10 New Options for Business Entertaining in Miami/South Florida

New York City's Lure Fishbar opened a Miami outpost at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel. Opened in December, the seafood restaurant is designed in a stylish nautical theme meant to evoke the Queen Mary (its private dining room displays a replica of the famed ocean liner). The restaurant offers ocean views as well as a terrace and patio with their own bars. For private events, Lure seats 20 people in the main dining room or 28 in the wine vault. Buyouts are available for seated events of as many as 200 guests or receptions for 300 guests.

Opened in March, Swine Southern Table & Bar is an homage to the pig with a focus on regional Southern fare. The Coral Gables restaurant offers its upstairs as a private dining space for as many as 75 guests. It also has a separate bar. Groups can also reserve the farm table downstairs for whole pig roasts.

Michael Mina 74, an American bistro, opened in November in the main lobby of Fontainebleau Miami Beach. Design firm AvroKO created the space, which shifts from a dining concept to a lounge as the evening progresses. The bar seats 18, the dining room seats 164, and a private dining room seats 12.

Executive chef Ralph Pagano has relaunched Alba, a 6,000-square-foot seaside Italian restaurant and lounge at Solé on the Ocean hotel. The eatery seats 20 at a semiprivate chef’s table or holds 130 for larger events. A 16-seat bar serves craft cocktails. The decor includes floor-to-ceiling windows and vintage “pinup girls go to the beach"-theme artwork.

For open-air events, the Surfcomber hotel redesigned its lounge, the Social Club. The Kimpton property's lounge features indoor and outdoor seating in a modern tropical color scheme. Its menu features Latin-infused bites such as Bahamian conch tacos and green vegetable gazpacho and libations such as a Pisco punch. The Social Club seats 45 or holds 100 for receptions.

Take groups of out-of-towners to the Cypress Room, a new restaurant by Miami's celebrated chef Michael Schwartz and the Genuine Hospitality Group. The design district eatery opened in late March and has an American menu developed around a wood-burning grill and rotisserie and ingredients from small farmers, foragers, and fishermen.

The Villa by Barton G., in the former Versace Mansion, reopened in March following a change in ownership. New owners the Nakash Family, which also own Jordache Enterprises, brought back Barton G. Weiss and his team to operate the new Mediterranean restaurant, the 26-seat Il Sole, the 10-room boutique hotel, and private events. Events at the 19,000-square-foot property can be held at the restaurant as well as poolside, in the courtyard, or on the roof. The property underwent light renovations, although it retains the opulent aesthetic of Gianni Versace.

Spanish chef and restaurateur Oscar Manresa opened his first United States restaurant, Perfecto Gastrobar, in April. The industrial-chic space in Brickell seats about 60 people in the main dining room, as well as 20 at the bar and another 52 on a terrace.

Stephen Starr Events opened Verde, a restaurant in the new Perez Art Museum Miami, where it is the official caterer. The 104-seat restaurant, which opened in December, was designed by Herzog & de Meuron and is seeking LEED certification for its environmentally sustainable features. The decor includes concrete walls that are draped with gauze-like material, pendant lighting, wood tables, and beige banquettes. The seafood-heavy menu includes ceviche, charred octopus, sashimi, sweet corn and jumbo lump crab soup, gulf shrimp, and Florida-theme desserts such as cane sugar donuts with Cuban coffee dip.

The restaurant and live music venue Arena Restaurant and Lounge opened in South Beach in November. The space has two large wall projection screens as well as customizable LED lighting. For private events, the dining room and performance space seat 90 people or hold 200 for receptions. The venue can also help book dancers, performance artists, specialty acts, and greeters.