the clock strikes midnight in Miami, people in this city often settle for garbage meals. Not at Li Cho, a Haitian fried chicken pop-up that lives inside Wynwood’s outdoor club, Brick, and makes one of the best fried chicken sandwiches we’ve eaten drunk or sober. Of the three options on the menu, go for the maduro sandwich with crispy chicken, spicy mayo, and sweet fried plantains between toasted brioche buns that look like an ad for tanning spray. Li Cho is open until 2:30am from Thursday to Sunday, and also for Sunday brunch starting at 1pm. But stop by around 10pm, when the backyard bar isn’t too crowded yet, and you might see the security guards dancing to "Yeah!" by Usher.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
This North Miami food truck is more than just a place to grab a styrofoam box full of food to take home. Lakay has an astroturf patio where you can spend some time under an umbrella eating akra with visible chunks of peppers in each bite. The menu is as large as what you’d find at a brick-and-mortar restaurant where everyone in the kitchen moves at 65 miles per hour. But don’t let the smells of the smoker fool you, the best things here are fried. So prioritize dishes that spent time sizzling in oil like griot, fried goat, pate kòde, and those crispy akra.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Pates Plus is a Haitian takeout bakery in North Miami that makes some very good pates filled with chicken, beef, or herring. The pates are really satisfying and incredibly flaky (so beware of crumbs if you’re eating one on your way to work). But the other can’t-miss specialty here is langue de boeuf—a thin, crunchy pastry covered in enough sugar to piss off an uptight dentist. Definitely leave with a big rectangle of that. It’s crunchy outside, airy inside, and just sweet enough.
There’s really no need to look at the menu when you walk into the casual Pack Supermarket. You’re here for fried chicken. The fried chicken (or poul frit) here isn’t as heavy on the breading as other versions and only gets a dusting of cornstarch for crispiness. It’s still juicy, well-seasoned, and an exceptional deal, because you can get ten drumsticks—plus a side of rice and beans and pikliz—for less than $15. There are a few tables inside, but most folks do takeout here.
This small, cash-only takeout spot in North Miami specializes in seafood. They have truly mastered the art of frying fish, seasoning the snapper in epis, dredging it in a light coating of cornstarch, gently lowering it into a vat of hot oil, and then removing it at the precise second it’s ready. The result is a shatteringly crisp skin concealing moist, flaky, and addictively flavorful fish. It’s so good that you don’t really need the side dishes, although their diri kole is solid—fluffy rice, tender red beans, and just a slight hint of sweet cloves. And plan on taking this to go, because there's not much room to eat inside.
photo credit: CLEVELAND JENNINGS / @EATTHECANVASLLC
This Homestead spot is a Jamaican/Haitian restaurant, and the marriage of these two cuisines is the result of a literal marriage between a Jamaican mom and Haitian dad. So it's a true mom-and-pop spot where the family will give you the full backstory behind Leon’s legumes stew (a vegan mash with cabbage, lentils, and onions served with rice that fills the air with clove and allspice) before sending you off with a slice of coconut rum cake. But you are absolutely ordering the conch fritters. They’re made with malanga batter, stuffed with scotch bonnet peppers, and stacked like a delicious little ladder.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
This North Miami Haitian food truck wrapped in Dragon Ball Z characters is easy to spot at night, when its makeshift patio glows with multicolored string lights. Come here for a late lunch (they open daily at 2pm) or an even later dinner (they stay open until 1am). Either way, Josie is great if you’re really hungry or want leftovers. Protein options come topped with slivers of spicy onions and red pepper, as well as a bulbous side of rice and a bannann peze the size of your outstretched hand. Their griot is solid and the fried chicken—fried naked, like most Haitian fried chicken—is juicy inside with a peppery sauce for dunking.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Jackson Memorial Hospital is probably the last place you’d expect to eat great food. But that’s where you’ll find some of the best Haitian food in Miami. Gregs Cookout is on the south side of Jackson’s Allapattah campus and will blow you away with its wings. We like ours with a glossy mango habanero sauce that’s sweet and buzzing with heat. They also have a fantastic griot that comes with your choice of rice, fried plantains, spicy pikliz, and a small side of chicken broth. Go for the savory mushroom for your rice option, and pour that chicken broth all over it. Then take a moment to appreciate how they get their pork shoulder so crunchy outside and juicy inside. If only hospital food was this good.
This Haitian bakery stands out for its amazing Haitian-style bread and pate. The bakery can only accommodate about two people at a time on weekday mornings, so you’ll probably see a line that extends into the parking lot. They seem to constantly have fresh loaves of dense, rich Haitian bread coming out of the oven, and it’s hard to not tear into it while walking back to your car. Their beef pates, however, are the best things here. The thin puff pastry comes apart in delicate shards as soon as you go in for a bite and the spicy beef filling provides a little wake-up jolt in the morning.
