Riviera Focacceria Italiana

Loved it! Great food, pesto is amazing, and great service! We will be back! Guest around us speaking italian, so i knew we were at an authentic italian restaurant!

Cute place, nice waitperson, mediocre food. The meu is way too limited-​no chicken or traditional pasta dishes. Tuna over smashed chick peas didn’t work. The past was so aldente it was like eating damp rope. We left hungry and disappointed.

Had a great experience. Authentic Italian food from the region. The service was incredible and the owner is very attentive and great host. We had the pesto lasagna and was very light. The shrimp and zucchini pasta was amazing and the focaccia to die for. Great for a Sunday lunch with the family. Looking coward to go back and try new things. Hats off to the owner and the the employees.

From the moment we were warmly greeted at the restaurant we knew that this was going to be a different experience. We started with the pesto focaccia. It was very good but not quite the life changing experience promised on the menu. We had the buratta which was excellent. We shared the tuna which I thought was outstanding. We shared a bottle of the Classico Chianti which was very enjoyable. The room is very pleasant and the service was attentive. We will be back.

I wish Unilocal allowed six stars for places like Riviera. Food and service are truly outstanding, and the décor is also very cute. Do yourself a favor and eat here. You need to try the authentic focaccia al formaggio at least once in your lifetime: it is unbelievable, and big enough to share between two or three (even four if ordered as an appetizer). Then, if you are into pasta, have mandilli al pesto. Riviera makes the best pesto I have had outside of Italy. Otherwise, try their seafood, which is also delicious. We had the tuna and the octopus salad. Yummy! As of the wine, try a Pigato from Liguria, which is a rare find in the U.S. Seriously, if I lived in Miami, I would be here at least once a week. I am so bummed they decided to open in Miami and not in NYC. We need Riviera in NYC, too!

I would most definitely recommend dining here. Today was my first visit and I will be going back in 3 days as I will be working back in Midtown Miami.
Today we ordered the following:
Carpaccio di Polpo —
(thinly sliced poached octopus, fennel salad, lemon dressing). The lemon dressing was a perfect compliment to the octopus.
Focaccia col Formaggio — A «must»! Delicious imported cheese in a very thin focaccia. Crispy goodness. I had to order this to see for myself after reading so many good reviews about it. Just to confirm, the reviews are accurate, Focaccia col Formaggio is delightful! Almost too good to share!
Pansoti al Sugo di Noci — Spinach and cheese filled homemade pasta in a crazy good cheese, walnut and cream sauce. The pasta was cooked to perfection and the spinach filling was very flavorful. Not a heavy pasta, or heavy sauce but an ample amount of mouth watering flavors. A true example of culinary excellence.
Tonno alla Ligure
6 oz. tuna, seared on one side, capers, pine nuts, parsley, Taggiasca olives gremolata, on chickpeas purée. We really liked this dish. There was plenty of tuna and the gremolata was a delicious accompaniment. Each dish was beautifully presented.
Along with your meal they serve focaccia breadsticks. They were truly exceptional and were perfect with my pasta.
For dessert we ordered 3 Tarts to go. I wish we bought a dozen. Each of the orange, raspberry and apricot were heaven. The homemade tarts have the best crust I have ever had on a tart. I will be honest and say I am not sharing these last bites of tart with anyone.

So happy to have a true authentic Italian neighborhood restaurant with great food, service and the loving attention of the Fabio! Focaccia with the special cheese imported from Italy is beyond! Home made pasta with a variety of sauces sublime and the tuna tartare with the citrus salad a perfect combination of flavors. As we were leaving we decided to try the tarts on display and the torte a la nonna (did taste like grandma made it) was yummy!!! Everything made in house and reasonably priced. Don’t want to forget super wines and they were happy to give a taste before pouring the while glass, allowing us to pick our favorite. Can’t wait to go back !

