The best restaurants in Pembroke Pines, FL sit on three stretches of road, not in a downtown. The Shops at Pembroke Gardens and the Pembroke Center plaza across Flamingo Road hold the patio dining and the wood-fired grills. Pines Boulevard between University Drive and Hiatus Road carries the Italian, Peruvian and daytime kitchens. A short run of University Drive on the east side holds the city's oldest white-tablecloth room. This guide sorts them by cuisine, says what to order, and flags which kitchens close at nine.
The Three Dining Corridors in Pembroke Pines
Pembroke Pines is the second-largest city in Broward County and roughly 34 square miles of it, which means you drive to dinner and you park once. Visit Lauderdale, the county's official tourism bureau, frames the city around the same landmarks locals use for directions: the Shops at Pembroke Gardens with its 75-plus retailers, Pembroke Lakes Mall with more than 150, and the Charles F. Dodge City Center.
The Flamingo Road cluster is the one to pick if you want dinner and a drink in the same trip. The Shops at Pembroke Gardens is open-air and genuinely walkable end to end, and Pembroke Center sits directly across the road with more sit-down dining and the only two bars in the city that stay open past 1 a.m.
Pines Boulevard is the everyday corridor. Independents, chains and daytime cafes share the same strip plazas between University Drive and Hiatus Road, which is where the city's cheapest serious cooking is. Price tiers run about $15 to $20 a head at the daytime and off-price rooms, $25 to $40 at the mid-tier independents, and past $50 once you are into steaks, tasting menus or a bottle of wine.
Wood-Fired Grills and Wine-Driven Dining
Brimstone Woodfire Grill at the Shops at Pembroke Gardens is the default special-occasion room on the west side, built around woodfired steaks, seafood and a sushi list. Weekend brunch runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the kitchen leads with shrimp and grits made with stone-ground white cheddar and Nutella challah French toast. Live DJs start at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, so the dining room turns loud after nine. Ask for the patio if you want to hold a conversation, and park in the Pembroke Gardens deck instead of circling the surface lot.
Firebirds Wood Fired Grill in Pembroke Center does hand-cut aged steaks and wood-grilled seafood, and it has the most useful happy hour in the city: seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the bar and on the patio. Weekend brunch is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., where the grilled salmon Benedict with lobster queso and the steak and eggs tacos are the two orders worth the drive. Firebirds lists lunch entrees around $15 to $18 and dinner closer to $28 to $32 a person. Reserve for dinner.
Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant on Pines Boulevard is a Napa-style tasting room attached to a modern dining room, and the order of operations matters. Dining reservations are strongly recommended, but wine tastings are walk-in only and seated in arrival order, so come before the 6 p.m. rush if the tasting bar is the point. Wine O'Clock happy hour runs Monday to Friday, 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The kitchen closes at 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Italian Kitchens on Pines Boulevard and University Drive
Capriccio Ristorante at 2424 N University Drive has been open since 1987 and has never pretended otherwise. White tablecloths, an octagonal granite bar under a six-foot chandelier, live piano, violin and vocals most weekends, and dancing until midnight on Friday and Saturday. The menu runs by section through antipasti, house pasta, frutta di mare and pesce, with a rotating Chef Select list. It is BYOB-friendly with a corkage policy and allows outside cake, which is why it takes so many anniversary and rehearsal-dinner bookings. Reserve for any party over six.
Sosta Caffe at 10800 Pines Boulevard is the scratch-pasta counterweight: smaller, cheaper and quieter. The three-layer lasagna, linguine alle vongole, osso buco and pollo alla Milanese are the house list, and the tiramisu is made in-house. The room is small enough that the 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. block on Friday and Saturday is a genuine crunch, so book either side of it. Doors close at 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10:30 p.m. on weekends.
Peruvian and Cuban Tables
Cebiche-Bar at 10860 Pines Boulevard is the best-value serious meal on the corridor if you time it. Order a ceviche and the lomo saltado; the causas, arroz con mariscos and pulpo a la parrilla are what regulars come back for. Weekday lunch specials run Monday to Friday from noon to 3 p.m., happy hour follows from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and there is a Sunday breakfast service from 9 a.m. to noon that almost nobody else in the area offers.
