MIAReview
photo credit: Courtesy Rao's
Rao’s Miami Beach
Included In
Even in New York City, a land where a significant amount of currency in the social economy revolves around attaining impossible restaurant reservations, Rao’s stands out. This is because you—no matter how filthy rich, facially symmetrical, or relevant on TikTok—can’t get in. The more than 100-year-old Italian restaurant has a charmingly antiquated reservation system that ensures this. And so a garlicky cloud of mystique has hung over the Rao’s name for decades.
But when you drop Rao’s in another city, give it an online reservation system that only requires a little patience (and maybe an app), that mystique fades to reveal a standard red sauce restaurant that isn’t worth organizing your entire existence around.
photo credit: Courtesy Rao's
It’s not that you will have a bad meal at Rao’s. The food here is the kind of comforting, saucy Italian-American dishes that are hard to hate. Rao’s ownership has said its recipes don’t really deviate from the retail products they now sell in grocery stores around the country, and it tastes like it. The simple (bordering on a little boring) pastas and parms elicit memories of weekend dinners at a friend’s house, which can feel like a letdown if you came here expecting a meal that couldn’t be recreated at home with a trip to Publix and a little skill.
The interior design effort is respectable, but no amount of velvet or framed celebrity photos can account for the fact that the ceiling is simply 50 feet too high, which makes the place feel less like a classic Italian restaurant and more like a conference room that will host the American Dental Association next week.
photo credit: Courtesy Rao's
Sadly, the full nostalgia of this institution did not survive the commute intact. But there are enough pops of it to differentiate Rao’s from most of Miami’s more modern or Latin-influenced Italian restaurants. Servers sport tuxedos, Sinatra-esque voices sing through the speakers, and there’s a vague year-round Christmas theme going on. Rao’s old school New York essence feels miles away from the South Beach outside, so it’s not a terrible choice if you’re looking to take a small vacation via dinner.
Ultimately, the biggest reason to eat at Rao’s is to satisfy one’s curiosity. This is probably why vacationing New Yorkers have seemingly made up the majority of the dining room on each of our visits. Those folks have probably walked by the red doors of Rao’s in East Harlem and felt a pang of missing out. At least after a meal here, that feeling might diminish.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Courtesy Rao's
Rao’s Traditional Meatballs
photo credit: Courtesy Rao's
Seafood Salad
Gemelli Pesto
photo credit: Courtesy Rao's
Fiochette
photo credit: Courtesy Rao's
Veal Chop Parmesan