The food at Naomi’s is great. The jerk chicken, oxtail, and fried snapper are all just about as good as you’ll find in Little Haiti, but the food isn’t even our favorite thing about this place. We love Naomi’s little garden seating area, which you could easily miss from the street. It’s a lush, comfortable courtyard where you can befriend a rooster, lay in a hammock, and really feel like you’re eating on an island in the Caribbean. Definitely order a side of their macaroni gratin, too—the Haitian answer to baked mac and cheese consists of ziti in a spicy, cheesy sauce that’s one of the best versions in the city.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Not only is Le Jardin in Little River one of the few Haitian restaurants open late, but they make really good food too. They do an excellent griot with enough of a kick that you may think twice before dipping it into the pikliz, along with a great legim with perfectly cooked white rice and a sòs pwa seasoned with cloves. The food shouldn’t take much longer than 15 minutes if you’re doing takeout, but there are a few tables where you can sit and throw back a few beers while you wait (if they’re not already taken by regulars doing the same).
photo credit: Merritt Smail
This is one of the only places in Miami where you can regularly get homemade Haitian-style ice cream. All of their ice creams are made with evaporated milk, which gives them an extra rich flavor. Lakay makes a bunch of different Caribbean-inspired flavors, but we love their refreshing passion fruit on a hot day. If you’re a fan of rum raisin, Lakay's is also great because it's made with Haitian rhum.
Chef Creole doesn’t call itself a Haitian restaurant, but rather a Creole restaurant, and they don't only have Haitian dishes on their menu. You can also come here for Bahamian-inspired conch fritters, along with fried, grilled, and stewed seafood dishes. While all the seafood dishes here are good, the standout is the grilled conch—something that’s unique to Chef Creole. They marinate the conch in a Haitian-inspired seasoning before grilling it. The result is lightly charred, just a bit smokey, and the perfect balance between firm and tender. There are Chef Creole locations around Miami (and even in the airport) but the one on 54th Street is our favorite because it has a drive-thru and a little tiki hut you can sit and eat in.
If you’re looking for Haitian stews, this is the place to go. The legim is the star attraction and can sell out quickly. This stew is made from a medley of vegetables, including cabbage, eggplant, chayote squash, carrots, green beans, and watercress, as well as chunks of beef. They start the stew well before they open for breakfast and don’t serve it until lunch (sometimes a little later) when the beef becomes fork-tender and the vegetables break down to a delicious, velvety mush. It has a slight smoldering heat from scotch bonnets and a bit of sweetness from a ton of cloves. If they’re sold out by the time you arrive, try the zepinad instead, a beef and spinach stew we also love.
photo credit: Mariana Trabanino
Like a good reversible shirt, Bon Bagay has two sides. One is Haitian, and the other is Chinese. But this isn't fusion. The menu of this (mostly) takeout restaurant in North Miami is split pretty evenly between the two cuisines. On one side, there are dishes like shrimp fried rice and honey glazed wings—on the other, barbecue ribs and fried goat. They make an excellent griot with the kind of pikliz that makes your eyes sweat (so try it before pouring it all over your food). The whole fried fish is juicy, and comes with a side of fried plantains that taste great with their pink sauce. Portions are large and it’s best to call in your order ahead to avoid the lunch rush.
This place is owned by Radio Piman Bouk, which has its studio on the second floor of the building. This radio station has been a news resource for Miami’s Haitian expat community for decades, and eating here really feels like you’re part of an important cultural institution. The menu features a lot of Haitian standards done very well, like the ke bèf, or oxtail stew, which arrives bathed in a glossy tomato sauce with a kick of heat. The tassot kabrit (braised then fried goat) is also excellent—it’s crispy on the outside, very tender inside, and goes beautifully with pikliz, bannann peze, and diri kole.
Piman Bouk is a classic Haitian bakery in the heart of Little Haiti. The main event here are Haitian patties, which are flaky and come filled with either cod or beef. Piman Bouk keeps them warm and ready to eat all day, which is probably why they almost always have a line out the door. Other good things here include coconut bread and tablet pistache, a crunchy Haitian peanut brittle. Just know that it's cash only, so hit up an ATM on the way.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings / @eatthecanvasllc
Cayard specializes in a little bit of everything, all of which they do pretty well. Their pates are chewy rather than flakey. They’re not always available, though, but that doesn’t seem to deter customers from waiting around until a fresh tray comes out of the oven. Cayard has a great selection of traditional Haitian-style cakes too, including a super moist sweet potato cake called pen patat made with boniato yams and seasoned with a generous amount of freshly grated ginger. On weekends, they also serve soup joumou to go, and like their pate, the soup tends to sell out quickly.
This North Miami Beach restaurant is in a tiny strip mall behind a Taco Bell. The takeout-only spot is often packed, but the line moves swiftly as customers grab boxes of fritay, stews, and other Creole dishes. If you’re running short on time, get something from the steam counter, like a solid legim or mayi kole (cornmeal and bean stew), and you’ll be out in minutes. They also have buttery baked pate, rich Creole bread, and a locally made Haitian grapefruit preserve (chadèk). The service is quick and friendly. The fritay takes a little longer since everything is fried to order, but it’s worth the wait.
