The best restaurants in Margate, FL sit on three commercial strips rather than in a walkable downtown. Atlantic Boulevard carries the city's one white tablecloth room and its busiest all day cafes, State Road 7 (also called 441) holds the Haitian, Jamaican and Thai kitchens that give Margate its character, and Coconut Creek Parkway anchors the diner end. A ten minute drive west adds a brewpub and a couple of larger dining rooms. Here's what each corridor does well, what to order, and the hours that catch people out.
Margate's Dining Map: Three Corridors and One Short Drive
Margate covers about nine square miles and holds roughly 58,700 people, and it was laid out as a postwar Broward suburb rather than a town with a main street (U.S. Census Bureau). Almost every restaurant sits in a strip plaza on one of the commercial spines, so you'll drive between meals, but you'll also park free within thirty feet of the door.
Price tiers here are flat and low. Most of the city eats for well under $20 a plate, exactly one room qualifies as a special occasion restaurant, and the middle tier is thin. A family of four can eat Haitian griot, Jamaican curried goat or a Philly cheesesteak in Margate for less than one entree costs on Las Olas.
Timing matters more than in most South Florida cities. The median age at the 2020 Census was 44.3 and 21.5 percent of residents were 65 or older, so Margate eats early and most kitchens are dark by nine or ten. Delish Caribbean and Jesse's Sports Bar & Grill are the two rooms that run to 4 a.m. on a Saturday.
Atlantic Boulevard: The Special Occasion Room and the All Day Cafes
Atlantic Boulevard is Margate's main commercial spine and the corridor most visitors end up on. It runs the width of the city, connects Coral Square in one direction to Pompano Beach in the other, and holds Lakewood Shopping Center and most of the larger dining rooms.
Pasta And is the one restaurant in Margate people drive across Broward for. Chefs Luigi and Esperanza Marenco run it with their son Gian Marco, cooking northern Italian from the Piedmont with pasta made fresh daily, plus risotto, polenta, game and truffles. The cellar holds more than 1,000 Italian labels kept at temperature, a serious commitment for a small room at 4990 W Atlantic Blvd. It's dinner only, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and a weekend table needs booking. Temperature sensitive inventory is also why climate controlled storage in Margate gets used by so many small local businesses for overflow stock.
Toasted Cafe at 5428 W Atlantic Blvd has been family owned since 2016 and runs a split menu: Belgian waffles, pancakes and omelettes on one side, spinach pie, gyro pita, moussaka and pastitsio on the other. The breakfast quesadilla and the Belgian waffle with fresh fruit are the two the kitchen leans on. Hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, so the kitchen shuts at 2 sharp.
La Bamba Mexican and Spanish Restaurant II is the group dining answer on this corridor. Complimentary homemade chips and salsa arrive before you order, and fajitas, combo platters and oversized margaritas do the rest. The dining room is big and loud, built for families and birthday tables rather than a quiet dinner, so a weekday lunch table is easy and Friday evening is a wait.
State Road 7: Caribbean, Latin and Asian Kitchens
State Road 7 is where Margate's food gets genuinely interesting. The 441 corridor is the city's most internationally mixed strip, with Haitian, Jamaican and Thai kitchens in small plazas along it, plus a pizzeria and the city's best breakfast counter. Traffic is heavy at rush hour and left turns are the main frustration, so plan your approach from the side of the road you're already on.
Delish Caribbean Restaurant at 171 S State Rd 7 cooks Caribbean and Haitian creole: griot, tasso, stew chicken, whole fried fish, plantains and conch fritters. What separates it from everything else in the city is the clock. It runs 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, to midnight Friday and to 4 a.m. Saturday, which makes it the only real late night kitchen in Margate.
Grace of God Restaurant at 360 S State Rd 7 is Haitian home cooking at counter service prices, and regulars order the patties and the griot. It's open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days, clean and family friendly, and about as cheap as a full plate gets here.
The Dutch Pot Jamaican Restaurant works the same corridor from the Jamaican side, with jerk chicken, curried goat and daily plate specials off a steam table. Lunch is the rush, though the line moves quickly because most of it is takeout. Bring cash and don't expect table service.
Jasmine Thai & Sushi at 1785 N State Road 7 pairs classic Thai dishes with Chinese entrees and a sushi bar. The catch is the schedule: lunch runs Monday to Friday 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. only, and dinner starts again at 5. That mid afternoon gap strands more people than any other hours quirk in the city.
The Gem Eatery is the mom and pop breakfast and lunch counter that consistently ranks first in Margate for brunch, with biscuits and gravy, pancakes, cinnamon rolls and bottomless Colombian coffee. Doors open at 7 a.m. The room is genuinely small, so the Sunday queue is real and a weekday visit before 9 a.m. gets you straight to a table.
Anne Marie's Pizza Co at 2403 N State Road 7 does pizza, pasta, parm sliders, subs and salads, and reviewers name the garlic bread more often than the pies. It's closed Mondays for deep cleaning, opens at noon the rest of the week, and runs a happy hour Tuesday to Friday from 3 to 6.
Coconut Creek Parkway and the Rest of the City
Margate's remaining strengths are scattered through small plazas that reward knowing where you're going. These are the places locals send visitors when the question is where to eat rather than where to be seen.
Lester's Diner at 4701 Coconut Creek Pkwy has been a South Florida institution since 1967, serving full breakfast all day alongside omelettes, sandwiches and dinner entrees. The oversized coffee cup is the signature. This branch runs 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, so the 24 hour version means driving to the Fort Lauderdale location on State Road 84.
Spanky's Cheesesteak & Wings Factory currently sits at the top of Tripadvisor's Margate restaurant list, a fair result for a counter service storefront most people drive past for years. Order the cheesesteak first and the wings second.
