Design Inspiration
The Best Restaurant Websites in Miami
April 1, 2022
Miami restaurants are using BentoBox to grow their brands and increase their revenue. Here are some of our favorite examples.
Across the country, restaurant operators are preparing to face the "new normal" — and Miami, FL, restaurants are no different.
To do this, many restaurants are creating best-in-class websites that meet the challenges — and seize the opportunities — of the current moment. They're investing in custom design to leave a strong, brand-first impression on future diners. They're setting up online commerce stores to diversify revenue and fight back against third-party commissions. And they're integrating websites with other technology to streamline workflows and operate with fewer, higher-paid staff members.
Want to see how that looks in action? We curated some of the best Miami websites built on BentoBox, the premier online marketing and commerce platform for restaurants. Check them out below.
Cafe La Trova
Cafe La Trova's founder, Julio Cabrera, is a world-renowned cantinero who helped the restaurant earn a spot on the World's 50 Best Bars list. Its head chef, Michelle Bernstein, is a former James Beard Award winner and local culinary legend. Those are pretty impressive bona fides, and its website does a skillful job communicating them while also defining its own brand and letting photos of its Cuban-inspired food, drinks and venue do the talking.
Ghee
Since opening in 2017, Ghee has been so successful that it earned chef Niven Patel a spot on Food & Wine's 10 Best New Chefs list. Patel himself is central to Ghee's identity, and its website does an artful job making his presence felt. The homepage includes a quote from Patel, who explains that he wants guests "to walk into Ghee with the sense of entering my home," and a separate page introduces Rancho Patel, the farm he owns in Homestead that famously supplies all of Ghee's produce.
Pubbelly Sushi
What began as an offshoot from the original Pubbelly gastropub in Sunset Harbor has expanded into five locations — and counting. In fact, chef and founder José Mendín plans to effectively double the restaurant's footprint, with a goal of "solidifying Pubbelly Sushi as everyone’s 'neighborhood restaurant.'" The homepage of its website is extremely user-friendly, presenting guests with beautiful photos and links to each location. From there, guests can easily navigate to the location of their choosing and feel confident they're seeing correct information.
Mandolin Aegean Bistro
In addition to its delicious Mediterranean menu, Mandolin Aegean Bistro is known for its lush outdoor patio, which is famous for putting Floridians in a "Greek vacation" state of mind. Its website captures this feeling with big, sunny photos of the outdoor space, juicy produce and plated seafood, along with a charming European-style font. But despite the acclaim for its on-premises experience, Mandolin also prioritizes takeout and delivery, driving tens of thousands of dollars in monthly revenue with direct online ordering through its website.
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HaSalon
Major Food Group helped bring HaSalon to Miami — just as it did with Carbone, Coconut Grove and ZZ'z Club — but chef Eyal Shani is HaSalon's frontman. The upscale Israeli restaurant puts Shani front and center on its website, with his name and image prominent on the homepage and his impressive career outlined on a standalone page. It's a smart approach for this and other chef-driven concepts, though the website doesn't just focus on Shani: it also outlines the menu, accepts private event inquiries and has an impressive job applications page with open positions.
PLANTA
Plant-based restaurants like Planta must address two major audiences on their websites:
Plant-based diners researching a restaurant that serves their preferred foods.
Non-plant-based diners researching a restaurant that serves an unfamiliar foods.
The branding, design and menu photography on Planta's website successfully appeal to audience #1, while the sleek and intuitive menu page appeals to audience #2. The menu page also uses text-based descriptions in addition to PDFs, which improves SEO and drives more organic traffic to the site — an important consideration for all restaurants, but an especially important one for restaurants that cater to dietary restrictions.
Sugarcane Raw Bar & Grill
Sugarcane isn't just trendy; it's a trendsetter. It anchored the redevelopment of Midtown Miami over the past decade-plus, attracting hip, adventurous locals with its innovative small-plate menu and vibrant hospitality. Its website helps it stay on the vanguard of restaurant trends and culture, including a landing page for its nationwide shipping partnership with Duck & Waffle and Goldbelly.
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