The Listening Bar at Kaori May Be Miami's Best Audiophile Bar Yet

It's getting close to 9 p.m. in Brickell, and the Listening Bar at Kaori is buzzing with activity. Guests are sipping plum liquor cocktails and nibbling on king crab spring rolls, sashimi, and other pan-Asian small plates. A DJ plays '80s dance and boogie tracks over a peerless speaker system. The decor is minimal yet tasteful, from the oblong, Noguchi-esque wooden tables to the sculptural chandelier resembling a group of origami cranes.

It's perhaps the ultimate audiophile bar Miami has been waiting for. Its biggest hurdle might be its location in the über-wealthy Brickell area, which may lead some to believe it makes for an expensive night out.

"It's a challenge to overcome that barrier that we're in Brickell," says Diego Pagola, a managing partner at Kaori. "That's a challenge, where it's like, how do we get people to go to Brickell and know that they're going to have an incredible experience and not feel that they got ripped off?"

Kaori, the two-year-old restaurant that positions itself as part of the "new Miami" culinary wave that includes Boia De and Jaguar Sun, opened the Listening Bar last month as a revamp of the two-year-old restaurant's downstairs bar. It's the latest space to join the city's burgeoning audiophile bar scene. When Dante's HiFi imported the concept from Japan in 2021, the small speakeasy in Wynwood instantly became the hottest spot in town. Though the sound quality is there, Dante's has done away with its initial ethos of a place to sit down and enjoy music and become something more akin to the lounge experience typically found around the city. It's become a Miami-fied version of something that, in its original form, was never meant to be gatekept.
Other spots have offered their take on the Japanese record bar, from the intimate Miami Sound Bar to the clubby Jolene, both in downtown. But the Listening Bar at Kaori feels different — more thoughtful, more comfortable, and more communal. Pagola, whose background is in design, drew inspiration from bars in Japan and elsewhere in Asia in search of a more faithful rendition of the concept. It's more akin to London's Brilliant Corners, one of the first audiophile bars to open outside of Japan. It's sophisticated without feeling ostentatious or gaudy, swanky, but not in-your-face or elitist. You could stop by for a special evening or a casual after-work cocktail — or just marvel at the killer sound system. It feels like a place for all seasons and all occasions, with a congenial atmosphere that's rare in Miami.

"It's more sit-down. Of course, it does get loud, but it's more like it's you, your friends, and what's happening in the auditory scape," Pagola says. "For me, that was a big intention. We really want to set our foot forward and stay true to that concept, that everybody that comes into the place has a table, has a place to sit."

In designing the new space, the Kaori team attempted to combine Japanese design principles — minimalism, wabi-sabi — with a sense of warmth, both in terms of looks and guest experience. Divisions between tables are minimized. Pagola notes that listening bars have thrived in cities with density and public transit — New York, Paris, and Tokyo — where people are more comfortable being in close contact with other people, and the Kaori team wanted to try something similar.

"The idea to create openness but still feel intimate was also the thought behind it," Pagola says. "People in those cities are so accustomed to having somebody sit next to them and not be bothered by their conversation, and Miami has hardly seen that."
Audiophiles, especially DJs, will find plenty to like about the place. There's the extraordinary high-dynamic-range speaker system designed by Danley Sound Labs, a hi-fi manufacturer based in Georgia. Digital-first DJs will be able to use the bar's CDJs. Vinyl fiends, meanwhile, can regale themselves with the bar's massive collection, drawn from a cache of roughly 130,000 records that Pagola acquired from a retired DJ. He says the Listening Bar was started partly as a way to utilize the collection of mostly funk, soul, disco, and Miami bass records rather than selling it, and he plans to incorporate it into future projects.

Guests are encouraged to get in on the vinyl action, too. On certain nights, staff will hand out pins to guests, granting them access to the record collection. They can then choose a record, hand it to a staff member along with the pin, and the record will be played on the sound system. "Think of it as an analog jukebox," Pagola says.

Perhaps the only caveat of the space is that food and beverages, while excellent, are somewhat high-priced in keeping with the restaurant's upscale menu. Plates range from $9 paletas to $32 wagyu and foie gras gyozas. Cocktails are uniformly $18, and the cheapest beers, either Sapporo or Kirin, cost $10. Still, the feat that Kaori has managed to pull off is impressive. It's not only a great bar with the potential to become a hub for Miami's audiophile community — it might be the best reason anyone's ever had to go to Brickell.

The Listening Bar at Kaori. 871 S. Miami Ave., Miami; 786-878-4493; kaorimiami.com. Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 5 to 11 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Reservations are strongly encouraged.

Correction: A previous version of this article said Kaori's managing partner's name is Diego Parola. His last name is Pagola.