North Miami Beach nightlife runs on neighborhood bars, hookah lounges, pool tables and one waterfront restaurant that turns into a late lounge after dinner. It is not the club scene people picture when they hear Miami, and that is the point. The clubs are 30 minutes south across a causeway. Up here you get free parking, drinks that cost what drinks should cost, and a bartender who knows your order by the third visit. This guide covers where to go by neighborhood, what stays open latest, and what to eat at 1 a.m.
How the Nightlife Map Works in North Miami Beach
North Miami Beach is a compact inland city of about 43,700 people, and despite the name it has no beach inside its own limits. The sand is in Sunny Isles Beach, across the Intracoastal Waterway (U.S. Census and city history via Wikipedia). There is no boardwalk strip to wander, so you drive to a room, park, and stay a while.
Four pockets hold almost everything worth going out for. The 163rd Street and NE 167th Street corridor is the city's commercial spine, with the bars and hookah lounges sitting among the restaurants. North Miami, five to ten minutes south along Biscayne Boulevard, holds the live music rooms, the brewery and the wine bar. Aventura has the big sports bars, and Miami Beach's North Beach neighborhood gets the outdoor concerts. Nothing is walkable between pockets, so plan on one venue a night. To start with dinner, the best restaurants in North Miami Beach sit on the same streets as most of these bars.
Bars and Lounges Inside North Miami Beach
Lique Miami on the 163rd Street Waterfront
Lique Miami is the closest thing the city has to a dressed-up night out that does not require crossing a causeway. Dinner on the water rolls into a late lounge with DJs, and the bar runs 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4 p.m. to midnight Sunday. Reserve for weekends, because walking in at 10 p.m. on a Saturday rarely works.
Original Sin Tavern on NE 19th Avenue
Original Sin Tavern is the late-night anchor of the city, with pool, karaoke, trivia, a daily happy hour and a kitchen turning out burgers and spicy chicken sandwiches. The bar runs to 4 a.m. every night, opening at 4 p.m. on weekdays and noon on weekends. The kitchen is the catch: it shuts at midnight Tuesday through Saturday, so eat before you settle in.
STYX Sports Bar and Grill for Pool and Game Days
STYX Sports Bar & Grill runs 13 pool tables and more than 30 screens, which makes it the answer for a group that wants to watch something and still stand up occasionally. Happy hour runs daily from noon to 8 p.m., with specials all day Tuesday, so the room fills long before the late crowd arrives. DJs play Wednesdays and Saturdays. Hours shift around big game days, so call ahead.
Hookah on 163rd Street: Hubble Bubble Lounge and Kabobji
Hookah is a bigger part of North Miami Beach nightlife than it is anywhere south of here. Hubble Bubble Lounge pairs premium blends with a cocktail list and books DJs and acoustic sets midweek, which is the reason to go on a Wednesday instead of a Friday. Kabobji, across 163rd Street from Oleta River State Park, serves hookah alongside lamb kafta wraps and falafel, so dinner turns into a two-hour sit.
Rooms this size rarely have back-of-house space to spare. Independent bars and lounges around here often keep glassware, syrups and dry stock in climate controlled storage in North Miami Beach rather than a hot stockroom, because the humidity wrecks packaging and labels faster than most owners expect.
Live Music, Beer and Wine in North Miami
Lost City Brewing Company on NE 13th Court
Lost City Brewing Company at 12207 NE 13th Court is the closest brewery taproom to North Miami Beach, roughly ten minutes south, and the one stop here that answers the brewery question without sending you to Wynwood. It keeps its own tap list, an events calendar and a venue page for private parties. Hours are not posted on the landing page, so check the calendar or call 305-456-0318 before you drive over.
Luna Star Cafe on NE 125th Street
Luna Star Cafe is a listening room, not a bar with a band in the corner. Folk, Celtic, jazz and singer-songwriter sets run Wednesday and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until midnight, and the house asks the room to keep voices to a whisper during a set. Most shows carry a cover that goes straight to the performers, and the place is closed Sunday through Tuesday.
Musicians who play rooms like this face the same problem every working band has. Amps, cases and a PA have to live somewhere between gigs, and a 5×10 unit holds a full backline without taking over a bedroom.
Sidewalk Bottle Shop, Chicagoan Bar and Round Table
Three North Miami rooms cover the low-key end of an evening. Sidewalk Bottle Shop Miami is a bottle shop and wine bar in one, better as an early stop than a last one. Chicagoan Bar is unfussy and cheap with no cocktail program to speak of, and that is the appeal. Round Table Sports Bar & Lounge is the local fallback when everything on Collins Avenue has a line and a cover.
