Shingo
“Fourteen seats in the La Palma building, one Michelin star, nigiri dressed with nothing but nikiri. Book it for an anniversary.”
About Shingo
Coral Gables was built on Mediterranean fantasies, which makes it a strange and somehow perfect place to find one of Florida's most disciplined Japanese counters. Shingo occupies a corner of the historic La Palma building at 112 Alhambra Circle, where chef Shingo Akikuni works a fourteen seat counter under his own name. The room is calm to the point of ceremony: seatings at 6:00 and 9:00, Tuesday to Saturday, and a menu that is entirely the chef's call.
The style is restraint as a statement. Fish arrives almost entirely from Japan, is cut with a uniformity that becomes hypnotic over a full progression, and reaches the counter dressed with little more than a brush of nikiri. The signature omakase runs $275; on Tuesdays and Wednesdays a sixteen course nigiri experience is offered at $180, with a sake and wine pairing at $95 beside either. Watching Akikuni work is the entertainment, and it is enough.
The star arrived with the Michelin guide's Florida expansion and holds in the 2026 guide, an endorsement of a room that never chases spectacle. Booking follows a rhythm: reservations for the following month open at the start of each month on Tock, and the fourteen seats for prime nights go early. Changes need 48 hours notice. For Coral Gables, long on European formality, this counter is the neighborhood's quietest and best luxury.
The Room
Fourteen seats along a pale counter in the La Palma building, with the polish of Coral Gables outside and near monastic focus inside. Lighting is warm, the soundtrack is knives and low conversation, and the two nightly seatings keep the room synchronized. Dress smart; the Gables does. This is the rare omakase room where a jacket does not feel like a costume.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
The reservation is the easy part to explain. The occasion is the part that decides the memory.
For a marker night built on attention
An anniversary at Shingo swaps grandeur for focus, which suits couples who have done the ballroom dinners. Two of fourteen seats feel intimate without isolation, and the omakase's rhythm, one perfect piece after another, gives the evening its structure so you can give each other the rest. Book the 9:00 seating for the unhurried version, note the occasion on Tock, and add the $95 pairing rather than wrestling a wine list sideways.
For a first date with built in pacing
The counter solves first date geometry: side by side, a shared spectacle to narrate the silences, and courses arriving often enough that no lull survives. The $180 nigiri experience on Tuesday or Wednesday is the smart first date call, generous without announcing a $275 commitment to someone you met recently. If the conversation outruns the fish, the Gables' plazas are a two minute walk for the after.
For the perfectionist eating alone
Shingo rewards the solo diner who watches technique the way others watch sport. The uniform slicing, the nikiri brushwork and the pacing read best from one seat with no conversation to divide attention, and a single stool is the easiest booking at the monthly drop. Go Tuesday, take the $180 nigiri menu with the $95 pairing, and you have Miami's best value evening of starred Japanese cooking.
What to order
Two menus, two seatings, one counter. The right combination depends on the night you are building.
- The signature omakase over the nigiri menu, first
$275 buys the full arc including the cooked courses. The $180 Tuesday and Wednesday nigiri experience is the repeat visit, not the introduction.
- The $95 pairing
Gently priced for this level and chosen for nikiri dressed fish. Take it over bottles either night.
- The 6:00 seating for after plans
Coral Gables dines early and the first turn releases you into the evening; the 9:00 belongs to diners with nowhere else to be.
- Book at the month's open
Next month's calendar opens at the start of each month on Tock. Fourteen seats do not forgive procrastination, and changes need 48 hours.
Practical
- Address
- 112 Alhambra Circle, Coral Gables
- Reservations
- Tock · next month opens at the month's start
- Menus
- Omakase $275 · nigiri experience $180 Tuesday and Wednesday
- Pairing
- Sake and wine · $95
- Seatings
- 6:00 and 9:00 · Tuesday to Saturday
- Seats
- 14 at the counter
- Changes
- 48 hours notice required
- Dress
- Smart · the Gables dresses properly
Questions diners ask
Is Shingo worth it?
Yes, and it is arguably Miami's best omakase value. The signature menu at $275 undercuts Hiden at about $300 and Ogawa at $350 while holding the same one star rating in the 2026 guide, and the $180 nigiri experience on Tuesday and Wednesday is the single smartest ticket in starred Miami Japanese dining.
How do you book Shingo?
On Tock, where reservations for the following month open at the start of each month. Fourteen seats across two nightly seatings, Tuesday to Saturday, means prime Friday and Saturday slots go almost immediately; midweek holds longer. Book at the drop, and remember any change or cancellation needs 48 hours notice.
What is the difference between Shingo's two menus?
The signature omakase at $275 runs the full arc: openers, cooked courses, then the nigiri progression. The $180 experience, offered Tuesday and Wednesday, is sixteen courses centered on nigiri alone. First visits should take the full omakase; the nigiri menu is the connoisseur's repeat ticket.
What does dinner at Shingo cost?
Either $275 for the signature omakase or $180 for the midweek nigiri experience, plus $95 if you add the sake and wine pairing. With tax and service, plan on roughly $250 to $450 per person depending on the menu. Prepayment on Tock settles the bill before you sit.