The Ten Best New Year's Eve 2016 Dinners in Miami

Though everyone celebrates New Year's Eve, the evening that transitions the old year into the new doesn't have to mean a wild night at the clubs or a tuxedo-clad formal. Sometimes, you just want to bring in the new with a fantastic dinner with friends or share a bottle of champagne with your loved ones.

This year, Miami's restaurants offer something for every celebrant — from a low-key à la carte meal to a decadent dinner. New Times has come up with an exhaustive list of restaurants offering holiday meals, but here are the ten most intriguing menus for your party planning.

All prices are exclusive of taxes and gratuities and reservations are strongly suggested — it is, after all, New Year's Eve. 

10. Edge Steak & Bar
Edge Steak & Bar is always a fantastic value for such a beautiful restaurant. Chef Aaron Brooks and his team are offering a four-course early dinner at 6 p.m that includes a champagne toast ($150). A five-course dinner starts at 9:30 p.m. ($190). The menu is still being finalized, but expect some steakhouse classics with surprising touches. After dinner, head over to the Edge terrace for a party with fire pits, a DJ, and gorgeous views with no cover and no velvet ropes (cash bar at the terrace). Make reservations at opentable.com. 

9. Macchialina Taverna Rustica
If you're looking for a casual New Year's with plenty of good food but none of the hype, Michael Pirolo and Jen Chaefsky's rustic Italian spot is offering several holiday dishes including whole fish, osso buco, and complimentary prosecco toast at Midnight. Dinner reservations start at 6 p.m. and can be made by calling 305-534-2124.

8. Talde at the Thompson Miami Beach Hotel
Ring in the new year at Talde at the Thompson Miami Beach Hotel. A five-course dinner consists of perilla leaf with fried shrimp, peanut chili, lime, coconut chanachur followed by lamb shawarma with red and white sauce and a zaatar pita with cucumber, smoked tomato, gelee, and puffed saffron rice. Chilled soba noodles with soy dashi, seasonal pickles, wasabi, and pea tendrils follows. The main course is Singapore chili lobster with shallots, lotus, and taro chips. For dessert, there's Vietnamese coffee-infused chocolate sesame balls with benne sugar and sweetened milk. Dinner is $125 per person and seatings are at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

7. The Redlander at Schnebly
Dinner on the farm starts at 8:30 p.m. and includes your meal and open bar of wine and handcrafted Miami Brewing Company beer for $125 per person. Dinner includes a winery tasting platter of chilled stone crabs with guava mustard sauce, local yellowtail snapper ceviche, charred lamb chops, and pulled local wild boar quesadilla. The second course is local bean and Florida lobster salad. For entrée, choose from a Florida filet mignon with Verde Farm yuca mash, Deal's dorrel pesto, and Paradise Farms carrots or cinnamon basil seared black grouper with Redland honey, chilled ponzu, Key West shrimp butter, and toasted local kale. A shared dessert platter for the table includes jasmine avocado rice pussing, flourless chocolate torte, and local goat cheese guava cheesecake with Key lime sabayon. All reservations must be pre-paid in advance and can be made at schneblywinery.com. 

6. Ariete
It's not every day you can preview a restaurant not yet open on New Year's, but Ariete (3540 Main Hwy., Miami) allows you to do just that. The Coconut Grove restaurant, set to open soon, is hosting a special dinner on December 31. Chef Michael Beltran will offer dinner from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. with a menu that includes canapés and champagne of smoked head cheese with grainy mustard, chicken liver filled cherries, lobster salad tea sandwich, and radish caviar butter rye toast. The first course is bitter greens with camembert pine nuts, honey, and saba. The second course is mackerel tartar and oyster aioli served with pork crackers. The third course is homemade ravioli oxtail with chantrelle mushrooms. A fourth course consists of local fish with porcini mushroom and dashi. A family meal of bone-in rib-eye bone marrow with caramelized onions and Parker House rolls follows. For dessert, enjoy the champagne and strawberries, a poppy seed and champagne sponge cake with macerated strawberries and sweet basil sorbet. Dinner is $95 per person or $145 with wine pairings. For reservations email [email protected]. 