JAZZ at MOCA North Miami
MOCA North Miami at 770 NE 125th Street runs the JAZZ at MOCA series and Conversations at MOCA through the year, which makes a contemporary art museum one of the more reliable music venues in the area. It opens Wednesday from noon to 7 p.m. and Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday. Check the events calendar first, because the series does not run weekly.
Aventura and the Beach Side After Dark
Duffy's Sports Grill in Aventura
Duffy's Sports Grill in Aventura is the family-friendly option, which matters when the group includes kids who still want to watch the game. Screens cover the walls, the beer list is broad, and there is waterfront seating. It gets loud during Dolphins and Heat games, so go early for a table.
Miami Beach Bandshell in North Beach
The Miami Beach Bandshell at 7275 Collins Avenue is the best live music venue within a 20 minute drive, an open-air amphitheater programmed by the Rhythm Foundation. It runs more than 140 public concerts, festivals and events a year drawing over 70,000 people, and a fair share of those shows are free. Buy tickets ahead, and remember it is outdoors, so a summer show can meet a passing storm.
Sweat Records in Little Haiti
Sweat Records is an independent record store with a vegan coffee counter and a stage, and its in-store performances are the reason to time a visit rather than drop by. Street parking on the surrounding blocks is easier than it looks. Records and Florida apartments are a bad match, so a 5×5 locker with climate control is the usual answer once a collection outgrows the shelf.
Parking, Last Call and Late-Night Food
Parking is the quiet advantage of going out up here. Almost every venue on this list has a lot or free street parking, and none charge what a Miami Beach garage charges on a Saturday. The trade is that you are driving, so plan a ride home if the night runs long.
Closing times vary more than you would guess. Original Sin Tavern goes to 4 a.m. seven nights, Lique Miami stops at 2 a.m. on its latest night, Luna Star Cafe is dark Sunday through Tuesday, and MOCA closes Monday and Tuesday. Monday and Tuesday are genuinely thin nights here, so aim for the sports bars or drive south. Steve's Pizza on Biscayne Boulevard is the late-night food answer, a counter that has fed this neighborhood for decades with New York style slices and no reservations. The morning after is a separate problem, and the brunch spots in North Miami Beach handle it.
Weather changes the calculus from June through October. Clear mornings, an afternoon thunderstorm and an evening that clears again is the normal summer pattern, so outdoor shows usually survive. Hurricane season is the bigger factor, running June 1 to November 30 with a climatological peak around September 10 (National Hurricane Center). Operators along the corridor run the same drill every August, pulling patio furniture, umbrellas and outdoor sound gear inside or into a 10×30 storage unit until the forecast cone moves on. Anyone who would rather not drive should book near the room they want, and the hotels in and around North Miami Beach split between the Sunny Isles oceanfront and Aventura.
Frequently Asked Questions
What part of Miami has the best nightlife?
South Beach, Wynwood and Brickell carry the clubs, the rooftops and the latest closing times, and they sit 30 to 45 minutes from North Miami Beach. North Miami Beach is not competing with them. What it offers instead is bars you can park at, hookah lounges, pool tables, a listening room and one waterfront lounge, at a fraction of the cover charges and drink prices.
What is the difference between North Miami and North Miami Beach?
North Miami and North Miami Beach are two separate cities. North Miami sits immediately south, along NE 125th Street and Biscayne Boulevard, and is home to MOCA North Miami, Luna Star Cafe and Lost City Brewing Company. North Miami Beach is north of it, built around the 163rd and 167th Street corridor. Neither one has a beach; both sit inland from Sunny Isles Beach.
What are the best bars in North Beach, Miami?
North Beach is a Miami Beach neighborhood, not part of North Miami Beach, and it is about 20 minutes away over the 163rd Street causeway. Its main nightlife draw is the Miami Beach Bandshell, an open-air amphitheater with a heavy concert and festival calendar. For a sit-down bar night, most people up here stay on the mainland, where parking is free and drinks cost less.
Does North Miami Beach have a brewery?
The closest brewery taproom is Lost City Brewing Company at 12207 NE 13th Court in North Miami, about ten minutes south of the 163rd Street corridor. Hours are not published on its landing page, so check the tap list and events calendar or call before going. Beyond that, the nearest craft beer clusters are a longer drive south and west.
Where to Put What Does Not Fit in the Apartment
Apartments near 163rd Street and Biscayne Boulevard run small, and the gear that comes with a full social life has to live somewhere. Value Store It's North Miami Beach location rents month to month with no long term contract, and the office is open seven days a week. A 10×10 unit takes a one bedroom's worth of furniture if you are between leases, and 10×15 and 10×20 space cover a whole apartment or a small business's inventory. 5×15 units handle the long awkward things, boards and lighting rigs included. If a move here leaves you short on room, start there, and the things to do in North Miami Beach will keep you busy while the boxes wait.
