Ariete
Ariete has been around for many years, and it received notoriety due to its duck press. It was one of the few restaurants in the United States that had this contraption, where you squeeze out the innards to extract the juices and reuse it for a sauce. Ariete has been featured in the Michelin Guide and has received a Star for a few years now. We were tempted to try the tasting menu, which was a sampling of their menu, but we opted to go for the duck. I recall previously you used to be able to add the duck to the tasting menu, but we felt that would just be too much food. Ariete has been defined as a upscale restaurant that merges old Latin traditions, South Florida ingredients, and high-level French technique. It could only have been born in Miami.
Ambiance & Service
We arrived for our 5:30 reservation a bit early, and surprisingly we were one fo the first there. We’re used to New York City, where it’s always hustling and bustling, but the restaurants in Miami so far seem more slow. Even though we arrived early, they sat us next to the window facing the front of the street and patio. It was quite dark inside, and the music was being played at a low level.
We thought the service was fantastic, as they went through all our courses at the right pace and cleaned up our table after each course. For the bill, they automatically charge 20% gratuity, so there’s no need to do any calculations afterwards.
Food
This was the amuse, which was a tartlet with some papaya gel on it, sweet corn espuma, and oven roasted pumpkin seeds. It was pretty good, though I couldn’t figure out what were the rest of the ingredients. The crust was flakey, and the papaya flavors were mild and good.
The Mango & Tamarind ($22 - left) came with tequila, mezcal, mango, elderflower, tamarind, and lime. I was surprised my partner ordered this because they are generally not a fan of tequila nor mezcal. When I tried it, it was very smokey, and they said they weren’t that big of a fan of it. I think the mango, elderflower, and lime may have either been overpowered by the smokiness of the mezcal, or the flavors suck to the bottom of the cup.
The glass of Bordeaux Blend ($22 - right) came from Chateau Le Bruilleau, Pessac-Leognan, Bordeaux, France 2019. This was dry, slightly heavier than medium body, nice tannins, with decent amount of acidity. It had heavy notes of wood, earthy, and red fruit forward smells and tastes. It was fantastic with the duck.
The Crudo ($26) came with Scottish trout, fennel escabeche, and local starfruit. The trout was surprisingly tasty, and it was a good complement to the starfruit. I was expecting the flavors to be fairly bland, but it actually came out slightly sweet, slightly acidic, and fresh.
We ordered the Canard a la Presse for Two ($160).
Here they showed us the actual 14-day dry-aged duck breast used in our meal.
Part of the course or dish is to show a demo of the actual duck press action. What they do is stuff all the guts (e.g., liver, heart, anything squishy) and neck, and they turn the press down until all the juices come out. As it comes out, they capture the juices into a small sauce bowl. They fire up a pan and throw in a bunch of seasoning including this very irony sauce mixture. They also add into it some guava paste to give it a nice sweetness.
The Duck Fricassee Pastelitos were actually very good. The pastry not only had a dense portion of duck meat from other parts of the duck, but the pastry was flaky in all the right ways. The actual seasoning of both the pastry and duck was on the sweeter side but full of flavor.
The Salad was lightly dressed with vinegar and oil. It was meant to cut through the duck fat and reset your palette. The vegetables were all very fresh, crispy, and delicious.
The Roasted Calabaza Tamal was a tamale of pumpkin, topped with wild mushrooms and foie gravy. The mushrooms were surprisingly very mild, and the foie gravy was hardly existent. I tasted mostly of the pumpkin tamale.
Lastly, this is the 14-day dry-aged duck breast. They give you a pretty decent sized portion, and they cut the breast into very thinly slit pieces. The duck was also cooked perfectly, where the skin was crispy, and the duck meat was very tender. The sauce that they created with the duck press was very delectable. It had all the perfect sensations you would want to go with your duck breast, including savory, sweet, and pungent.
For dessert, we got the Corn Affogato (17) which was sweet corn ice cream, miso caramel, and corn “espresso”. I thought this was pretty good though my partner didn’t like it. The miso caramel was probably too odd of a creation where it was salty and sweet at the same time. The ice cream was actually not as corn-forward as I thought it’d be, but I thought it was pretty good. There were some nice crunchy pieces along the side, which reminded me of hardened, dense corn flakes.
Lastly, these were Chocolate Bon Bons. They were basically chocolates.
Overall Impression
Because we only went here to try a specific thing, we found the duck to be quite delectable and sublime in its own regard. If you come to this restaurant for the first time, the duck is a must-get because of how flavorful it was and how they set up the course to revolve around the duck. Otherwise, I wouldn’t mind coming back to try the tasting to see how that goes. The duck was definitely memorable.
Yelp & Google Jabs
I visited to celebrate a birthday (which I clearly noted in my reservation), yet no one acknowledged it throughout the meal… When the duck dish was prepared tableside, it was done uncomfortably close to me – to the point that it felt unsafe.
Note to Yelpers and diners that just because the reservation system asks if you’re celebrating an occasion, it doesn’t mean they will acknowledge it nor celebrate it. As far as the fear of the duck being prepared too close table side, I think this Californian Yelper hasn’t dined out enough to see how both of their complaints have no relevancy on Michelin-star dining experiences.
We went with kids second time. Couldn’t bring in stroller, they have high chairs and didn’t really have dishes that would work for them.
What is interesting when we travel is to compare our experiences in NYC vs others in their local cities. The fact that this Elitist brought in kids looking for high chairs says a lot about the potential ranges of diners.
Revisions
- Dec 18, 2025 - Initial revision.