Dragonfly Izakaya & Fish Market

This place was delicious. It is a great concept located in an up and coming «downtown» Doral. The cocktails were very tasty. We weren’t that hungry but snacked on the pig ears and were impressed.

I am such a HUGE fan of Dragonfly restaurants! I’ve been to the Gainesville and Orlando locations, and I was so happy when my boyfriend organized a surprise birthday dinner for me here! The staff was so patient with my rowdy group.
The Doral location is huge! It has beautiful décor inside, plus an outdoor seating area as well. Parking is along the street, or in a dedicated parking garage for the plaza.
The servers are very knowledgable about the sake they serve. I described the flavor that I like to drink, and he suggested just the right bottle for me.
Some things we ordered:
Grilled Baby Octopus Sunomono — pickled cucumber, heirloom cherry tomato, japanese chimichurri, shiso, tosazu. A nice tart appetizer. The marinade is light with the octopus and the vegetables.
Pork Ramen — pork belly, bok choy, bean sprouts, poached egg, mayu, negi, beni shoga, menma, nori, tonkotsu broth, scallions. The broth alone is awesome! They give a big portion here, so share the bowl if you are ordering other food.
Uni, served on cucumber. I love uni, and asked for a serving on its own. The uni was so sweet and chilled to the taste — PERFECT!
Ebi-​Ten roll — tempura shrimp, tuna, avocado– topped with snow crab delight, red tobiko, tempura flakes, eel sauce, spicy mayo. You can’t go wrong with Dragonfly sushi. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad roll, and this one was no exception. Fresh ingredients and big, clean flavors.
Dragonfly is my favorite sushi restaurant, and I’m so excited there’s one close to me in South Florida!

Overpriced
Nice place. Food was ok. Not authentic Japanese.
Drinks were expensive.
Overall experience. Nice ambiance but definitely overpriced.

This place is above A M A Z I N G !
What a 5 stars experience, unbelievable tasty food, great atmosphere, our server Andre gave us an excellent service, that guy definitely knows how to give a pleasant customer service. I highly recommend this restaurant, they also have happy hour, in case you’re just up to drinks!

If Japanese food is your thing, then Dragonfly is a must visit to add to your list of restaurants. They even serve a selection of fish straight from Tsukiji market! The menu is quite extensive and I would have to return a few more times to sample everything I want to try from here. Their sushi and ramen all look amazing. Everyone who worked here was so friendly and nice, and the whole ambience was wonderful. I got the wagyu beef curry lunch combo and it was presented beautifully, in true Japanese fashion. It came with a few small sides, including a miso soup, a cup with steamed egg, and some pickled vegetables. For dessert, I recommend getting their tres leches green tea cake. It’s soft and spongy, and the green tea flavor makes it taste better than the original.

Prior to coming this location for my friend’s birthday dinner, I’ve been to the Dragonfly branch location in Gainesville. This establishment has always been professional, clean and has a friendly staff with delicious food. I expected no less from the Doral location. Upon entering you’ll notice the very cool cool yet casual décor. It reminds me of a rustic barn with walls filled with Asian rice patty hats and hanging light bulbs with glass jars. It is certainly unique. Soon enough I was trying to take the hats off the walls to take selfies with…
This place is tapas and small plates based so it’s good to come in a big group so you can try more items. The menu has a variety of hot and cold options. There’s sushi/​sashimi as well as ramen or appetizers from the kitchen and plenty of liquor choices. They have a very cool sake sampler. I think the drinks are also very creative. I ordered the crispy pig ear to start. Yes you read that correctly, pig’s ear. It is a plate full of battered, salt and peppered pig’s ear, sliced into strips then fried. It was delicious!!! If you are up to trying something new and different, I highly recommend this dish. Its crunchy cause its mostly cartilage but the flavor is what makes it so tasty. Then I got a Kyushu roll. This cucumber wrapped roll is piled with crab delight on top with salmon in the middle. It is light but filling. I enjoyed it very much. I also tried a piece of the Classic Dragonfly roll. It is baked but I must say, wasn’t as good as mine. I also tried the bacon wrapped enoki which I thought would be super saly and oily but it wasn’t. It was quite good.

