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 isn’t the club scene people picture when they hear Miami, and that’s the point. The clubs are 30 minutes south across a causeway. Up here you get easy 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’s no boardwalk strip to wander, so you drive to a room, park and stay a while.
Five pockets hold almost everything worth going out for. The NE 163rd Street and NE 167th Street corridor is the city’s commercial spine, with the sports bars and hookah lounges sitting among the restaurants. North Miami, 5 to 10 minutes south along Biscayne Boulevard, holds the live music rooms, the brewery and the bottle shop. Two old-school dive bars sit west of I-95 on NW 7th Avenue, Little Haiti has a record store with a stage in the back, 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 at 3957 NE 163rd Street is the closest thing the city has to a dressed-up night out that doesn’t 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.
Duffy’s Sports Grill in Eastern Shores
Duffy’s Sports Grill sits a few doors down at 3969 NE 163rd Street, in the Eastern Shores plaza on the Intracoastal. It has more than 200 TVs, indoor and outdoor bars and a patio, which makes it the pick when the group includes people who’d rather eat than drink. It’s open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, until midnight Thursday and until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. It gets loud during Dolphins and Heat games, so go early for a table.
Original Sin Tavern on NE 19th Avenue
Original Sin Tavern at 18145 NE 19th Avenue 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 and runs only 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday and Monday, so eat before you settle in.
STYX Sports Bar and Grill for Pool and Game Days
STYX Sports Bar & Grill on West Dixie Highway runs 13 pool tables and a wall of screens, which makes it the answer for a group that wants to watch something and still stand up occasionally. It’s open noon to 4 a.m. daily, with a daily happy hour and Taco 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 big part of North Miami Beach nightlife. Hubble Bubble Lounge at 3507 NE 163rd Street pairs premium blends with a cocktail list, and its events calendar runs resident DJ nights with free entry for ages 21 and up. It’s open 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday and until 1 a.m. Sunday. Kabobji, farther west at 3055 NE 163rd Street, is a Lebanese kitchen serving kafta, shawarma and falafel until 11 p.m. daily, with hookah on the side, 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, Wine and Dive Bars South of the City
Lost City Brewing Company on NE 13th Court
Lost City Brewing Company at 12207 NE 13th Court is a nearby brewery taproom, roughly 10 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 aren’t 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, with a Wednesday song swap and an open mic on the fourth Saturday. 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, which holds the contents of one room, takes the backline without taking over a bedroom.
Sidewalk Bottleshop on West Dixie Highway
Sidewalk Bottleshop at 12831 W Dixie Highway in North Miami is a bottle shop and wine bar in one, better as an early stop than a last one.
Chicagoan Bar and Round Table West of I-95
Two old-school dives on NW 7th Avenue in Pinewood, west of I-95, cover the other end of the night. Chicagoan Bar at 10702 NW 7th Avenue is a locked-door, ring-the-bell room open 8 a.m. to 4 a.m., unfussy and cheap, and that’s the appeal. Round Table Sports Bar & Lounge at 11205 NW 7th Avenue is a castle-shaped dive with doorbell entry, open 11 a.m. to 3 a.m., and a 30-and-older policy, so check the group’s ages before you drive over.
JAZZ at MOCA North Miami
MOCA North Miami at 770 NE 125th Street runs the JAZZ at MOCA series through the year, which makes a contemporary art museum one of the more reliable music venues in the area. Check the museum’s calendar for the next date, because weather occasionally moves a show. The museum 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 doesn’t run weekly.
Miami Beach and Little Haiti After Dark
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 hosted more than 140 public concerts, festivals and events last year drawing over 70,000 people, and a fair share of its shows are free. Buy tickets ahead, and remember it’s outdoors, so a summer show can meet a passing storm.
Sweat Records in Little Haiti
Sweat Records at 5505 NE 2nd Avenue 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. Records and Florida apartments are a bad match, so a climate-controlled 5×5 unit, about the size of a small closet, 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 its own lot or street parking out front, which is a different proposition from hunting a Miami Beach garage on a Saturday. The trade is that you’re driving, so plan a ride home if the night runs long.
Closing times vary more than you’d 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 thin nights here, so aim for the sports bars. Steve’s Pizza at 12101 Biscayne Boulevard is the late-night food answer, a counter that has served New York-style slices for decades and stays open until 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 a.m. Sunday. 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, about a garage and a half, until the forecast cone moves on. Anyone who’d 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 isn’t competing with them. What it offers instead is bars you can park at, hookah lounges, pool tables, a listening room nearby and one waterfront lounge, at a fraction of the cover charges and drink prices.
What’s 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 an ocean 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’s 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 easier and drinks cost less.
Does North Miami Beach have a brewery?
The nearest brewery taproom is Lost City Brewing Company at 12207 NE 13th Court in North Miami, about 10 minutes south of the 163rd Street corridor. Hours aren’t published on its landing page, so check the tap list and events calendar or call before going.
Where to Put What Doesn’t 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. A 10×10 unit takes a one-bedroom apartment’s worth of furniture if you’re between leases, a 10×15 holds a two-bedroom apartment, and 10×20 space, the size of a one-car garage, covers a three-bedroom home or the contents of five rooms. 5×15 units, about a large walk-in closet, handle the contents of two rooms, 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.
