There are hotel restaurants and then there are restaurants in hotels. A hotel restaurant is typically intended to be a convenience for guests who don’t want to have to leave the hotel to grab a bite. A restaurant in a hotel serves that purpose too but it’s more of a destination – an entity unto itself that even non-guests would seek out. Caña Restaurant and Lounge is the latter, located in the Hyatt Centric Brickell hotel in Miami, Florida. We had a chance to dine there while staying at the hotel and found that it definitely offers reasons to seek it out and feast.

Save this article to Pinterest to help plan a visit to Cana Restaurant & Lounge. Graphic by RealFoodTraveler.com.

Hungry for more? Hyatt Centric Brickell Miami: Where to Stay Before or After a Cruise.

In a previous article (linked in the bar above), we shared what it’s like to stay at the Hyatt Centric Brickell Miami, a hotel ideally situated for travelers, especially those starting or ending a cruise out of the nearby Port of Miami. The hotel itself offers large, comfortable rooms and unbeatable views. But the hotel’s restaurant offers a real taste of Miami (and Cuba and other Latin-inspired cuisines).

Destination Dining at Caña Restaurant and Lounge

Caña Restaurant and Lounge is located on the 2nd floor of the Hyatt Centric Brickell hotel. As the elevator doors open, diners are greeted by the hostess stand and two pillars of sorts decorated with Cuban cigar boxes (clever). To the left is the main dining room and a large, colorful mural.  To the right is an airier, open space with a little bit of seating and the wrap-around patio with more tables and spectacular views of Biscayne Bay and the city. Behind the hostess stand is the bar area where they have wines, beers and cocktails plus bar bites. You can also order dinner and eat it at the bar. Caña is also where guests of the hotel can grab coffee in the morning if you don’t want to make it in your guestroom.

Caña is a colorful, stylish restaurant.

Chef William Milian is the Executive Chef of Caña, which opened in 2018. Chef William brings his interesting past and impressive pedigree to Caña, infusing it with Cuban flavors.

Born in Havana, Cuba Chef William grew up in a family that gathered around in the kitchen, with multiple generations from both sides of his family living together. Once in Miami, he got a dishwashing job at Two Dragons Japanese inside another hotel, the Sonesta Key Biscayne. He worked there for 10 years, advancing his way up through multiple roles starting with dishwasher and ending with head sushi chef. Eventually, he enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu in Miami honing classical techniques.

After mentorships under various celebrated chefs, including José Andrés (who we absolutely love), and roles in some of Miami’s leading luxury hotels like the Viceroy and Mondrian, Chef William began his role at Cana where he could balance traditional approaches and flavors with innovation and seasonal, local ingredients.

Hungry for more? Get Jose Andres’ popular Patatas Bravas recipe.

At Caña, which means “sugarcane” in Spanish, Chef William brings the dishes he ate in his family home with a modern twist. Breakfast, lunch, happy hour and dinner are available to guests and the general public. And the restaurant has become popular with locals and visitors who aren’t staying in the hotel.

What to Expect from the Menus at Caña

Breakfast offerings include expected standards like cereals, eggs served to order and pancakes. But they also have unique items like Tostada de Salmon Ahumado for $23 (Grilled sourdough bread, smoked salmon, cream cheese, red onions, capers, herbs and sesame and poppy seeds). Weekend Brunch has many of the same items plus Chicharron de Camarones de Rocas for $17 (Breaded rock shrimp, Peruvian yellow pepper aioli, lemon, red onion and cilantro), a Cubano Sandwich ($18) and other less breakfasty options.

There’s a weekday lunch menu with appetizers, salads, sandwiches and desserts. But there’s also their weekday Lunch Bar that is a single-serve buffet (i.e. it’s not all-you-can-eat) for a very reasonable $15. Every day is a new theme; Mexican Mondays, Italian Tuesdays, Asian Wednesdays, Mediterranean Thursdays and Cuban Fridays.

The Lunch Bar at Cana Restaurant & Lounge offers an affordable way to have a variety of healthy items at Caña.

At a very reasonably-priced Happy Hour, there are deals on house wines and beers ($6-$8) plus a variety of cocktails including Bill’s Negroni with Caravedo pisco, pineapple, mint, hibiscus syrup, bitters and egg whites. And Passion Fruit Caipirinha with Cachaca, passion fruit puree, St. Germain and lime. I had the Mojito with white rum, white sugar, lime juice and seltzer water. All cocktails are $8 at Happy Hour. Because we were staying for dinner, we reluctantly passed on the Bar Bites, also $8 each, so as not to spoil our appetites. But boy did they sound good, especially the Mejillones con Chorizo steamed mussels with chorizo, lemon, garlic, wine and bread and the Frituras de Cobo conch fritters with piquillo tartar sauce and lemon. Next time, we’ll make a dinner out of several of those Bar Bites while sitting out on the patio.