Havana 1957 is the Broward outpost of a Miami Beach and Las Vegas group rather than an independent, and it is built for sharing: the Cuban Combo, Havana 1957 chicken, pernil with plantains, mojitos mixed at the table, tres leches to finish. The retro Havana build-out is heavy on photo backdrops, so expect groups. Wednesday is Ladies Havanights, which shifts the room from family dinner to bar crowd after nine.
French, Greek and Mediterranean Dining Near the City Line
La Brochette Bistro on North Hiatus Road technically carries a Hollywood address, sitting just across the Pembroke Pines line, and locals treat it as theirs anyway. The kitchen has run French and Mediterranean fine dining since 1993: whole bronzino, Chilean sea bass, roasted half duck, lobster tail schnitzel and a proper French onion soup. Lunch, Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., is the value window. Dinner starts at 5 p.m., Saturday is dinner only, and most nights end at 9 p.m., so this is not a late table.
Mezes Greek Taverna is worth naming because Visit Lauderdale singles it out among the city's local favorites for its Greek small plates and grilled fish. Its own website did not respond while we were checking sources for this guide, so treat hours as unconfirmed and call before you drive out. Greek is thin on the ground in southwest Broward, which is exactly why this one keeps showing up on shortlists.
Cheap Eats and Daytime Kitchens
First Watch at 12598 Pines Boulevard is the cheapest sit-down meal in the city and the one that runs out of hours fastest: 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily, no dinner, no reservations. Everything is cooked to order, which is the whole pitch. Use the online waitlist before you leave home on Saturday and Sunday, because the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. block is the worst stretch of the week. There is a patio and an order-ahead pickup option.
Another Broken Egg Cafe at 175 N Hiatus Road, in Pembroke Lake Square, is the same daypart with a full bar attached. Eggs Benedict, rotating seasonal specials, spiked cold brews and mimosas. Hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends, and there is an online waitlist that is worth using on Sunday. The patio is pet friendly. It closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen is the honest recommendation for a family of four who want table service and a bill that does not sting. Portions are large, the kitchen cooks from scratch, and the price point is the lowest of any full-service restaurant here. There are no reservations, so a 6 p.m. weekend arrival means waiting. Nobody should plan a trip around it, but plenty of Pembroke Pines weeknights end here.
Bar Kitchens and the Municipal Golf Clubhouse
The Pub Pembroke Pines at 237 SW 145th Terrace runs a British-pub format with a long draft list and a real events calendar: Ballad Bingo every Tuesday at 7 p.m., DJs Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., and recurring themed trivia. It is one of only two rooms in the city licensed and open until 2 a.m. on weekends. Sunday through Wednesday it closes at 11 p.m., so treat it as a weekend option. The dining side stays conversational longer than the bar side.
Twin Peaks at 440 SW 145th Avenue puts a scratch kitchen behind a wall of screens, so the plates hold up better than the sports-bar setting suggests. Order off the short list it does well: burgers, wings, street tacos, all cooked in house, with draft beer served at 29 degrees. Two happy-hour windows apply, weekdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and then 10 p.m. to close Sunday through Thursday, and that second one is the only genuine late-night drink deal in Pembroke Pines. Time your visit around the calendar, because an NFL Sunday or a UFC card fills the room and turns it loud from the first whistle.
Club Nineteen sits inside Pembroke Lakes Golf and Racquet Club, and because the course is city-owned, the restaurant is open to the public rather than members only. It is the obvious lunch after nine holes or a tennis morning, and the attached banquet hall takes private bookings. Hours follow the golf operation instead of normal restaurant hours, so call the club at 954-431-4144 before you count on it.
Parking, Reservations and Closing Times in Pembroke Pines
Closing time is the thing visitors get wrong here. Most Pembroke Pines kitchens stop seating at 9 p.m. or 9:30 p.m. on weeknights, including La Brochette, Cooper's Hawk and Sosta Caffe. If you land at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International and drive west at 8 p.m., you are eating at a bar kitchen, not at a table. Only The Pub and The Brass Tap, both in Pembroke Center, run to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Reservations split cleanly by corridor. The Pembroke Gardens and Pembroke Center rooms, Brimstone and Firebirds especially, take bookings and fill them on weekends. The Pines Boulevard daytime cafes take none at all and run online waitlists instead, which you should join from your driveway rather than the parking lot. Capriccio is the one place where calling ahead is close to mandatory for a group.
