Hawa Fusion Cuisine

The golden pockets are amazing, you have to order this.
For dinner we had a roll and the pizza. The pizza was good but not great. Planning on going back to order differenent items from the menu so I can give them 5 stars.

This was the second time we ate the restaurant since most of the time we have their food delivered to our home. On this last occasion we tried their Tuna and Tofu Pockets, the Tuna Kibbeh Nayyeh. Both dishes were divine! We also had their Ahi Tuna salad with the spicy tuna roll and the kiwi salmon crab roll. Since Hawa does not serve wine, we brought a bottle of sake. BTW, there is no corkage charged.
The server, Paul, was wonderful and very knowledgeable. We will definitely go back and recommend it to all our friends.

First place I’ve been to that serves sushi with salad combos (check out the pic I posted). Our waiter Gabriel was very friendly and made some great suggestions that we ended up ordering. There is a really good selection of sushi on the menu.
We got there in the early evening before 6 PM I think and got seated right away. The owner told us it gets much busier in the late evenings. It’s off the beaten path but I would try to hit this place up if you’re in Miami. When we came last April it said Avant Garde Sushi on the outside.

Ate here for the first time last night with my husband. We both enjoyed the food. By far the best sushi rolls we’ve found in South Florida since we moved here a year ago (from San Francisco — where sushi is a way of life).
We each had one of the salad/​roll combinations, both had great flavor and were plenty to eat (neither of us are into huge American portions). We ordered an extra roll as well — the Ceviche Roll, and while it was good, I was simply too stuffed to eat it all. Next time we’ll probably just share one of the salads and get an extra roll.
Only two drawbacks, they don’t serve alcohol (maybe they’re still waiting for a permit?) and the waiter we had was overly attentive in the beginning (almost hovering), and then we had to wait over 10 minutes after they cleared our plates for our check. I wouldn’t mind waiting if I had a nice glass of wine to drink while I chatted with my husband! But, the servers were all very nice, so this complaint is very minor!
Overall though, these 2 negative things will not prevent us from going back. I’m looking forward to trying something else the next time!

I am updating my previous review, which was previously filtered by Unilocal (not nice Unilocal!)
The truth is I have won the lottery! Not the money lottery, but the restaurant lottery. I have eaten in great restaurants in most continents in the world, and specifically in almost half of all U.S. states. And, out of all the restaurants I have ever eaten, the one which in my opinon is the best I have tried, is right across from my office building. This is Avant Garde by Hawa Fusion!
I have been eating there for more than a year and half. I have never been disappointed. The high quality of the food as well as the service is impressively consistent. The only thing changes they do there is finding new ways to blow your mind with flavor. I am convinced they have a majic flavor computer back there that enables them to create these truly spectacular dishes.
I am not an acclamied food critic or newspaper food columnist, so I will keep the details of the flavors to a minimum, but either way I rather you not listen to me and try it for yourself. Go in and ask for a Golden Pocket. Take a bite… and now you see! If you want, take your friend and ask them to order one. When they take a bite, dont ask them how it tastes. Just look at their face… You will understand. Mr. Hawa you are a true artist!

I am not the type of person that drives too far from home or my office for lunch or dinner. Not even the type of person that types reviews too often. Hawa Fusion’s dishes are truly amazing, the mix of flavors and great presentation is remarkable.
Everytime I suggest this restaurant or take a friend of client, they end up coming back by themselves. Food is great, quiet and secluded location yet in the middle of Coral Gables. I wish there are more Hawa Fushion’s sites around Miami.
Totally recommedable!

