Name: Sushi by Scratch Miami
Address: 3242 Charles Ave, Coconut Grove, 33133, US
Price range: $$$$

The Restaurant

Sushi by Scratch Restaurants Miami occupies a converted house on Charles Avenue, a side street tucked behind Main Highway, with no signage and a deliberately speakeasy-style entry that opens onto a dim foyer where guests are met with a complimentary cocktail before the doors to the counter open. Inside, ten seats sit in a single line facing the chefs, who work in clear sight for the entire seventeen-course service. The room was awarded a Michelin star almost immediately after opening, an unusual recognition speed for any new sushi restaurant in the United States.

The Sushi by Scratch concept, built originally by chef Phillip Frankland Lee and his team in Los Angeles, runs an omakase that departs from edomae orthodoxy. The seventeen pieces of nigiri are constructed with house-aged fish, finishing salts, and an arsenal of toppings that read more like fine dining than traditional sushi: smoked uni with caviar; blue crab with salt-cured egg yolk; A5 wagyu nigiri torched at the counter and finished with truffle. Each piece is placed individually, by the chef, on the guest's stone slab, a one-to-one delivery that turns the meal into a sequence of small conversations.

The format is $185 per person, plus a 20% service charge, with two pairing options: a five-pour beverage flight ($85, mixing sake, cocktails, and beer) and a sake-only six-pour ($110). Three seatings each evening (5pm, 7:15pm, 9:30pm) keep the room at exactly ten covers and the pacing tight. For Coconut Grove visitors looking for the most concentrated Michelin experience in the neighbourhood, and for solo diners specifically, Sushi by Scratch is unmatched: a counter format in which eating alone is not just acceptable but optimal.

Primary Occasion

Why This Is Coconut Grove’s Solo Dining Pick

For solo dining, Sushi by Scratch is purpose-built. The ten-seat counter format means every guest receives identical attention, the chefs make a point of conversation across the line, and the seventeen-course pacing, about ninety minutes, leaves no awkward gap. The speakeasy entry adds a small adventure to arriving alone. The pairing flights are calibrated to one drinker. And the $185 per person, with no minimum spend or party-size penalty, is a fairer transaction for one diner than almost any starred restaurant in Miami.