Tasty food in an extremely hip setting. The décor and music here are on point. Once inside, you feel teleported to a place far from Doral, more like NY or Philly. In fact, I immediately thought I was in a Stephen Starr establishment. The waiter was knowledgable and friendly and the staff was overall attentive.
Between three of us, we dined on two rolls, the yakisoba noodles, the crab rice, shisido peppers, and the mushroom fritters. It all came out super fast and it was all incredibly flavorful and savory.
We did have a slight issue however with the staff circling to pick up the finished plates. I think there is a thin line between good service, and nervous energy where one feels like the staff is either rushing the customer out or just needs something to do. At one point our waiter was talking to us, and another member of the staff picked up a plate of food we were still enjoying and there was still food left. We let them know we weren’t done yet and the manager gladly brought us another bowl and everything was peachy. To further try to make it up to us, they brought us a complimentary cheese cake. BUT after we ran our cards, we later realized we were charged for the dessert. We tried to remedy the bill but in the end, we just paid for the dessert because we had to get back to work.
Overall it was a good experience. Won’t ding them too much on the rating because I know they must still be working out kinks. Looking forward to coming back with my friends and family.

This is the way you run a restaurant. We randomly found this place on Unilocal after looking for an impromptu dinner date for my husband’s birthday.
Walking in, we were really impressed with the décor, ambience, and friendliness of the girls in the front. We decided to sit at the sushi bar and ordered Virginia blue point oysters as a first plate (they don’t like to use the word «appetizer» since this is an izakaya restaurant). The sushi chefs were super friendly, professional, funny, and interactive.
Our waiter, Fernando, is worth mentioning. He really went above and beyond with his suggestions and made dining at Dragonfly a wonderful experience. The second my husband stepped away he approached me and said he would bring a candle with our dessert. This was a very nice gesture.
The food and the drinks were AMAZING! We only had sushi but the rolls were well-​portioned and delicious.
I think it is the attention to detail that makes this new restaurant so memorable. I would 100% recommend this place to anyone! It truly left an amazing impression on us.

Amazing! How had I not heard of this place before. From all my reviews on Unilocal this is the most solid 5 star!
We went here on a Wednesday night, it was my husband and I and two friends. Even before we entered through their doors the service was already spotted, an older Japanese gentle men jumped up to open the door for us.
The girl at the bar Nikky was the best bartender. She was patient and helped me select the two best drinks ever. She explained shochu liquor to me and described the drink I ordered to the t. So friendly and sweet.
I had a shochu with chili liquor and it kicked ass! When our friends arrived we moved to the lounge tables next to bar and she moved everything for us and was very accommodating. We ordered appetizers and they were are amazing. She recommended a second drink that was perfection, I believe it was either the sumo mash or Japanese cocktail. I want to know which one it is because it was so good.
I don’t understand how a review in here says there’s too much service, and that’s a bad thing. noooooo ! there can’t ever be too much service. The attention is perfect and most people appreciate that. I like that there is amazing service, please don’t change that.
Now I want to go back just to have sushi !
My new place to go to with friends ! I’m already recommending it

Awesome seafood, incredible décor, and great management! Santiago (manager) stopped at our table multiple times to check up on us and we had no complaints!
If you haven’t been yet… you need to stop by!

I decided to venture into Doral since I’ve been hearing great reviews of Dragonfly! The restaurant is gorgeous! They have a great bar both inside and outside. The crowd is nice, mostly families, it’d be nice to have a more youthful vibe, hopefully that will be the case as more people find out about it. I also must say that downtown Doral is really beautiful. You guys should check out the restaurants that have opened on 87^th & NW 53^rd.
This is what I ate:
Crispy pig ears
Rib eye w/​side of potato salad
Short rib for my main course.
EVERYTHING WAS DELICIOUS!
The staff is great! Food came out very quickly!!!
The only thing I could say is that I wasn’t too thrilled about their dessert options. However, the wine & beer selection is great!!!

