Macchialina

Since spending more time in Miami, we have also been making a point to find out where the locals eat. We kept hearing that Macchialina is where you go for rustic, authentic Italian food, and we have to say, the locals were right.

Is Macchialina fine dining by our usual definition? No. But they have never claimed to be, nor are they trying to be. This is the kind of Italian restaurant you go to when you want great handmade pasta, generous portions, and food that feels like it came from an Italian grandmother’s kitchen. There is nothing overly complicated about it, and that is exactly the point.

Italian restaurants can sometimes be tricky for us because of our dietary restrictions. Rather than navigating the menu course by course, we opted for the Chef’s Tasting Menu. It made the entire evening easier and gave us the opportunity to experience much more of the menu.

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  Agnolotti del Plin

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  Branzino

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  Bread Pudding

This is something we cannot stress enough: if you have dietary restrictions, never be embarrassed to communicate them. A good restaurant wants to take care of you. Give the kitchen the information it needs, be respectful about it, and let them do what they do best. Macchialina handled ours without making us feel like we were missing out on anything.

The tasting menu is served family style, which meant instead of choosing a single dish for each course, we had several to share. Our antipasti included three different dishes, followed by three different pastas. The burrata crostini was fantastic, and the polenta was classic Italian comfort food done exactly right. And while the topping may get most of the attention on a crostini, the bread can make or break it. Macchialina’s house-made bread absolutely made it.

Then came the pasta. Everything is made from scratch, and having three different preparations on the table was one of our favorite parts of choosing the tasting menu. There is something very fitting about experiencing food like this family style, with multiple bowls of pasta in the middle of the table and everyone trying a little of everything. 

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  Broccolini al Cesare

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  Burrata Crostini

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  Cacio e Pepe

For our entrée, the chef sent out branzino, one of Carmine’s favorites, so there were certainly no complaints from our table. We also added the wine pairing, and the value of the entire experience genuinely surprised us. We eat a lot of tasting menus and have seen just about every version of a wine pairing, and the amount of food and wine Macchialina serves at this price point is impressive. You absolutely will not leave hungry.

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  Tiramisu

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  Vegetarian Polenta

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  Tagliolini ai Funghi

Do not come expecting flashy Miami. Macchialina is not about spectacle, and it does not need to be. Come hungry, order the tasting menu, let the kitchen take care of you, and enjoy a staff that hustles and genuinely seems to enjoy having you there.

Miami has plenty of restaurants designed to impress. Macchialina is simply a really good neighborhood Italian restaurant serving really good food, and we completely understand why the locals keep recommending it.