Inside Como Como, Miami Beach’s New Sleek Mexican Seafood Restaurant

The Moxy South Beach has unveiled its latest culinary outpost, Como Como, a marisquería (seafood restaurant) and raw bar that showcases the flavors of Puerto Escondido, Los Cabos, Acapulco, and more.

Helmed by executive chef Scott Linquist, the man also behind the hotel’s Serena restaurant and popular mini-chain Coyo Taco, the menu showcases popular Mexican flavors with a side of theatrics. Naturally, plenty of seafood dishes can be found on the menu like the Pescado a la Talla made with snapper that is butterflied, grilled, and topped with two marinades: green on one side and red on the other, or the Tikin-Xic a Mayan preparation of whole branzino with orange, habanero chiles, and achiote, cooked in banana leaves, and unwrapped at the table. Raw bar items have a Mexican twist like oysters served with a pineapple-vinegar mignonette and hand-chopped Tartar de Pescado, made tableside.

Non-seafood highlights on the menu include pork tenderloin skewers with pineapple and onions; a rotating selection of traditional Oaxacan-style mole sauces; flame grilled meat dishes, including ribeye, filet mignon, and adobo marinated rack of lamb; roasted artichokes with jalapeño aioli and breadcrumbs; and table-side prepared Caesar salad.

The restaurant’s interior, designed by Saladino Design Studios, boasts stone and brick walls displaying Mesoamerican artifacts. Carved wooden doorways and wrought iron archways lead to the main dining room, filled with furnishings made of leather, carved wood, and embroidered and woven fabrics. The centerpiece of the dining room is the copper-and-wrought-iron “fuego” (fire station), while the bar boasts a “tequila tree” sculpture made of glass spheres and copper pipes that the tequila travels through to be used in cocktails. The restaurant also features an outdoor courtyard with colored tiles, hanging plants, and stone gardens.

Slightly hidden in the back of the space is Mezcalista, the restaurant’s lounge featuring a collection of 100 mezcals and tequilas. Now open for private events and wider to the public next month, it’ll serve as a late night lounge and bar with drinks from award-winning bartender Christian Rubio. The space boasts banquettes upholstered in leather and velvet, a terracotta wall displaying illuminated mezcal bottles, and a velvet-draped, stone-walled tasting room.

Como Como is now open Wednesday to Sunday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. inside the Moxy South Beach at 915 Collins Court. To make a reservation at Como Como or book a private event at Mezcalista call 305-423-8004.