Miami's Best Outdoor Dining Is Not on South Beach. Here's Where It Actually Is.

The outdoor dining list that Resy publishes for Miami is more useful than most guides to the subject because it is not organized by neighborhood prestige. It is organized by what the platform's guests actually liked. The result is a map of Miami outdoor dining that looks nothing like the one most visitors carry in their heads.

Sunny's Steakhouse in Little River has an outside courtyard that appears on the list. El Turco in Buena Vista has a garden. Petralunga in North Bay Village has a raised patio. Silverlake Bistro in Miami Beach has a patio. Amara at Paraiso in Edgewater has a breezy room with natural light. Ferraro's Kitchen in the Upper East Side has a patio. Kitchen 57 in South Miami has an outside section. Americana Kitchen at Loews Coral Gables has a terrace.

The pattern is consistent: the best outdoor dining in Miami is in neighborhoods where the restaurants have space to build something worth sitting in. Buena Vista has El Turco's garden — Turkish cuisine, all-day menu, a room that perpetuates the legacy of Turkish culinary traditions in a setting that feels nothing like a hotel terrace. Edgewater has Amara at Paraiso — Michael Schwartz's Modern Latin room, sleek and breezy, with natural light and a waterfront location that most people in Miami have never visited.

North Bay Village has Petralunga — 4.9 stars, 2,600 reviews, Italian and pizza, a raised patio that appears on both the Top Rated and Outdoor Dining lists. South Miami has Babette — a bistro covered in greenery with a patio and a global cuisine menu that Resy describes as having a little bit of magic. These are not the restaurants that appear in most Miami dining guides. They are the restaurants that the people who live in Miami actually go to.

Miami's outdoor dining season runs from roughly October through April — the months when the humidity drops and the temperature is exactly right for sitting outside at 8pm. The restaurants that have invested in serious outdoor spaces know this. The courtyard at Sunny's, the garden at El Turco, the raised patio at Petralunga — these are not afterthoughts. They are the point.

The full list: Sunny's Steakhouse (Little River, outside courtyard), El Turco (Buena Vista, garden), Petralunga (North Bay Village, raised patio), Silverlake Bistro (Miami Beach, patio), Amara at Paraiso (Edgewater, breezy room), Ferraro's Kitchen (Upper East Side, patio), Kitchen 57 (South Miami, outside), Americana Kitchen at Loews Coral Gables (Coral Gables, terrace), Babette (South Miami, patio). All bookable on Resy.