I remember the first time I was introduced to this restaurant and thought, «What in the world am I going to find that I actually like here?» Being somewhat of a picky eater, I thought I was going to have a hard time. I was recommended to try a Golden Pocket with Tuna; WOW! As soon as you take a bite you have this explosion of different flavors, its like a party in your mouth, in all seriousness. This has GOT to be my favorite thing on the entire menu, I could eat it all day! The sweetness to the pocket, the soft rice, amazingly fresh tuna, macadamia nuts, tempura flakes and coconut flakes on top, does that not sound amazing in itself?
As soon as you step foot into the restaurant you have such a calm and happy ambiance, it’s almost relaxing and with such friendly staff, you’re sure to enjoy your dining experience whether you’re a first time guest or a «frequent flier» !
I love the fresh passion fruit juice and also their passion fruit dessert! Although I would love to have some wine with my meal, they do not serve it but you are welcome to bring your own bottle. My favorite meal is the Jasmine roll and oddly enough I like it with Tuna. Mango and tuna seem like they don’t mix but trust me, its worth a try! I am allergic to shellfish so of course I am limited to experience their amazing menu but from what I’ve had the privilege to enjoy, this restaurant is hands down, the BEST I’ve ever been to in all of Miami!

Only two stars, not a critique of the quality of this restaurant, but of the ethics behind the rating system. Please read on.
The food was a pleasant surprise, yet not at all what we expected. The dishes may look Japanese but they really tasted nouvelle Mediterranean, with a Middle Eastern «heft» to them. I love the Tuna Inoki roll (seared tuna w/​inoki mushrooms) and the Korean bbq short rib roll both. The Shitake, corn, pico de gallo salad is very tasty and filling — definitely more Mexican than Asian — and the loin of lamb was delicious, served like I wanted it: rare.
The service was very knowledgeable and super friendly. Liquor is strictly BYO.
I was debating between giving it 4 stars for the food, or 3 ½ because the prices are a little high — not excessive but dinner and tip set me back $ 80 and we only drank tap water with dinner.
I decided to cut it down to two stars only after I saw the absurd amount of 5 stars ratings given here. Fifteen 5 star ratings were filtered out (obvious cheats) and still there are another 9 (NINE) 5 star ratings left from people who have only written one Unilocal restaurant review and that was to praise this restaurant. That’s a full ¹⁄₃^rd of all reviews, way too many to be a fluke.
Hawa is a very good restaurant, I don’t dispute that some people do think it’s worth a full 5 stars, but I feel that an overall average of 4 ½ stars is artificially inflated. Either that or I’m wrong and it really is the best restaurant in Fla.

If you don’t think that Lebanese and Japanese food go together, you will be in for a big surprise. They go perfectly together-​like a deep dark chocolate cake and ice cream.
We were intrigued enough to purchase the Groupon, and I’m so glad we did. For lunch we started with the hummus and baba ganoush. The hummus is creamy smooth, while the baba ganoush has quite a kick.
For the main course, I had the seared tuna wrap. OMG-​the wrap had an Asian salad with tempura flakes. The marinated cucumbers alone were worth the price! The tuna was sushi quality, and seared perfectly.
My husband had the chicken wrap. He was practically licking his fingers. Both platters came with a small side of hummus and crackers. Needless to say, we brought a lot of food home.
Now, we can’t wait to go back.

Purchased the Groupon because I was intrigued by the idea of Japanese Lebanese fusion. How does that even happen? Walked in at 6:00 PM Saturday and felt a bit awkward as we were the only customers. The owner, his wife and kids were hanging out at one of the tables, not serving any visible purpose, which made things more awkward.
The menu does have photos on it but should include more detailed descriptions. Our waiter was this friendly kid who had a hard time explaining the dishes. We ended up ordering their signature appetizer, which was this wrap/​pocket stuffed with chopped nuts, tuna and rice. I expected it to be hot but it was cold. It was rather sweet due to the coconut flakes in it. It was also pretty greasy but I did enjoy the sweet and savory combination.
I did enjoy my salad sushi roll combination. The serving was generous, the ingredients fresh. I went for the cobb salad eel roll combo. The roll was tasty although the eel in the center was so tiny that it was almost like eating an all-​rice roll with a bit of eel sauce. In retrospect, I am not sure there was actually eel in it. Also forgot to ask for brown rice.
The BF ordered a grilled chicken wrap which was also very fresh and tasty.
They do have a selection of home made desserts that reminded me of French pastries. Once again, our waiter had a tough time explaining the desserts; one minute the chocolate dessert was a bread pudding with chocolate on the side, the next minute he described it as a molten chocolate cake. We ordered a three layer mousse cake that was on display. It was delicious, not too sweet, rich dark chocolate mousse, moist, light and fluffy.
I also had to try the Lebanese Kunafeh dessert just because I’d never heard of it. It is a cheese similar to fresh mozzarella, topped with this golden brown crispy corn meal batter, drizzled with sugar syrup and sprinkled with ground pistacchios. The waiter couldn’t really explain it so I ended up looking it up on wikipedia. It is a very small dessert and they do prepare it fresh. It is similar in taste to bakhlava but the texture is very different as they don’t use phyllo. Think of it more as breaded cheese with syrup.
I am glad I tried this place. There are definitely more menu items I’d explore if this was in my neighborhood. I am not sure however, that the Japanese Lebanese fusion works. They’d have better success just serving solid Lebanese food.

