Show is a study that ranks Brickell as the best in something, then show us one whose findings don’t also throw shade at the neighborhood. It doesn’t exist. Miamians love to hate their favorite places. One minute we’re raving about an area and the next we’re bemoaning it as touristy and crowded. That’s exactly what happened when Time Out revealed the results of its massive global index survey, which, in partnership with Tapestry Research, polled 34,400 city-dwellers—from Melbourne to Madrid, Chicago to Cape Town and Tel Aviv to Tokyo—about food, drink, culture, nightlife, community, overall happiness and other factors, such as their city’s beauty, affordability and convenience.
Miami didn’t place particularly high on the list of best cities in the world in 2019 but it did come in third as the top city for cocktails (if you’ve visited any of these Miami bars, you already knew that) as well as for vaping. The latter is surprising, but we suppose it’s a good thing fewer people are smoking indoors?
One thing we did predict: Brickell is Miami’s best area for eating. In the last year alone, the city’s financial district has exploded with new restaurants and fun dining experiences—from Katsuya’s second outpost and award-winning Latin at Obra to Tea Room’s singular nighttime brunch. There are upscale options and fast-casual offerings and in-between cafes where a cocktail and a bite won’t rack up a bill.
Sadly, good food isn’t enough for us. Miamians think Brickell is very tasty but also very overrated. The neighborhood indexed higher than any other (from South Beach to Aventura to Wynwood) as the most overrated in the city. Is it traffic? Could it be the astronomical rents? Our guess is Brickellites just aren’t getting laid. Miami ranks second in the world for locals having shacked up with someone from out of town—and most tourists are found in South Beach. Making the trek over the causeway is hard enough without factoring in sex. If getting laid depended on us crossing the MacArthur, we’d be pissed, too.
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