MIAReview
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings
Over Under
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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.