THANK GOD WE HAD A GROUPON, Worst. Service. Ever.
I have no idea how this place has such good reviews. My best friend and I went on a Saturday night. For background: I’m vegan, and she’s pretty much vegan with the exception of fresh seafood.
First off, we go in there and the hostess seats us. A good 15 minutes go by and we’ve had no contact with a wait staff. The couple next to us comes in after us and promptly gets water and menus. I have to get up and ask the hostess for menus AT LEAST so we can get started ordering. She goes to get a waitress who then rushes to get us both water and menus. We tell her our dietary needs and she stumbles on telling us what entrees have what in it. I order an appetizer and the falafel wrap, my friend gets a salad accompanied by some rolls.
A completely different waiter brings us the food (I’m given my appetizer AND entrée at the same time) and gives us each others plates.
My friend liked the salad, but my huge falafel wrap literally had two whimpy falafels in it while the rest was primarily lettuce. As for my appetizer I got the «babaganoush with pita» as the menu described but it actually was a bowl of babaganoush drowning in olive oil and a pile of tiny pieces of broken pita chips you can buy in a bag. I barely ate any because the pieces were simply too small. I asked if there was any actual pita bread but she never answered the question. Then the other dude that brought us our food came back by to ask if we were okay after the girl left. It was like we had two waiters, and they each were completely unaware of what we needed.
We ask for the check but didn’t reach the $ 30 min. the GroupOn required so my friend ordered espresso and I got a Chai soy latte. Her espresso came, she finished it, and I waited. And waited. AND waited. Eventually our server came with the check and when I asked whatever happened to my latte, she simply put the check down on the table and said they were out of Chai.
This is a little hole in the wall restaurant that won’t be around much longer if they keep their grade of service up. Fine by me.

If you are looking for a quiet place that’s relatively free of any hustle and bustle. say for a first date, or with a group of friends. and eat something with a unique kind of flavor, head to the Hawa.
A Lebanese slash Japanese fusion restaurant right by a quiet area in busy Coral Gables that has both tasty dishes and a calm environment.
They have delicious hummus and falafels, but if you’re in the mood for something new, try out the golden pockets. They’re very good with shrimp. As for entrée’s I thought the shrimp tempura roll is one of their best rolls, as well as the kiwi roll. Both are fresh and very delicious. If you’re not a seafood person, you can always try out the filet mignon wrap which is one of my favorites.
I totally suggest you guys try out the Mochi ice cream. Image a little ball of ice cream wrapped in a gummy bear. It’s super yummy and pretty cheap enough to at least try.
Parking should be available on the street. it’s in a very quiet area, so you shouldn’t have trouble. if no street parking is available, the garage directly next to it is pretty cheap ($ 1/​first hour). Avoid the garage across the street, that’s the hotel’s and it’s very expensive.

