The Best of Coral Gables 2025

The Best of the Best

Editor’s Note

Our summer “Best Of ” issue is one of our favorites, as we face the pleasant challenge of trying to decide what are the best restaurants, bars, shops, arts, entertainment, sports, recreation, architecture, and public places in the city. As always, we give our readers their say-so, which we publish alongside the choices made by our dedicated staff. We often agree but frequently disagree. Sometime the gradations of quality are so subtle that it’s a matter of splitting hairs. And I am not saying that we know better than our readers, but it is our full-time job to scope out the best there is.

This year’s selections are slightly different than last year’s. We left out a few categories simply because there was no reason to take a vote. There is no better cinema than the Coral Gables Art Cinema. There are no other Best Theaters than Actors’ Playhouse and GableStage. And this year we left out the categories of the Best Place to Meet Women and the Best Place to Meet Men, after readers told us that the suggestions of Books & Books (to meet women) and Hillstone (to meet men) just was not panning out. We still left in the Best Place to Park, even though most readers responded with variations of “I’m not going to tell you, because then you’ll snag my spot!”

Beyond our annual listing, this issue also carries several Best Of articles and acknowledgements. We really do think that Peter Iglesias is the best city manager. And that our Summer Best Bets are the best things to do this summer. And that the Black Room at the Globe is the best place to hold a party. And that Kogin 2.0 the best fusion restaurant in the Gables. And that the winners of the Capturing the Gables photo contest were the best pictures taken.

With such a plethora of best things, we again thank our luck stars to be part of the Coral Gables community, one that was set into motion 100 years ago by one of the best city planners in the country, George Merrick. And for that matter, Rebyl Zain, who we profile in this issue, was the best leader when it came to creating the best downtown – aka Miracle Mile – in Florida. Enjoy this issue, enjoy your city, and don’t hesitate to let us know what you think.