For any inquiries or appointment requests
The residents of Vita at Grove Isle, a 65-home bayfront development on a 20-acre private island off of Coconut Grove, enjoy views, pools, tennis courts, a marina, and enough seclusion to forget they're just minutes from the mainland. What they may not enjoy is spending Thanksgiving Day — even in kitchens outfitted with Molteni cabinetry and full Miele suites — basting, stirring, and timing side dishes. Fortunately, three excellent Grove restaurants are near enough to count as local, and each has put together a holiday menu that makes dining out look like the smarter move.
Bellini at Mr. C Miami – Coconut Grove | 2988 McFarlane Rd
The Cipriani family knows a thing or two about Italian hospitality, now in their fourth generation of the business. Their rooftop restaurant at Coconut Grove’s Mr. C hotel delivers sweeping Biscayne Bay views and a menu that balances Cipriani classics with enough contemporary polish to keep things interesting. The carpaccio is textbook. The branzino, finished with black olives and parsnip purée, is thoughtfully executed. And the setting — yacht-inspired walnut finishes, terraces open to the water, the European ease Miami does so well — makes it the kind of place where a sunset reservation always feels like the right call. This Thanksgiving, Bellini's four-course menu starts with pumpkin velouté, moves through butternut squash risotto with crispy guanciale, then slow-roasted turkey with cranberry gastrique, and ends with tart tatin à la mode. Available for both lunch and dinner, alongside the regular menu.
Sadelle's | 3321 Mary Street
Ken Fulk designed Sadelle's in shades of blue and white, with enough light and terrace space to make brunch feel like an event. The restaurant arrived in Coconut Grove in 2021, bringing New York-style all-day dining and a scene that's chic but never overdone. Smoked salmon towers are the signature, but the real draws are simpler: French toast with a light, crisp, and sweet, custardy interior, cheese blintzes that belong on every table, and pigs in a blanket that are better than expected. Named after co-founder Jeff Zalaznick's great-grandmother, the space buzzes with energy but stays warm enough to feel welcoming rather than frantic. For Thanksgiving, Sadelle's serves brunch — the kind of holiday morning that trades stress for style, with seasonal touches and a relaxed approach that makes the meal feel more like a celebration than an obligation.
Ariete | 3540 Main Hwy
Chef Michael Beltran named his Michelin-starred restaurant after a Cuban bakery in Pinar del Río where his grandparents once worked, and that sense of personal history runs through everything at Ariete. The food is technically precise (he trained under Norman Van Aken and Michael Schwartz) but emotionally grounded, with dishes like foie gras meeting naranja agria caramel and flan layered with candy cap mushrooms and sambuca crema. It's the kind of Cuban-American cooking that feels like a history lesson and a glimpse of the future in one, served in a space that's polished but never stiff. The indoor-outdoor setting keeps things warm, the service is the right amount of attentive, and the whole experience feels gourmet and genuinely welcoming. For Thanksgiving, the prix fixe menu brings that same thoughtfulness to the holiday table: smoked fish tart and turkey fricassee pastelitos to start, traditional sides like stuffing and green bean casserole alongside the kind of elevated touches –foie torchon with cranberry "butter," Humboldt Fog flan –that remind you exactly where you are.
Whether you're drawn to Michelin-starred achievement, Ritz-Carlton refinement, or Italian ease with a bay view, Coconut Grove's restaurant scene features Thanksgiving offerings polished enough to justify the short trip off the island. Interested in Vita at Grove Isle? Inquire with the sales team today.