This restaurant wowed me. We were definitely underdressed for the restaurant, but we were still treated with respect and great service. We love the open concept, gastro-​pub, open kitchen feel of this place.
For those that don’t know, Izakaya is like Japanese tapas so you order multiple small dishes. The crispy pig ears were good, but not my favorite (like a fatty French fry), but the Wagyu short rib was so delicious that I will dream about eating it again. My wife had the Kyushu makisushi and really enjoyed it. The bacon enoki and oyster mushrooms were great side dishes to our meat dishes. Cocktails were pretty good and strong too!
Honestly, this restaurant was better than the Japanese places we eat at in Coral Gables and Downtown area. The service also blew us away — especially how accommodating they were to checking menu items for my wife’s gluten problems. We will be back!

What an amazing restaurant! The staff is well trained and very attentive. The food is delicious and very well priced. Extremely happy to see this company come down to south Florida. I look forward to my next meal there.
P.s — the drinks are amazing. I highly recommend the «gangster inagation» (not spelled right)

I have always enjoyed a good izakaya so when this one popped up on Unilocal,I just had to try it.
The place is amazingly decorated. Nice open and spacious, you can see the kitchen from most seats. Just beautiful.
The food was good, we ordered a sushi roll that was filled w salmon. The chicken skin skewers were delicious. The beef skewers were tender and went well with the teriyaki sauce. The japanese pancake was my least favorite, but still an interesting dish.
Rooms for improvement: service. There is just too much of it. Between your server, the person who refills your water the moment it is a little bit less than full, and the fact that all your items come out as they’re ready (which can be often if you order a lot) there always seems to be someone at your table. Just a bit too much.

After dining at this particular Dragonfly location in comparison to the Gainesville and Orlando location, this one is definitely a step up. I can see the concept of the restaurant was inspired by other tapas style restaurants & they did a great job executing.
Food was fresh & unique. Seasonal vegetables were used. Diverse ingredients.
A whole list of Japanese whiskeys was on the drink menu. Although 2 of the ones I’ve selected was not in stock.
Attention to details in regards to the décor, The very cool vintage pachinko machine near the bathroom.
Although it’s located in Downtown Doral situated behind a section of warehouses, it’s worth a drive to experience this new restaurant.

