Leonardo in Miami Beach, Led by Igor Dze, Serves Up Pasta, Cocktails, and Cabaret

Leonardo on Miami Beach Serves Up Pasta, Cocktails, and Cabaret

By Eric Barton | April 16, 2026

AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and a freelance journalist who has reviewed restaurants for more than two decades. Email him here.

The new Miami Beach restaurant Leonardo leans hard into old-world references: deep green walls, antique mirrors, warm wood, chandeliers, da Vinci references. But the larger pitch is ceremony, a little glamour, and the notion that dinner should feel like an event.

That part makes sense for Miami Beach, where restaurants are forever chasing atmosphere. Leonardo founder and co-owner Igor Dze built the place around the kind of Italian meal that stretches, with courses arriving deliberately and the room gaining momentum as the meal moves along. Later in the night, live music and cabaret performers come in, and the whole thing shifts from dinner toward supperclub.

Running the kitchen is chef Andrea Albanese, who brings roots in Tuscany and a fine-dining résumé. The menu includes beef carpaccio with 36-month Parmigiano Reggiano, burrata with tomato gazpacho and basil cream, tuna tartare sharpened with mango and sesame oil, and a raw bar with oysters and caviar service. The pasta section is the heart of it, from tagliatelle with slow-cooked meat ragù to spaghetti alle vongole with Manila clams and bottarga.

There’s also lots of tableside theatrics, like a whole branzino that gets flambéed tableside and the fettuccine that’s finished in a wheel of Parmesan with truffle. The steak side runs to filet mignon and New York strip, which gives the room some ballast when the tableside flames and polished cocktails start doing their part.

The drinks program includes a pancetta-washed Italian old-fashioned, a Miami Manhattan with amaro, a tomato peach negroni, spritzes, zero-proof options, and an Italian wine list built for people who know their Amarones from their Albarossas.

Leonardo is open for dinner Wednesday through Monday, then pushes later on Thursday through Saturday, when the place runs until 3 in the morning. On a stretch of Miami Beach that can be a harder sell for serious dining, Leonardo is betting that a polished room, good pasta, and some well-timed theatrics might be enough.

Content Taken From  https://www.theadventuristmagazine.com/city-guides/the-south/florida/miami/leonardo-restaurant-miami-beach