Timing matters at Over Under. And exactly when you should visit this Downtown cocktail bar and restaurant will depend on what sort of experience you’re looking for.

Would you like to order a shot and a beer before immediately screaming Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" into a microphone? Great. Stop by on Wednesday for late-night karaoke. Perhaps you want to sit at the bar and drink alone underneath the glow of a neon mosquito sipping a martini? Cool. Go at 1am on a Monday and enjoy the spooky isolation we usually only feel the day before a hurricane hits. Or maybe you just want to sit down with some friends, be loud, and eat very delicious food that requires no silverware? Then come anytime before the kitchen closes at midnight.

Not unlike a surfer looking for good waves or a person trying to catch a specific type of fish, it’s helpful to know the rhythm of Over Under before you go. Or else you might walk in on a Saturday night hoping for a relaxing, chill dinner, only to be greeted by a densely packed room of people partying like they just won a shocking amount of money on a scratch-off.

Its many personalities aside, Over Under is primarily a place we go to consume delicious things in an environment where we don't have to worry too much about the clothes we're wearing. The big theme of both the menu and the spiritual core of the restaurant is: Florida. It embraces the state with a mix of irony (they once created an entire menu as an ode to Flanigan's) and sincerity (they once created an entire menu as an ode to Flanigan's).

About everything you can eat here has some sort of tie to the Sunshine State. The mahi-mahi in the thick scoop of smoked fish dip, the beef in the outstanding cheeseburger, the crispy fried alligator, the juicy thigh in the fried chicken sandwich—all of the above carry Florida IDs. Even the phenomenal shell-tini, a perfectly briny martini with oyster shell-infused gin, utilizes the shells of Florida oysters. There are also rotating weekly specials—one of which is usually vegan or vegetarian—that showcase our state's deliciousness

Ingredients aren't the only thing that makes Over Under feel so Florida though. It's the unpredictability of walking in here. You never quite know what you'll encounter. But, like the state it loves, it'll probably be equal parts weird and fun.

Food Rundown

Smoked Fish Dip

We might take away Over Under’s Florida card if they didn’t have a great smoked fish dip on the menu. Luckily, this one is excellent. It comes with lightly-fried Saltines for dipping and ultra-thin slices of pickled peppers that help cut through all that salt.

Cheeseburger

This is just classic burger perfection: thin, deeply charred patties with American cheese, soft griddled onions, pickles, and shredded lettuce between a soft sesame seed bun. The only curveball here is the 1000 Island Dressing, a burger condiment we don't see as often as we’d like.

Hot Honey Chicken Sandwich

This is the kind of fried chicken sandwich that reminds us why we'll never get sick of fried chicken sandwiches. It's a boneless chicken thigh polished with hot honey sauce, pickles, lettuce, and mayo between the same sesame seed bun they use with the burger. It glistens in the sun and goes really well with the frozen drinks they make.

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings

Demon Pig Boy

On Sunday (and Sunday only), Over Under makes the greatest thin-crust pie in Miami for their weekly pop-up, Fratesi's Pizza. These are bar pies, a very close relative of Chicago’s tavern-style pizza: ultra thin, super crispy pies, and with cheese that nearly covers the entire surface. The spicy demon pig boy (great name, by the way) is the one to get. It’s topped with pickled hot peppers, charred pepperoni, Calabrian chili oil, and three types of cheese, which is the correct amount of cheese.

Sour Orange Pie

The menu description for this dessert says, "Picture key lime pie, except with a fruit that we actually get from Florida." And we actually like this better than about 96 percent of South Florida's key lime pies. The sour orange gives off a perfect tartness. It's topped with a glob of torched meringue and built on a salty crust made from crushed Saltines.