You may walk in and think, «Am I in Japan?»
No worries, you’re still in South Florida. But the authenticity is there.
Had a dinner date (reserved through Unilocal app) with one of my closest friends/​big panda/​yelper Tiffany, and since it was our first time there, we went crazy with the menu. Yes, Go Big or Go Home!
Oh, just to note, it was surprisingly busy for a weekday. So I could imagine how super packed it can get on the weekends. Anyways…
We didn’t even get to finish reading the menu together and already a group of waiters came to drop off a roll (which we later found out was the Ebi-​Ten). We were perplexed… We didn’t order yet! We clarified that with them, and one of the waiters said, «Well, Dave said to send it out to this table, and he doesn’t like it when it gets sent back,» and another adds, «It’s on us then. Enjoy!» Greeted by Andre, our main waiter, he gave us a breakdown of the menu. He was VERY patient with us, since we kept asking him so many questions and being indecisive and kept ordering and ordering. He was also very attentive, him and his team. Customer service was excellent from beginning to end.
So going onto the bites:
– Ebi-​Ten: Our complimentary roll, it was a cross between a Tuna Crunch roll and a Dragon Roll (tempura shrimp, tuna, avocado, stone crab, red tobiko, tempura flakes), and wow, it’s delish! Already with spicy mayo, so we didn’t have to ask.
– Tonkotsu Ramen: The broth was rich and there was a kick. The pork belly was flavorful and the fat left a nice gloss on my lips, yum. The noodles are actually firmer than the other ramen noodles I’ve tried, and I’ve been told usually firmer ramen noodles are housemade, so perhaps that is so. I actually liked how the noodles weren’t too soft.
– Amber Jack Sashimi: We forget the actual listed name), but the sashimi (3 pcs) tasted fresh, very fishy, and you really taste the fat towards the end. I’ve never had fish with flavors that transform in your mouth haha.
– Wagyu Short Ribs: They come out tapas style, so do expect small portions. The short ribs were my actual favorite; super tender and flavorful! Because we were so deep in conversation, the ribs were no longer was warm, but it was still amazingly tasty!
– Chilean Sea Bass: I love sea bass although I don’t normally order it. The sea bass was so delicious; milky and light, rich in the flavor they glazed it with. The only sad part about tapas style is that the food can disappear at the blink of an eye. This was my second favorite.
– Creamy Prolifterols (dessert): A light and fluffy cream puff with ice cream on the side (we chose Green Tea) and the waiter offered to drizzle the chocolate sauce over it. With the amount of food we ordered, this light dessert was actually enough for us. I want to try the Four Leches cake next!
And for the drink:
– Dance of the Flowers. I’m not a sake connoisseur, but it was fragrant and strong for my taste. That’s a good thing, hehe. Andre presented a tray of different glasses/​ceramics to choose from for our sake-​sipping pleasure (apparently it is customary in Japan, I’m learning), and knowing I like things «kawaii», I went for the smallest sake cup on display (which makes about 5 – 6 pours for each of us from the whole bottle). Cheers!
Overall, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my dining experience here, and glad I got to spend good quality time with an amazing friend of mine. We stayed even past closing time unintentionally because we kept talking, but they were still nice to us and very attentive. The owner (I assume) greeted us and gave us a Red Envelope with our check, with strict instructions to not open and come back before the expiration date. On our next visit, they will open the envelope and we get a mystery prize (discount, gift card, or free appetizer/​dessert item). That’s a pretty creative way to get people to come back, and for sure we will!

After searching for new restaurants in the area, my mom had heard of this place through a coworker, and we decided to try it. Located in the new Downtown Doral area, it is surrounded by new, trendy restaurants soon to open like Bulla and Pisco y Nazca. Dragonfly does very well in keeping up with the hip restaurant trend, as you can see in the pictures.
Dragonfly is a Japanese tapas style restaurant. While many of these tapas style restaurants are not cheap, they are great because you get to try a variety of dishes. We ordered the Fish n Chips, Wagyu Short Rib, Prime Rib Skewers, Ebi-​Ten roll, Grilled Octopus, Garlic Crab Fried Rice, and Crispy Pig Ears. The Fish n Chips and Wagyu Short Rib were by far the best dishes. The sushi was excellent as well. Though we didn’t stay for dessert, I’m sure that would’ve been amazing as well.
The service at Dragonfly was also OFF THE CHARTS. The waiter, Jason, was extremely knowledgable and friendly, and the manager came over twice to make sure everything was to our liking. The food came out quickly and we were never short on drinks.
My first experience at Dragonfly was a 10/​10, and though I live about 35 minutes away from here, I will definitely be coming back!

I’ve come to Dragonfly twice now and I can honestly say it’s my new fave Japanese restaurant. Located in the brand new downtown Doral area, Dragonfly is sure to have something to treat everyone’s tastebuds beginning with their cocktail menu. The secret of the sakurakai cocktail is a must try and they are stocked with a full selection of Japanese Whisky ranging all the way to a 21 year old nikka. From the menu try the crispy pig ears, the classic roll that’s seared to perfection, the blue crab Chatham fried rice, the blue point oysters are my fave but they have a wide selection of oysters, and the sea Kai roll. For dessert their decadent cuatro leches and lemon tarte cake were a smash! The ambiance is wonderful here, can’t wait to return.

