Best Places To Watch a Game in Miami Beach

From tequila-fueled touchdowns to Mojito madness – where to scream at flat screens and pretend it’s about sports

There’s this great song by Billy Currington called “Drinkin’ Town With a Football Problem.” And honestly? That’s Miami, dressed up in linen, running late, and double-fisting mojitos while yelling at the ref.

In this guide

1. Mickey Burkes: It’s bourbon, burgers and big screens
2. Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Co.: It’s where cocktails collide with kickoffs
3. South Pointe Tavern: The classy drunk’s game day spot
4. Mac’s Club Deuce – It’s dive bar glory with a punch to the gut
5. Don Sombrero: It’s tacos, tequila and touchdowns
6. Havana 1957: It’s baseball with a side of plantains
7. Craft South Beach: The game’s on, but so is the date you’re trying to impress

Here, watching “the game” is just a socially acceptable excuse to yell, flirt, gamble your dignity and kill your liver with team spirit (and Don Julio). Just “hell yeah” to tie one over and quite possibly howl at the moon. We create drinking games, with shots that could down elephants, every weekend and every night.

We don’t care if it’s football, fútbol, basketball or competitive slap fighting, if it’s on a screen, we’ll find a reason to build a drinking ritual around it. Touchdown? Sip. Penalty? Shot. 4 A’s? Crack something open. Someone says “Taylor Swift”? Everyone yells “Swifty Shot!” and downs a mystery concoction poured from a bottle with no label and a vague smell of lighter fluid.

We once made national news – remember “24”? It was that Jack Bauer show where Kiefer Sutherland tortured his vocal cords and American civil liberties? Well, some of us in SoBe invented a drinking game where every time Jack screamed “WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?!”, we’d shoot Mexico’s bets and chase it with German DNA. Emergency rooms reported spikes in “patriotic alcohol poisoning.”

So yes, Miami watches games. But it doesn’t just watch games. We throw full-blown libation rituals wrapped in smoke, salsa and our better angels telling Darwin, “we don’t even bother anymore.”

Here’s where to do it best

1. Mickey Burkes: It’s bourbon, burgers and big screens

Let’s kick this off with the MVP. Mickey Burkes is more than a bar. It’s a cathedral of sports intoxication with the holy trinity of food, drink, and massive flat screens. There’s leather and wood. And half the items on the menu sound like they were designed by someone trying to bribe your stomach into forgiving you for your 3 a.m. choices.

You can sit in a plush booth, watch the Dolphins lose gloriously, and take comfort in the fact that you’re surrounded by other beautiful, devastated degenerates.

Best for: NFL Sundays, NBA Finals and pretending you’re “just grabbing one” until it’s closing time and you’re singing the Marlins fight song into your fries.

2. Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Co.: It’s where cocktails collide with kickoffs

This place is sexy. It’s like if Ernest Hemingway and a hipster mixologist opened a dive bar together after watching a Heat game and yelled at each other about rim protection. And then Ernest going to the hipster saying, “Have you ever seen a bull in the eyes and known in that instance that you live and your choices meant nothing?” To which the hipster will most likely back down and say, “I need to call my mom… I think I just peed myself.”

Yeah, there’s a game on. But there’s also a cocktail menu so good you’ll forget who’s playing and start questioning your allegiance to reality itself. Order the Rosé Spritz or the PB&J Old Fashioned. Yes, those exist.

Best for: Sneaky sports watching. You’ll look classy, stay buzzed and still cheer when someone dunks a ball or lands a good tackle.

3. South Pointe Tavern: The classy drunk’s game day spot

Hidden down at the tippy toe of South Beach, South Pointe Tavern has the swagger of a sailor who inherited a Rolex and learned how to mix drinks with the pinky out. The crowd is a little bit yacht, a little bit hot mess but always dialed in for the game.

They’ve got TVs tucked in just right. They’re not overwhelming, but visible from every seat. And the bartenders? Magicians with mezcal and judgmental glances if you order Bud Light.

Best for: Watching the game like an adult. Think NFL with oysters, soccer with prosecco, and someone whispering the spread in your ear between sips of bourbon.

4. Mac’s Club Deuce – It’s dive bar glory with a punch to the gut

This is not a bar. This is history soaked in PBR and moral ambiguity. Mac’s Club Deuce is legendary. It’s been around since before Miami knew what brunch was. The floor is sticky. The walls are greasy. The drinks are suicidal. The bartender has seen things. In other words, If Moe had a bar in Miami, this would be it. You just know that under the counter there’s a sawed off shotgun.

Want to watch a Heat game surrounded by real characters? Want to hear a guy explain why Dan Marino could have been president? This is your church. There’s usually a game on. If not, someone will change the channel with a pool cue.

Best for: Games you don’t really care about. Like when your fantasy team’s already dead but you still want to suffer with strangers.

5. Don Sombrero: It’s tacos, tequila and touchdowns

Sports and tequila. Name a better combo. Actually, it doesn’t exist. Wait, did I mention a guacamole economy? That’s right, there’s guacamole. In fact, lots of it. At Don Sombrero, you get screens everywhere, tacos that slap and margaritas the size of toddler swimming pools.

You’ll hear people screaming GOOAAL while downing chips and salsa like it’s a contact sport. It’s chaotic and colorful and Miami through and through. And more importantly it won’t cost you a liver.

Best for: Soccer matches, UFC or anything involving national pride and yelling in Spanish. Viva la fiesta.

6. Havana 1957: It’s baseball with a side of plantains

It’s retro Cuba with a splash of rum and the energy of a guy arguing over a missed call like his abuela’s honor is at stake.

Havana 1957 has that Miami Latin heat. The kind where baseball gets reverent, the cocktails come in ceramic pineapples and the crowd gets louder until someone starts singing Celia Cruz between innings. And oh, eventually things will turn political, they tend to do in these parts. If you had a poster of Che Guevara in your dorm room, my advice is, steer clear, cause you will disappear.

Best for: Baseball, boxing and anything that would make your grandpa nostalgic.

7. Craft South Beach: The game’s on, but so is the date you’re trying to impress

Yes, you want to watch the game. But you’re also trying to pretend you care about wine pairings and burrata. Welcome to Craft South Beach, where the whole magic is upscale, but the screens are visible. It’s the sports bar for people who read cocktail menus out loud.

They’ve got good food. Good booze. And enough ambient lighting that no one sees you cry when your team fumbles in the 4th quarter.

Best for: Date nights during playoffs. Or pretending you’re just “casually watching” while internally dying every time someone misses a free throw.

Bonus round: How Miami really watches a game

• Someone’s abuelo screaming at the TV in Little Havana, shirtless, surrounded by seven cousins.
• A bachelorette party watching the game at News Café, drinking espresso martinis and asking “Wait, which one is Tua?”
• A guy at Joe’s Stone Crab ordering three dozen oysters, “One for every yard we’re gonna need to win.”
• A group of friends packed into a La Sandwicherie booth, all holding $4 beers and yelling about Lionel Messi like he’s family.

The final whistle

In Miami, the game is never just about the game. It’s about taking a punch to your liver and having an excuse to drink. And about who you’re watching it with, what you’re drinking and how close you are to yelling “DALE!” into the night.

It’s about howling at the moon and remembering what it feels to be alive. It’s about letting your hair down and your chest out. Honestly, it’s about flicking your responsibilities in the ear and telling everyone that looks at you like you lost a gasket, “I got carried away with the game. That’s all… Hey, Pepe, put the window on my tab… You know I’m good for it…”

Where do you like to watch sports with your friends? Let us know in the comments!