Go to the corner where Miracle Mile meets Galiano Street and you can eat three different Japanese meals within about a hundred feet of each other. Walk a few blocks west, past 270 and 332 Miracle Mile, and you'll pass storefronts that were announced months ago and still don't have opening dates.
In October 2026, that split is the clearest way to understand downtown Coral Gables. The restaurant news this year has been heavy, but the confirmed openings are bunched together. Most of them landed on the 100 block of the Mile or on the streets running beside it. The higher-numbered blocks are still mostly a list of names.
The 100 Block Filled First
Imoto, at 100 Miracle Mile with its entrance on Galiano Street, opened in June. It comes from chef Clay Conley's Ember Group, which brought it down from Palm Beach, where it has been one of the busiest spots in town since 2012. The Miami Herald reported in May that Conley's partners on the project are Piper Quinn and Sam Slattery. The menu matches the Palm Beach original, with Peking duck tacos, miso-marinated black cod, A5 Wagyu ribeye and crispy rice tuna. Imoto opened on the same corner as Buccan, Conley's other Gables restaurant.
Next door at 98 Miracle Mile is STAND, a Japanese daytime café from Shingo Akikuni, the chef behind Shingo, and his partner Kenzie Motai. According to Miami New Times' June openings roundup, chef de cuisine Lania Andrade bakes the milk bread for the sandos fresh every day. The menu includes chicken katsu with Kewpie mayo, a Wagyu filet mignon sando, Japanese-style egg salad, bento boxes and a rotating shio pan, which is a buttery milk-bread roll. The drinks are matcha and single-origin Guatemalan coffee.
Then on September 23, Bonsai Sushi opened at 111 Miracle Mile, a year after The Burn Miami first reported the plans. So in less than four months, the 100 block picked up a Palm Beach sushi-and-small-plates restaurant, a Japanese bakery café and a second sushi spot. This end of the Mile now covers the whole day, from a morning matcha at STAND to a late dinner at Imoto.
Off the Mile, the Side Streets Kept Up
The other confirmed openings are just off the Mile. That fits the same pattern: new places have gone into downtown's denser core, not spread evenly across it.
- Bar Zorro, 146 Giralda Ave. A Spanish and Iberian tapas and cocktail bar in the former Clutch Burger space. The local guide MiamiNav credits it to the team behind Calista Taverna and My Cousin Nick, and The Infatuation's openings guide lists it among August arrivals.
- Zuccaly, 111 Palermo Ave., Suite 112. An Italian food hall from Da Silva Hospitality, the family business led by Erasmo da Silva, with chef Manuel Garcia running the kitchen. In June it was expected to open in the summer. By October 8, The Infatuation reported it had "finally opened" after a long construction period. It has a wood-fired pizza oven, a slicer for prosciutto sandwiches, pasta and dessert stations, and a bar.
- Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza, 110 Alhambra Circle. Chef Renato Viola's star-shaped pizza concept had planned to open in the last week of June. Coral Gables Magazine reported it open by mid-September.
The published coverage doesn't give exact first-service dates for Bar Zorro, Zuccaly or Mister O1. What it does confirm is that all three are serving now, within a short walk of Imoto's door on Galiano.
The Higher Blocks Are Still Waiting
Farther down the Mile, the picture changes. Bodega Taqueria y Tequila's Miracle Mile location was reported closed on September 8. Its space at 317 Miracle Mile is going to Call Your Mother, the bagel deli Andrew Dana and Daniela Moreira started in Washington, D.C., in 2018. This will be their first Florida location.
Dana told Miami New Times in August that he first looked for space in Miami in 2021 but couldn't find anything, so the company went to Denver first. He came back last December and found the Miracle Mile spot. The team hopes to start serving shortly after Thanksgiving, with opening planned for early December 2026. He also said the shop won't be subtle. "There will be some pink, there will be some yellow, and there will be some teal," he told New Times. On this stretch of the Mile, Call Your Mother is the only upcoming opening with a target month attached.
Several other downtown names are still waiting on one. The Coral Gables Business Improvement District published a roundup of upcoming openings in July. As of October 10, we found no confirmation that these have opened:
| Business | Address | Last reported timing |
|---|---|---|
| Azul Modern Mexican Cuisine | 127 Miracle Mile | "Sometime this coming fall," per an August 18 update |
| 16 Handles | 270 Miracle Mile | Temporary signage up in July, no date given |
| Babe Hot Pilates | 332 Miracle Mile | "Opening summer 2026," per the BID |
| TAP Brazilian Café | 142 Giralda Ave. | Mid-June target reported in April |
| Mitch's Downtown Bagel Café | 271 Alhambra Circle | "Later in 2026" |
| Nu Real Food | Miracle Mile, exact address not announced | Early fall target reported in June |
Some of these targets have already come and gone. TAP's mid-June date passed, and the BID still listed the café as forthcoming in its July post. Babe Hot Pilates' summer window has ended with no opening reported. None of this means the projects are off, but it does mean the dates are out of date. Calling ahead or checking the business's own channels is a better guide than the original announcement.
Mitch's and Call Your Mother will both be new bagel spots downtown, a block apart. If both open on time, the morning options at that end of downtown will grow a lot. For now, only Call Your Mother has a stated month.
Merrick Park Is on the Same Pattern
The Shops at Merrick Park looks similar, with plenty announced and little confirmed. La Pecora Bianca, a New York all-day Italian restaurant known for fresh pasta, is set for 360 San Lorenzo Ave., Suite 1430, and Miami New Times listed it as a November 2026 opening. A September 12 update from The Burn Miami kept the November target and still had no specific day.
Joe & the Juice was reported for Merrick Park in early September. The mall's online directory shows it, along with Bondi Sushi and CB2, as "Coming Soon," and none of the three has a date. Belamo is listed as "Now Open." Bondi Sushi was first reported in August 2025, so it has been "coming" for more than a year.
One Open Question on Galiano
The 100 block's run of openings came with one closing a few doors away. Sra. Martinez served its last dinner at 2325 Galiano St. on Saturday, September 26. Chef Michelle Bernstein and her husband and business partner, David Martinez, had reopened it in the former Open Stage Club space on December 13, 2024, twelve years after the original closed in the Design District. The Gables version had a dining room, a covered patio, a cocktail lounge and a stage for live music.
According to New Times, the couple is keeping the space and is already working on what comes next. They haven't said what the new project is or when it will open. Because the lease stays with the same chef and partner, the Galiano space is likely to keep a chef-run identity, but nothing has been announced. Of all the open questions downtown this fall, it's the one closest to the busy corner.
Right now, the places you can actually walk into are Imoto, STAND and Bonsai on the 100 block, plus Bar Zorro, Zuccaly and Mister O1 a few minutes away. The earliest date on the rest of the downtown list is November, at La Pecora Bianca.
New openings shape how a neighborhood feels day to day, and they're part of the local knowledge that matters if you ever buy or sell near downtown Coral Gables. If you want to talk through what's changing around Miracle Mile and how it affects the streets nearby, Maria Penalver is glad to share what she's seeing. Let's Connect.
