Rao’s Miami Beach

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

These are one of Rao’s most famous dishes. They are softer than your average meatball, but don’t crumble and lose their shape if you cut one in half with a spoon. They’re good and you’re here, so order them.

photo credit: Courtesy Rao's

Seafood Salad

Parts of this seafood salad, like the calamari and crab, are tender. Other parts, like the lobster and shrimp, are rubbery and overcooked.

Gemelli Pesto

If you’re a pesto person, you’ll probably enjoy this. Each forkful really punches you in the face with basil and garlic—two things we’ll always happily let punch us in the face.

photo credit: Courtesy Rao's

Fiochette

This is another favorite from the very straightforward pasta options. Sweet pear and ricotta is a flavor combination that never lets us down, and it doesn’t here either.

photo credit: Courtesy Rao's

Veal Chop Parmesan

This is a solid veal. But it's covered in so much cheese and marinara that there could be an old shoe underneath, and it'd probably still taste fine.