A wonderful dining experience from the minute we walked in the door until we hugged the owner, Fabio, goodbye.
Wonderful ambience greets you when you enter. It’s apparent the staff and owners enjoy their job and are thrilled to have you as their guest. It was moderately priced and worth every cent. Three of us had wine, appetizer, meals, coffee, and dessert for under $ 100.
The food is utterly amazing. I’d never experienced focaccia like this before. The cheese is unique to Italy and flown here weekly. The focaccia is home made and melts in your mouth. Absolutely delicious.
The pasta is homemade and out of this world. Cooked to perfection.
I loved every minute and will definitely go back the next time we visit Miami.
Fabio is Fabiolous!

Waitress was really friendly and timely.
The bread starters are sooooo fluffy!
It’s a nice laid back setting for any meal

Nice restaurant, great service. I didn’t think the Gorgonzola focaccia was too great, I’d suggest ordering a different one. The red meat ravioli was good and so was the maggiorana. I think it’s ok for good Italian food, however it did not blow my mind away.

A little pricey for lunch. I had pasta with tomato basil sauce. Fresh noodles were good, but the sauce was a little bland.
I’d go back for noodles as they’re a market too. However, I’m making my own sauce.

The place is small but very cute. The food was delicious– we had octopus carpaccio, the gnocchi was very light (not that thick potato flavor), the shellfish pasta was delicious and made fresh, to order. I’m allergic to crustaceans so I had them make it without shrimp. The panna cotta was extremely good dessert!
It’s a great place for romantic dinners and special occasions. However, not so much for everyday dining or lunch break from the office

A true Italian place, where the specialty is Foccacia (a bit on the expensive side) but definitely worth it. One of the details that differentiates this restaurant from others, is that you can buy sauces and pastas separately and later prepare them at home. We certainly enjoyed the food, even though we found it a bit heavy for dinner; we recommend this place for lunch.
What we liked the most: Focaccia Genovese Fritta

Yup 2 stars For the $ 55 dollar lunch. Poor service — no surprise for Miami but I’m on a walker (because of my back surgery done on feb1st) and we got a table and oops no menu. Then the drinks arrived after the food and the food is not impressive at all! I ordered a caprese which is a staple Italian dish correct? Wrong-​it arrived without even basil leaves! Omg yeah tots-​then when I asked for the leaves I was given in a full branch inside of an empty glass… Should I go any further? See plenty of Miami good restaurants come and go in the «fickle» city and this one will probably be another statistic if it doesn’t change the execution. Up the service standards and quite honestly the food as well-​you have the location already.

La pasta es casera hecha a mano. La focaccia muy suave por dentro y tostadita por fuera. 100% recomendada.

Riviera Focacceria Italiana
LOCATION
Midtown Miami, across the Design District.
AMBIANCE
Simple design and I am not saying this in a negative way. They didn’t try to go fancy, they kept it simple, an Italian eatery. That’s good enough for me.
SERVICE
Service was good on the two occasions we went there. I see a few reviewers complained about service not being fast, but this is not Wendy’s, it’s an Italian eatery, so being fast is not a requirement.
FOOD
Very good. The Focaccia obviously is a must have here, as they base their place on this dish. For a classic try the Focaccia Cheese and of course the Pesto focaccia: owners are from Genova so if they don’t know how to make pesto nobody knows.
Among the pasta dishes I loved the Pansoti al sugo di noci, stiffed pasta with spianch and cheese in a walnut sauce… great idea! Also tasty and delicate at the same time were the Mandilli di Seta al Pesto.
Something else is worth mentioning: the salumi are good and well-​priced and so is the wine. You can find good bottles at very reasonable prices.
VALUE
The quality of the food is very good. Menu is not huge but who cares, it’s good that’s what matters. Service is good and the prices are not bad at all. Overall, they might look overpriced to tourists from other US Cities, but in Miami and in the fancy area called Midtown, I call these prices reasonable.
Value is good and I will be back.
Final comment
Try the pasta and focaccia with pesto sauces, it’s their classic being that they are from Genova. Good choices of salumi as appetizers.
Definitely a place I will go to again.

