A new Italian American restaurant has staked out prime waterfront real estate in North Miami, and it's a family affair. Fina Prime opened Oct. 26 inside the SoLé Mia development, serving tableside cacio e pepe, grilled branzino and wood-fired pizza on a patio that looks straight out at the water.
The restaurant was founded by sisters Samantha and Stacey Cooper, according to The Adventurist Magazine, which reports that the pair built Fina Prime as a neighborhood restaurant meant for lunch, drinks, family dinners and celebrations alike. Samantha brings more than 25 years of hospitality experience spanning New York to Miami, per the outlet, while Stacey moved to Florida when she was nine and has described Miami as where her heart is and always will be. Her parents opened their first Italian restaurant in South Florida 54 years ago, and that original restaurant is still open today, The Adventurist Magazine reports.
Fina Prime's own site describes it as a modern Italian American restaurant in North Miami, with a menu built around handcrafted pastas, wood-fired pizzas, steaks and fresh seafood, according to FINA Prime. That mirrors what The Adventurist Magazine found on the ground: the kitchen runs on a Josper grill and a wood-fired oven, turning out ribeye and whole branzino alongside Dolce Vita and margherita pizzas. Pastas are made in-house, including fettuccine tartufo nero and spaghetti pomodoro, and the cacio e pepe is finished tableside. Starters lean on crispy calamari, while dessert runs to tiramisu and gelato made in-house on a Carpigiani machine.
A Chef With Three Decades Behind the Line
Running the kitchen is chef Pedro Valdes, who has three decades of experience in restaurant kitchens, according to The Adventurist Magazine. The dining room itself spans 4,000 square feet and was designed by Michael Baccaro of MDB Designs, the outlet reports, with the space built out to include an indoor-outdoor bar, a private dining room, televisions and a lagoon-facing patio.
Observer's rundown of November 2026 Miami restaurant openings lists Fina Prime Italian at 2210 Sole Mia Sq Ln and confirms a similar lineup: cacio e pepe, Josper-grilled ribeye and branzino, wood-fired pizzas, housemade pasta and gelato among the highlights, according to Observer. Observer also pegs the dining room at 200 seats indoors and out, overlooking the seven-acre Crystal Lagoon and beach, open for lunch and dinner with brunch served on weekends. The Adventurist Magazine puts the seating figure at about 200 as well, and notes the restaurant also offers catering and delivery.
Happy Hour and Private Events
For those watching the clock, Observer's report notes a weekday happy hour running Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m., with cocktails, wine, beer and a limited bites menu. Fina Prime's website adds that the restaurant hosts corporate events, birthday celebrations, rehearsal dinners, holiday parties, wine tastings and private dining experiences, rounding out its pitch as more than just a dinner spot.
The Infatuation's listing for the address matches the SoLé Mia location and similarly flags crispy calamari, margherita pizza and branzino on the menu, though the outlet notes its reviewer had not yet visited in person at the time of writing, per The Infatuation. That same source describes Fina Prime as part of the $4 billion so-called “mini city” development taking shape in North Miami.
Landing Inside a Fast-Growing Mini City
SoLé Mia itself is a 184-acre community between Biscayne Boulevard and Biscayne Bay, according to The Adventurist Magazine, anchored by the Laguna Solé, which covers seven acres. The development has a little more than 1,000 residents so far and plans call for 4,390 residences at full build-out, the outlet reports. Multi-Housing News has separately described SoLé Mia as a $4 billion master-planned community slated to include 1.5 million square feet of commercial space, with more than 1,000 residents across three rental buildings and two more towers under construction for delivery by 2027.
The broader development pipeline around the project keeps expanding. The Real Deal reported in August that 1,065 condo and apartment units were already completed at SoLé Mia, with 3,325 more expected to rise on the site in coming years, and that roughly 900,000 square feet of the commercial space was finished, with another 30,000 square feet planned. Zooming out further, the outlet's analysis found about 11,500 condo and apartment units under construction or planned across North Miami, North Miami Beach and the surrounding area.
Fina Prime isn't the only new entrant trying to carve out a niche in Miami's crowded Italian scene this fall. Observer's October roundup also highlighted A Pasta Bar, a Soho-born, family-owned eatery that brought its handmade pasta to Sunset Harbour. For its part, Fina Prime is hoping to become a true neighborhood restaurant within the fast-growing SoLé Mia community, according to The Adventurist Magazine, serving lunch and dinner daily with weekend brunch on the side.
