Miami Guide Take
Zaytinya landed in South Beach carrying two decades of reputation from the original DC location, and it shows in how confidently the menu moves between three different Mediterranean traditions on one card. It’s not trying to be a quiet neighborhood mezze spot — it’s inside the Ritz-Carlton, and it reads like it, sleek room, dinner-party energy, open from breakfast straight through dinner.
Zaytinya is José Andrés’ Mediterranean project, and South Beach is one of the newer rooms carrying the name outside DC. The format is mezze — small plates built for sharing, pulled from Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese kitchens rather than picking one and going deep. That’s the whole premise of the menu: instead of a Greek restaurant or a Turkish restaurant, one table can order across all three traditions and end up with a spread that makes sense together.
The setting is the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, and the room plays to that — modern, polished, built for both a quick lunch and a slower dinner with cocktails. The wine list leans into Mediterranean bottles that don’t show up on most Miami menus, which is worth knowing if you’re the kind of table that orders wine before food. Open seven days, breakfast through dinner, so it’s one of the rare South Beach mezze rooms that isn’t dinner-only.
What to order
01 — Hommus Chickpea purée, garlic, tahini, harissa chili crisp. A hommus that would be fine on its own turns into the one you keep going back to because of the harissa chili crisp on top.
02 — Karpuzi Me Feta Compressed watermelon, ladolemono, Kalamata olives, feta, mint. The compressed watermelon holds its shape instead of turning to juice on the plate — order it specifically in summer.
03 — Bantijian Bil Laban Crispy eggplant, garlic yogurt, turmeric apricots, caramelized walnuts, mint. Crispy eggplant against cold garlic yogurt is the contrast that makes this one worth ordering.
04 — Adana Kebab* Ground lamb, grilled tomatoes, sumac, harissa pita, pickled. The one dish on this list that isn’t a small bite — order it as the anchor once the mezze has covered the table.
05 — Baklava Greek Cheesecake Honey ice cream, caramelized filo, Greek honey drizzle. The only dessert you need — baklava reworked as cheesecake instead of the usual syrup-soaked phyllo stack.
Also on the table and worth ordering: the olive orektika, labneh, baba ghannouge, crispy Brussels afelia, and mushroom kapnista — this is a mezze menu built for a full spread, not a tight edit.