The main dinner menu has an impressive variety of Small Plates and Large Plates, sides and desserts. Small Plates that caught our eye were the Burrata Con Guayaba ($14) with burrata cheese, guava marmalade, basil, bread and olive oil; Pulpo con Papas en Mojo Verde ($26) a dish of octopus, garlic, green sauce, lemon, potatoes and cilantro. Large Plates included the Entrana a la Parilla ($42) which the man next to us ordered and loved. It’s a grilled hanger steak with caramelized onions, chimichurri sauce and cilantro. The Pescado Entero a la Plancha ($58) sounded great, a grilled whole fish with garlic, lemon, onion, butter and herbs.

All tempting, we decided to take advantage of their Cuban Classics Dinner Special which they’d just begun offering when we were staying there. A heck of a deal, and only available Sunday-Wednesday from 3-9pm, it’s a 3-course meal and drink for $40/person. Choose from one of the offered appetizers on the list, an entrée and a dessert. My husband and I chose different things so that we had six items to try. After having looked at the main dinner menu, we were glad to have a whittled down number of choices, especially because the items we were leaning towards anyway were on the Cuban Classics menu.

We ordered the Camarones al Ajillo and Mini Papas Rellenas con Carne for our appetizers. The Camarones were sauteed shrimp with lemon, garlic, bay leaves, olive oil and herbs over grilled bread that soaked up all of the flavor. It was incredible and our favorite dish of the night. The Mini Papas were melt-in-your-mouth mashed potato balls stuffed with beef and fried, served with a cilantro aioli.

Camarones al Ajillo and Mini Papas Rellenas con Carne are two of the appetizers to choose from. The Camarones (shrimp) were amazing. 

For our entrees, we chose the Masas de Puerco, fried Cuban mojo marinated pork with onion, garlic and herbs and the Vaca Frita, mojo-marinated shredded steak with Cuban mojo, caramelized onions and chimichurri sauce. Both dishes had very good flavor but the Vaca Frita was more dry (shredded steak that is then fried). The pork was a big, tender chunk of meat that’s easily pulled apart with a fork. Our only complaint was that we both wished our dishes had come with some fresh vegetables for contrast like a little bit of salad, in addition to the rice and beans that accompanied it. The portions were plentiful and, in fact, we ended up having our leftovers the next day for lunch.

Vaca Frita (left) and Masas de Puerco (right) are two authentic Cuban entrees available at the restaurant.

For dessert, we had the Chocolate Mousse, an oval of creamy dark chocolate and the Flan Cubano. Both were good with the flan having a lighter-than-typical texture that gave it added appeal. Those were the only two dessert choices on the Cuban Classics menu but I would have liked to have had Azucar Ice Cream or Sorbet offered on the main dinner menu with flavors like Cuban Coffee with Oreo chunks; bourbon with dark cherries, and passion fruit sorbet. They are local products and we always like to try what’s local when traveling (Real Food Traveler’s whole ethos). Overall, the fixed price menu was a great way to go to try a variety of things.

Flan Cubano and Chocolate Mousse are dessert options on the main dinner menu and for the Cuban Classics Dinner Menu. 

We missed out on experiencing the Pool Menu which is available on the rooftop pool deck daily from noon-sunset. There, they have some lighter fair light fresh fruits and berries, salads, plantains, sandwiches and a variety of drinks. The pool area is beautiful with lots of space for lounging.

Grab a bite and a drink by the rooftop pool at Hyatt Centric Brickell Miami.

Caña is a 2025 Gold Winner in Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade Favorites Awards in Category of Best Cuban Restaurant. That’s high praise indeed, confirming that the restaurant is worthy as its own destination and an extra benefit of a stay at a hotel that’s special in its own right.

Caña Restaurant and Lounge is located inside the Hyatt Centric Brickell hotel at 1102 Brickell Bay Drive in Miami. See all of their menus and learn more on their website. You can book there or use your favorite reservation tool, here.

-Story and photos by Courtney Drake-McDonough, Publisher & Managing Editor, RealFoodTraveler.com

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