Miami Spice runs through September 30, 2026, and diners can eat three-course lunch or brunch menus for $40, dinner menus for $50 or $65, and — new this year — a "Reserve" tier starting at $95, at more than 300 restaurants across Miami-Dade, per the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau's official program page, checked August 20, 2026.
What is Miami Spice, and when does it run in 2026?
Miami Spice is an annual prix-fixe dining promotion organized by the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), the region's official tourism agency. The 2026 edition is billed as the program's 25th anniversary, according to Camillus House, the nonprofit that partners with the promotion for in-restaurant donations — meaning the discount has run in some form every summer since the early 2000s, long enough that many Miami-Dade regulars plan their August and September dining calendar around it.
The GMCVB's own program page lists the current run as active through September 30, 2026, spanning the traditional August-to-September window the promotion has used in past years. Restaurants set their own participation dates within that window — some run Spice menus for the full two months, others for a shorter stretch, and a handful skip weekends or holidays entirely. The exact days a given menu is offered can vary by restaurant, so it's worth confirming before you book rather than assuming every night in the window qualifies.
How much does a Miami Spice meal actually cost?
The GMCVB's official pricing structure for 2026 has three tiers: $40 for a three-course brunch or lunch menu, $50 or $65 for a three-course dinner menu, and a new "Reserve" tier starting at $95 for what the program describes as "elevated" or "special" dining experiences. Individual restaurants set their own price within those bands and can charge more for the Reserve tier — Nusr-Et Miami in Brickell, for example, lists lunch at $40, dinner at $65, and its Reserve menu at $110, per the GMCVB's Brickell-area restaurant guide.
Those prices are for the food menu only. They do not include tax, tip, or beverages unless a restaurant explicitly says otherwise, so budget beyond the sticker price — a $65 dinner for two easily clears $170 once Florida sales tax, an 18-20% tip, and a glass of wine each are added. That gap between the advertised price and the real bill is the single most common point of confusion for first-time Miami Spice diners, and it's worth mentioning when you make the reservation if you want to avoid a surprise at checkout.
What's actually included in a Miami Spice menu?
Each participating restaurant designs its own three-course menu at its assigned price point — typically a choice of appetizer, entree, and dessert from a shortened, fixed selection rather than the full regular menu. The GMCVB's program pages describe the offering as "specially-priced three-course meals at top eateries for lunch/brunch and dinner," but the specific dishes, substitutions, and any add-on charges (a supplement for a steak or seafood upgrade, for instance) are set restaurant by restaurant.
Because the Spice menu is a curated subset rather than the full kitchen lineup, a restaurant's most popular dish or a chef's tasting-menu centerpiece may not be on it at all. Always check the individual restaurant's own Miami Spice menu before booking — the citywide price bands don't guarantee identical portions, ingredients, or courses from one kitchen to the next, and a $65 dinner at a steakhouse can look very different from a $65 dinner at a seafood spot.
Where can you find participating restaurants by neighborhood?
The GMCVB organizes its 2026 restaurant list by neighborhood, covering Coral Gables, South Beach, Doral, Wynwood and the Design District, Coconut Grove, Brickell and Downtown Miami, and Aventura. Coverage is uneven by area — some neighborhoods have dozens of participants, others considerably fewer — so it's worth checking the count for wherever you're actually headed before you commit to a reservation.
| Neighborhood | Participating restaurants (2026) |
|---|---|
| South Beach | 68 |
| Brickell / Downtown | 60 |
| Coral Gables | 35 |
| Coconut Grove | 26 |
| Aventura | 21 |
Doral, Wynwood, and the Design District also have active Miami Spice listings on the GMCVB site this year, though the program's neighborhood pages didn't break out an exact restaurant count for those three areas the way they did for the five above. Notable names on this year's citywide list include Joe's Stone Crab in South Beach, Nobu Miami in Mid-Beach, and L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon in the Design District, alongside steakhouse chains like Morton's and Fleming's with multiple locations participating, per the GMCVB's restaurant directory. In Brickell specifically, the lineup includes Quinto, Nusr-Et Miami, Delilah Miami, Claudie, Rosa Sky Rooftop, Casa Zeru, Sugar, Tea Room, and Hutong.
What's new for 2026: the Reserve tier
The headline change this year is the Reserve tier, a step above the standard $50-$65 dinner menus, starting at $95 and marketed as covering "special experiences" rather than a standard fixed menu. The GMCVB doesn't define a single format for Reserve menus across every restaurant — at Nusr-Et it runs $110 for an upgraded selection — so treat it as a restaurant-by-restaurant premium option rather than a fixed citywide product, and confirm exactly what's included (extra courses, a wine pairing, a chef's-table seat) before booking a Reserve table over a standard one.
How does the Camillus House donation work?
Miami Spice is paired with an in-restaurant fundraiser for Camillus House, a Miami nonprofit that provides shelter, meals, and services to people experiencing homelessness. Diners scan a QR code at their table to reach Camillus House's donation platform and can give any amount; the nonprofit's own site frames the impact in dollar terms — $10 covers a hot meal, $30 covers three meals, $50 supports a week of job training and life-skills development, $75 funds a night of emergency shelter with meals and case management, and $125 covers a full day of wraparound care, including shelter, meals, and one-on-one case management.
Camillus House reports serving 7,298 individuals a year across its full slate of programs — including mental health treatment, job training, veterans services, family services, and eviction prevention — and says it safely housed 3,065 clients and served 149,150 hot meals, according to the figures published on its own site. The donation is optional and separate from the restaurant bill; it's an add-on at checkout via the QR code, not a built-in surcharge on the Spice menu price.
How do you actually book a table?
Because participation dates, exact menu items, and whether a restaurant takes walk-ins all vary by location, the practical move is to pick a neighborhood from the GMCVB's list, then check that specific restaurant's own Miami Spice page or call ahead — especially for popular names like Joe's Stone Crab or Nobu, where Spice-menu tables can book up during peak weeks in August and September. For delivery rather than dine-in, the Miami Spice program page also points diners to Uber Eats for restaurants offering Spice menus to go, though delivery availability and pricing depend on the individual restaurant and aren't guaranteed to match the dine-in price.
Whichever neighborhood you land in, the core math holds citywide for 2026: $40 for lunch or brunch, $50 or $65 for dinner, and $95-plus for the new Reserve tier, before tax, tip, and drinks — figures worth reconfirming at Camillus House's Miami Spice page or the restaurant directly if you're booking close to the September 30 close.
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