Everything good from the start. The service was great, the beer very cold and the home made bread soft and warm. When my pasta arrived it was so good that I forgot to take a pictue. I’m glad i took a picture before it arrived so you can see everything looked really good. Definetely coming back ^_^

Da Dio!!! mangiare qua e andare al cielo e ritornare… it is just to good… the best Italian food in Miami! Don’t forget to have dessert :)

Supreme, delicioso la foccaccia buenisima, me encanto.
La atencion y el ambiente del lugar es bellisimo.
Pocos lugares como este aqui en miami.
Muy recomendable.

I feel horrible because I love this place so much jaja. I cheated on my other Italian favorite spot! The food is just so amazing!!! Taste so homemade and the place it just reminds me so much of Italy, feels like we are at Italy. The food, and the ambience is very cozy and many Italian locals stop frequently, which is a plus. I only have one complain, I want more! I think the entrees are very small, I would prefer to be served just a little bit more since well the price is not that cheap. Nevertheless, the food is so amazing that I would definitely go back and bring my Italian friends :)

What comes to mind when thinking about Focaccia? If you are like most people, you probably instantly thought of the soft, fluffy pizza-​type bread that has been popularized in Italian restaurants all around the world. If that is the case, I have news for you: real focaccia, the kind that was invented hundreds of years ago in the Ligurian town of Recco, has nothing to do with this fluffy version. Recco-​style focaccia actually consists of two incredibly thin layers of dough stuffed with dreamy melted cheese, and it is one of those delicacies that is very rarely seen outside of Italy. Fortunately, if you live in Miami you too can enjoy this unique dish thanks to Riviera Focacceria, a new Ligurian restaurant that opened in Midtown Shops a couple of months ago.
If you go to Riviera Focacceria, you absolutely must have the Focaccia di Recco. It would simply be a crime not to. The traditional cheese one is filled with stracchino, a tasty soft cheese that is so unique and important in the production of the dish, that it is flown weekly directly from Italy. A couple of months ago, I was lucky to try the original dish in Recco, so I was a bit skeptical before having it again in Miami, thinking that it would never be the same as my experience in Italy. I am happy to report that it is exactly the same, and this is thanks to Massimo Travaglini, the Geneva-​born Master Focaccere and Executive Chef of the restaurant, who specializes not only in this unique focaccia, but also, in traditional dishes from the Northern Italian region of Liguria.
The great thing about this place is that they have different types of focaccia, including one with ham (Focaccia con Cotto) and one with Genovese pesto, a sauce made with local organic sweet basil, pine nuts, parmigan cheese, garlic and Ligurian extra virgin olive oil. Normally, I would have gone for the pesto one in a heartbeat, but given that my boyfriend cannot stand the smell of garlic and having it would have meant having to be at least 3 ft. away from him the rest of the night, I decided to go for the traditional cheese one instead. This turned out to be a great choice and a win-​win for both of us.
Just like the focaccia, the rest of the menu is also top notch. Since the place is also known for its homemade and always fresh pasta, I went for the Pansoti al Sugo di Noci, a light dumpling filled with spinach, ricotta cheese, chards and spices and than served with a delicate walnut sauce, which also turned out to be a perfect choice. The sauce was so creamy and cheesy that I ended up scraping my plate with the fork to enjoy every last bit!
Despite my initial pre-​judgement, I was quite impressed with my experience at Riviera Focacceria. This place is as authentic as you can get in the states, and it is most definitely a new addition to my list of favorite Italian restaurants in Miami.

My husband and I went to Riviera this past Friday evening using a Gilt deal that included a bottle of wine, an appetizer, 2 entrees and dessert.
We loved the high ceiling, industrial look of the restaurant. We were seated inside, and had friendly, attentive service throughout.
We ordered muscles for an app– yummy, and even better when we soaked the croutons in the sauce at the bottom. I had seared tuna– very fresh. He had beef ravioli, which he said was amazing. We then shared a Nutella tart for dessert– the crust was SO buttery and crumbly… dangerous lol We will be back!