Marthabrae Jamaican Restaurant runs a dedicated Sunday brunch service, which almost nothing else in Margate does, and it's Caribbean plates rather than eggs and pancakes. Confirm the service is running that week before you drive over. For the diner version of the same meal, our Margate brunch guide covers the sit down rooms and coffee counters separately.
Falafel Gourmet handles the vegetarian question better than anywhere else in the city, with falafel, shawarma wraps, tabbouleh and hummus in portions that run large for the price. Independents like this work out of storefronts with almost no back room, which is why 10×10 storage units are a common answer for catering gear and seasonal stock.
Jesse's Sports Bar & Grill at 5442 W Atlantic Blvd earns a mention on food as well as beer, with burgers, wings and Philly cheesesteaks alongside pool tables, dartboards and a calendar of karaoke, trivia and comedy. It's open until 2 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 4 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, the latest last call in Margate. Our Margate nightlife guide covers the rest of the bar side of the city, including J P Mulligan's and its forty plus drafts.
Worth the Drive Over the Coral Springs Line
Three kitchens just outside Margate get named by locals often enough to belong in an honest list, and none is more than about fifteen minutes away.
Livello at 2047 N University Dr in Coral Springs runs Italian with a real vegan section and a cocktail list, and it's one of the few nearby kitchens doing both lunch and dinner service properly. It's closed Mondays and serves 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., then again from 5. Delivery into Margate takes roughly 45 minutes, so eating in is the better version.
La Marsa sits near W Sample Road about two miles out and tops Yelp's list for the 33063 search radius. Mezze, grills and fresh bread make it the best group option in the area, because the menu is built to share.
Big Bear Brewing Co at 1800 N University Dr has brewed on site since July 1997 with no preservatives, and pairs the beer with an American grill menu of homemade soups and sauces. Happy hour runs daily from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. It closes earlier than most South Florida brewpubs, at 9:30 p.m. most nights, so plan it as an early evening.
Parking, Reservations and the Hours That Catch People Out
Parking is the easiest part of eating in Margate. Every restaurant in this guide sits in a plaza with free surface parking, so the valet math that shapes a night on Las Olas doesn't apply. What you're managing instead is drive time between plazas and the left turns on 441 at rush hour.
Reservations are rarely necessary and occasionally essential. Pasta And is the one room where a weekend table needs booking. Everywhere else the strategy is timing: weekday lunch, or before 6 p.m. on a weekend, and you'll walk in.
Mondays are the real trap. Pasta And, Anne Marie's Pizza Co and Livello all close on Mondays, which removes the Italian option at three price points at once. Toasted Cafe shuts at 2 p.m. daily and Jasmine Thai closes between 3 and 5, so a mid afternoon meal is narrower than it looks. Delish Caribbean, Grace of God and Lester's Diner are the seven day fallbacks.
Weather shapes the calendar too. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30 and peaks around September 10 (NOAA National Hurricane Center). Restaurants with patio seating spend storm watches hauling furniture indoors, and plenty of local businesses keep that seasonal overflow in a 5×10 unit rather than a back hallway. Snowbird season from January to April is the opposite problem, filling dining rooms; residents who close a condo for the summer often leave a closet's worth of belongings in a 5×5 locker instead of hauling it north.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best restaurant in Margate?
Pasta And is the best restaurant in Margate for a special occasion, serving northern Italian from the Piedmont with fresh daily pasta and a cellar of more than 1,000 Italian labels at 4990 W Atlantic Blvd. For everyday eating, Delish Caribbean and Grace of God on State Road 7 give you more food for the money.
What are the highest-rated restaurants in Margate?
Spanky's Cheesesteak & Wings Factory currently ranks first on Tripadvisor's Margate list, and The Gem Eatery leads the local breakfast and brunch rankings. La Marsa tops Yelp's results for the 33063 radius, though it sits just over the Coral Springs line. Ratings shift month to month, so treat all three as a starting point.
What is Margate, FL known for?
Margate is known as a quiet residential Broward County suburb of about 58,700 people, built around roughly 30 miles of canals and 19 city parks, 7.5 miles from the Atlantic (City of Margate). On the food side, it's known for cheap and excellent Caribbean, Haitian and Jamaican cooking along State Road 7.
How far is it from Fort Lauderdale to Margate, Florida?
Margate sits about 14 miles northwest of downtown Fort Lauderdale, roughly 30 minutes in normal traffic and longer at rush hour. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is about 20 minutes away, and the nearest ocean is Pompano Beach, about 9 miles straight east on Atlantic Boulevard.
Is Margate good for a night out?
Margate works for a relaxed night out rather than a late one. Jesse's Sports Bar & Grill serves until 4 a.m. Thursday through Saturday and Delish Caribbean's kitchen runs to 4 a.m. on Saturdays, but most restaurants close by nine or ten. For a bigger evening, Seminole Casino Coconut Creek is about ten minutes away.
Where Value Store It Fits Into a Margate Kitchen or Move
Restaurants aren't the only thing that runs out of room in a nine square mile city. Value Store It's Margate location rents month to month with no long term contract, opens seven days a week, and puts individual door alarms on the units. A 5×15 unit or a 10×5 storage space suits the boxes and equipment a condo or a small storefront can't hold. Step up to a 10×15 storage unit or a 10×20 unit for an apartment's worth of furniture during a renovation, and the 10×30 units take a house or a business inventory. If you're unsure which fits, the storage unit size guide beats guessing.
Planning a bigger trip around the food? Pair this guide with our roundup of things to do in Margate, the Margate shopping guide for the plazas these restaurants share, and our guide to moving to Margate if the meal is really a scouting trip.
