By Coral Gables Gazette staff

Coral Gables will offer a concentrated preview of its summer dining scene June 25, when Flavors of the Gables brings nearly two dozen restaurants, live music and specialty cocktails together for the official launch of Taste the Gables.

The tasting event runs from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Coral Gables Golf & Country Club, with check-in beginning at 6 p.m. It serves as the opening night for the city’s annual Restaurant Month, which runs throughout July and is designed to draw diners into local restaurants during the slower summer season.

For two hours, the city will compress a month-long dining campaign into a single room: signature bites, beverage samples, music and a restaurant lineup intended to show the breadth of what Coral Gables dining has become.

A tasting night before July

The format is straightforward: one night, multiple restaurants and unlimited signature bites from participating venues.

According to city and event materials, admission includes access to tasting stations, beverage samples and specialty cocktails at a Johnnie Walker bar. The event is reserved for adults 21 and older.

The evening is part celebration and part orientation. For diners who follow the city’s restaurant scene closely, it is a chance to sample several familiar names in one place. For those who have not fully explored Coral Gables’ dining range, it offers a compact tour of the city’s food economy: formal dining, Italian restaurants, Latin American kitchens, casual concepts, bakeries, gelato shops and dessert stops.

A broad restaurant lineup

The participating roster reflects the range Taste the Gables is trying to promote.

Event materials list restaurants and eateries including Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Fontana at the Biltmore Hotel, Salumeria 104, Tullio Ristorante Italiano, Francesco, Talavera Cocina Mexicana, El Ñaño, La Rosa Gastrobar, La Taberna Giralda and Costazul.

The lighter and more casual side of the lineup includes Belluz Pizza, Pinecrest Bakery, Oakberry, RivaReno Gelato, Gelato E Macchiato, Cantina Leon, Five Iron Golf and Let Them Have Cake.

The mix matters because Coral Gables’ dining identity is no longer limited to white-tablecloth dining or special-occasion restaurants. The city’s restaurant scene now includes high-end hotel dining, neighborhood favorites, fast-casual concepts, bakeries, dessert counters and restaurants that serve residents, office workers, students and visitors.

Flavors of the Gables is built to show that breadth in one evening.

Restaurant Month follows

The larger Taste the Gables program runs throughout July, when more than 75 participating restaurants are expected to offer prix fixe menus, special promotions and other dining incentives.

The program functions as both a culinary showcase and an economic development tool. July is traditionally a slower month for restaurants in South Florida, and the city uses Taste the Gables to encourage residents and visitors to dine locally, try new places and return to established favorites.

For Coral Gables, the timing also matters. The city is competing for diners not only with nearby Miami neighborhoods, but with broader regional restaurant promotions that arrive later in the summer. Taste the Gables gives the city its own July platform, focused specifically on restaurants within municipal boundaries.

Flavors of the Gables is the opening act: a two-hour tasting event designed to make the broader month-long program visible, social and immediate.

A Coral Gables setting

The choice of venue adds a civic layer to the evening without overwhelming the food.

Built in 1922, the Coral Gables Golf & Country Club was the city’s first public building and one of George Merrick’s early civic landmarks. In its early years, the club helped define the social life of the new community, drawing crowds to the palm patio and serving as a gathering place for prospective buyers and residents.

Much of the original building was lost in a 1983 fire. The six coral rock arches still visible across the golf course lawn remain among the surviving architectural traces of the original structure. The restored facility now serves as one of the city’s more prominent event venues.

For a restaurant-month launch, the setting works because it places the city’s contemporary dining scene inside one of its older civic gathering places.

If you go

Flavors of the Gables
Thursday, June 25, 2026
7 to 9 p.m.; check-in begins at 6 p.m.
Coral Gables Golf & Country Club, 990 Alhambra Circle
Admission: General admission, $80; Flavors Duo Pass, $140 for two
Discount: Event materials advertise a limited-time early bird promotion offering 25 percent off
Age: 21 and older
Information: TasteTheGables.com

Taste the Gables Restaurant Month
Throughout July 2026
More than 75 participating restaurants expected