Parking is free everywhere and still worth thinking about. At the Shops at Pembroke Gardens, the row nearest the restaurants fills by noon on a Saturday, and the parking deck is faster than three laps of the surface lot. Pembroke Center is a flat plaza where you can park once and walk between Firebirds, The Pub and The Brass Tap, which is the closest thing the city has to a bar crawl.
Weather runs the patios. Weather Spark puts the hot season between May 29 and September 30 with highs above 87F, and August averages 90F with 77F overnight. From June through September, an afternoon thunderstorm is close to a daily event, so book indoors and treat the patio as a bonus. November through April is when outdoor tables in this city are actually pleasant.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some high-end restaurants in Pembroke Pines, Florida?
Capriccio Ristorante on University Drive is the city's longest-running fine-dining room, open since 1987, with live music and dancing on weekends. Brimstone Woodfire Grill and Firebirds Wood Fired Grill cover the modern steak and seafood end near Flamingo Road, and La Brochette Bistro, just over the line on Hiatus Road, is the French option. Expect $50 or more a head at all four once wine is involved.
Where are the cheap restaurants in Pembroke Pines?
First Watch on Pines Boulevard is the cheapest sit-down meal in the city, and it is breakfast and lunch only. Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen is the cheapest full-service dinner with table service. Cebiche-Bar runs weekday lunch specials from noon to 3 p.m., which is the least expensive way into a serious kitchen. All three take walk-ins, which is part of why they stay busy.
What restaurants are on Pines Blvd?
Pines Boulevard between University Drive and Hiatus Road carries most of the city's independent dining: Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant at 10310, Sosta Caffe at 10800, Cebiche-Bar at 10860 and First Watch at 12598. Another Broken Egg Cafe sits at the Hiatus Road end in Pembroke Lake Square. The stretch is strip-plaza retail, so watch the addresses rather than looking for a storefront.
What restaurants are at the Shops at Pembroke Gardens?
Brimstone Woodfire Grill is the anchor restaurant at the Shops at Pembroke Gardens, with a patio, a weekend brunch service and DJ nights on Friday and Saturday. The center mixes indoor and outdoor dining among more than 75 retailers, and it runs a monthly events program including a weekend farmers market. Pembroke Center, directly across Flamingo Road, adds Firebirds, The Pub and The Brass Tap.
Is Pembroke Gardens a walkable shopping center?
Yes. The Shops at Pembroke Gardens is an open-air lifestyle center designed to be walked end to end, and pets are welcome, which is why Saturday mornings are full of dogs. You still drive to it, since Pembroke Pines has no walkable downtown, but once you park you can cover the retail, the dining and the farmers market on foot in one trip.
Extra Space for the Overflow at Home
Restaurant hospitality runs on stored inventory, and so do the people who host at home. Small local operators in this city keep dry goods, catering gear and event equipment in climate controlled storage in Pembroke Pines rather than in a back room they are paying restaurant rent on, because South Florida humidity gets into paper, linens and packaging fast. If you cater or run a food business on the side, a unit is cheaper square footage than your kitchen.
The same logic covers a garage. Households clearing space for a dining room table or a holiday's worth of entertaining tend to land on 10×10 storage units, which hold about a one-bedroom's worth of furniture, or on 5×10 storage units when it is only seasonal bins and a few boxes.
Value Store It's Sheridan Village facility rents month to month with no long-term contract, and the lineup covers the rest of that range. A 5×5 locker takes boxes and small gear, 10×5 units suit a studio's worth of furniture, and 10×20 units handle a full house or a small business. If you are not sure which one fits, the storage unit size guide compares them side by side before you commit.
Once the space question is settled, the rest of the city is easy to plan. Our Pembroke Pines brunch guide covers the morning kitchens in more detail, the nightlife guide picks up where dinner ends, and the shopping guide and our roundup of things to do in Pembroke Pines fill in the hours in between.