When I saw other Unilocalers’ reviews and pictures of this new restaurant, I was drooling all over my keyboard. Mirugai sashimi? OMG! I’ve never seen it in Miami! Robata grill? We are so running over there!!!
After parking our car in the adjacent garage, we walked into a beautiful shop which has some groceries on display for sale, and a big sake + beer display in the center, and some cold cases which we were told later would be a fish market. A guy asked us if we wanted to sample some sake. Already feeling happy with a sake cup in hand, we walked over to the maitre d’ for our table.
As others have said, the interior is beautifully and tastefully decorated, with authentic Japanese items such as sake barrels, geta, pachinko machine, a curio table with nintendo inside…
Their menu is quite a departure from your standard Japanese restaurants, so we had fun trying different things. Some of the items can be rather expensive, like over $ 10 for 2 pieces of sushi or two skewers of meat, $ 50 king crab and $ 13 Baird beer, but they also have $ 12 ramen and $ 15 maki. You can really order according to your budget and have a delicious meal either way.
Can recommend:
Crispy Pig Ears — definitely should try.
Wagyu Short Ribs — succulent and tender
Tontoro robata — as Matsumoto said, «Pork cheek is porcine perfection»
(on the other hand — the beef tongue was rather chewy. The can’t-break-it-apart-have-to-spit-it-out level of chewiness. But I won’t mind trying again next time, in hope it’s one off.)
Tonkatsu ramen — probably the best value item on the menu, and in Miami, best-​bang-​for-​the-​buck ramen. The broth is not as luscious as a ramen house’s, but egg is soft, pork is tender, noodle is bouncy and lots of toppings. Makes me look forward to this place opening for lunch!
Maki — they are all good, ingredients fresh, beautifully presented, and each has its fan with no clear winner. Me, I love shiso, so koba-​maki gets my vote.
Sashimi — if you can appreciate quality sashimi, this place is definitely a cut above others.
Won’t order again:
Fish & Chips — the fish texture is rather mushy. An interesting twist using lotus root for chips.
Okonomiyaki — too much batter and also a bit undercooked. Totally not like having a mouthful of undercooked batter.

I dined here in the first week of opening and I will say that I was expecting more. I have dined at both other locations, Orlando and Gainesville, and felt that while this one is clearly the «big daddy» of the three, could have been a lot better. The restaurant is gorgeous, and it creates a nice ambience. The reception stand is weird though in that it is almost inside of what appears to be a different location, the fish market.
First off, I will admit that I was expecting to see some of the famed dishes from the Orlando and Gainesville locations, and the fact that I can’t get a warm wonton or even one single roll from the other menus was annoying. How long have Miami gators waited for them to open in Miami? You can’t throw us a bone by putting a few of the old rolls or appetizers on this menu? The new rolls are good, but not half as great as the ones we are used to. I get that cilantro is all over sushi menus in Miami, but I was expecting something a little bit more creative, given Dfly’s history, and given the fact that the name of this restaurant is the same name as the two other restaurants– what does that mean? Your guests are expecting some of the same menu items. If not, why not give this restaurant a different name?
When we first met with the manager, he informed us that we could request that some of the old rolls be made at this location, and if the ingredients were available, they would make them. Well, they were unable to make any of the rolls. We asked for: Black dragon, dragonfly, mango tango, Godzilla, surf and turf, and slamming salmon. None of these rolls could be made.
The service was ok, but the bar service was a real problem. At one time, it took 25 minutes for them to bring me a beer. When I saw the manager, I let him know that they should consider implementing a service bar that would directly service the tables, since clearly the 4 bartenders were too busy to get to the orders for tables on a timely basis. He laughed in my face and had never even heard the term, «service bar».
I think it would do the owners and management a great service to dine at Hillstone Coral Gables and take notes on how to successfully run a restaurant in Miami, Florida, as this is not an easy task.
I will admit that I have no interest in going back to this restaurant. I prefer to just take a roadtrip to Gainesville and eat at the original location.