5. Bazi
Chef Michael Pirolo and Jen Chafsky make the list again with their prix-fixe dinner at Bazi. From 9:30 to 11:30 p.m., enjoy a multi-course dinner for $120 per person. The first course, served family-style, offers tuna tataki, steamed buns, and edamame dumplings. The second course consists of shrimp lo mein and mushroom noodle. For entrée, choose between crispy Bazi duck, pan-seared grouper, or miso-marinated rib-eye. Finish with assorted desserts. Specials on champagne by the bottle include a Perrier Jouet NV Brut ($90), Henri Giraud Esprit De Giraud Rose ($125), Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Nicolas Francois 1999 ($200), and Perrier Jouet Belle Epouque 2012 ($250). The party goes on until 2 a.m. with DJ Tom Laroc and Miami Beach's fireworks can be seen from the patio. If you don't want an entire dinner, come for the open bar from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. for $55, which includes light bites.

4. Toscana Divino
Celebrate a Bond-themed New Year with three different dinner parties. All parties will include an authentic roulette table with a professional croupier from Venezia and the dinner menus include decadent offerings like fine caviar and foie gras. The Mi6 early dining party ($85) allows you to have an early dinner from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. All guests will have a chance to win authentic masks from Venice and artistic pieces from Florence. From 7:30 to 9:30, the Bond dining party ($85) allows you to dine and play roulette while a vocalist performs classic New Year's Eve standards. The Casino Royale party starts at 9:30 p.m. and includes dinner and DJ Corraso Rizza ($170). For reservations, call 305-371-2767.

3. Rusty Pelican
Rusty Pelican has amazing views, a beautiful ballroom, and a Broadway-themed New Year's with two distinct parties. The Broadway's 2016 Opening Night dinner ($175) starts at 10 p.m. and offers your choice of land or sea menus. The land menu includes American-style Kobe beef tataki with muscat grape, pickled oyster mushroom, lemon aioli, and elephant garlic chips for the first course. Spanish Iberico pork loin with baby black knight carrots, and foie gras mousse with a quail chorizo vinaigrette is the second course. Hand-rolled white truffle prime beef tenderloin with homemade Japanse ponzu gelee is the third course, and organic grass-fed 14-ounce dry-aged New York steak and purple asparagus with burnt lemon béarnaise is the entrée. There's chocolate decadence for dessert. The sea menu includes yuzu marinated hamachi with Russian Ostera caviar served with chili-spiced sesame oil sand for the first course. Ten-year Tawny Port wine-steamed razor clams served with a champagne foam and finger limes is the second course. One-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Geoduck ceviche with kaffir lime and mandarin orange served with charred shishito pepper and crispy geoduck is the third course. The entrée is crispy lionfish with parsnip leek puree, sautéed rainbow Swiss chard, and black garlic, with chocolate decadence for dessert.

A Times Square Gala at the Grand Ballroom ($250) will feature views of the city lights and a buffet with an array of stations including entrée and beverage selections; seating begins at 9 p.m.

2. Biltmore Hotel & Resort
For a swankadelic New Year's you can't get more elegant than the Biltmore. The Biltmore gala ($225 to $350) is strictly for adults and teens, and festivities begin at 8:30 p.m. with a dinner menu that includes maple leaf duck rillettes; pan-seared sea scallop with roasted wild mushroom and leek flan, parsnip crisp, trout roe, and applewood bacon foam; slow-roasted organic baby beets with spaghetti carrots and heirloom tomatoes served with organic greens, ginger yogurt dressing, and toasted cashew dust; coffee-crusted zabuton of beef served with lobster thermidor tartlet, asparagus and haricot vert bundle, roasted thyme baby carrots, and Bordelaise sauce; and a chocolate mousse dome served with chocolate fondant cake, a crisp hazelnut cookie, milk chocolate macaron, and vanilla chantilly for dessert. Kids get their very own party. The Neverland Bash ($75) features interactive activities and a kids’ buffet. The bash ends at 11:30 p.m. in time for families to get together to watch the fireworks over the golf course.

1. Alter
Bradley Kilgore's Wynwood dining spot is offering two seatings for the New Year. A five course prix-fixe early seating starts at 7 p.m. ($125) and includes Billecart-Salmon Rose, Mareuil-sur-Ay NV; variations of local tomatoes (smoked, confit, raw, powdered, gelee); egg/bread/caviar with sea scallop esmupa, truffle pearls, and caviar; grouper cheeks with shoyu hollandaise, sea lettuces, and black rice; strip loin with petite onion jus, bone marrow, and kale; and dulcey crème with winter apple, cassis merengue, and sweet soy cake. The second seating starts at 9:30 p.m. ($250) and includes everything in the earlier dinner with two additional courses: king crab with kaffir lime, drop pepper kimchi, and kalamansi and a duck confit with mushroom anglaise and ragout, and onion caramel. For reservations, visit altermiami.com.