Now with there previous review, by me and the review that I read from Patrick L., I responded back there, but this time armed with a
coupon of $ 25.00, which is always a plus. Previously I had great sushi, the super seafood roll, and those delicious Golden Pockets, and not so stellar service, as the waitress dumped ponzu sauce on me. But, I couldn’t stay away from the food.
My epic return yesterday, still found the restaurant empty, sad for such a restaurant in the Gables pricing area. Our server couldn’t have been more attentive. Water was always there, he was more then happy to discuss the dishes, and which ones were his favorite. This time I stayed away from the sushi, as I have found that just about every restaurant is doing it slightly fancier then the next. So I got the Lebanese platter, and of course two of those Golden Pockets, which are so good, I could have ordered 50 of them. My friend got the Spicy Tuna Roll Salad and one Golden Pocket, what a sucker, he too would learn the enticing magic of the Golden Pocket.
About the Golden Pocket, this is an item so hard to describe, as seems to be a crêpe filled with Kobe Beef, or you can have tuna, shrimp or chicken. I prefer the Kobe, I’ve tried the tuna, it was good, but I still prefer the Kobe. This stuffed pocket is filled with ground Kobe, macadamia nuts and spices along with honey, and this is only my guess. We in the food world are all familiar with elf’en magic, this Golden Pocket apparently is dusted by magical little nymphs or ferry’s, as they are magically delicious. Hands down you have to try one.
The Lebanese Platter, was outstanding, it was just a sampling of all things Lebanese, from the Taboulie, Hummus, Falafil, and pickled vegetables, and then artistically adorned with a filet mignon. Food presentation on this platter made it to good to eat, But, I’m not that good of a person so I ate it, My friends spicy Tuna Salad also magically disappeared, it must have been good, as was his Golden Pocket.
The owner came by to chat with us, and he explained that he has a very busy luncheon crowd and catering business, they all want the Golden Pocket recipe, but I don’t think he’s about to give it up. We were talked into having dessert, and I want to say it was called Fawa, a custard with pistachio nuts on top. I don’t know what it was called, or how it was made, but I’d feed it to a diabetic and no jury in the world would convict me. Sugary sweet, great texture, the only thing I didn’t like was the fork, and the bowl they served it in, as both got in the way of my mouth.
My advise go to
, buy the coupon, go there eat a dozen Golden Pockets, go back and try there food it SOFA KING good (get it :0)) The staff is very nice, I wish I lived closer!

I was on the fence as to whether to go three or four stars here. Value throws this into the four-​star tier, but then I have some picky personal preference-​type issues with the food that make me not quite consider it worthy of «I’m a fan!» But anyway, that will be explained later. «Asian Fusion,» to me, often comes off as an excuse to charge too much, and deliver too little. «Oh look! We put a few drops of Yuzu sauce and a sprig of cilantro on our diminutive tuna roll! $ 18, bitches!» No, for the most part, Hawa’s food doesn’t make me want to laugh and point at it.
Sure, this is not 100 Montaditos-​type cheap — if you want some of this funky fusion action, plan on paying $ 12-​$ 18 per «signature» roll. However, the awesome thing is — and here’s where the «useful» in this review comes in — three of these rolls can adequately service two hungry people. They are large. I ordered four rolls, and that was too much; I had to take some home.
It took me a while to orient myself with the menu, as it is confusing. There are salads, salad + roll options, the aforementioned signature rolls, main plates, wraps, and Middle Eastern stuff like kibbeh and falafel. I decided to keep it simple and go with a sampling of rolls.
The jasmine roll was pretty simple, large and enjoyable — this is probably the surefire «you’ll like this» roll.
Eel/​bacalao roll was pleasingly crunchy, with plenty of that unmistakable sweet eel flavor. Unfortunately, there was some creamy stuff in the middle I did not care for at all, so I ended up mutilating the roll and picking out the good parts.
The kiwi roll was an interesting idea, but there wasn’t enough kiwi presence for me, it just didn’t come through enough. It came off as a plain fish roll, with the regrettable (in my opinion) inclusion of «Japanese mayo.» Again, I mutilated the rolls and picked out the good parts.
I’m going to head off on a tangent here — what is with the proliferation of «Japanese mayo» lately? Too much of what you order at Asian Fusion restaurants these days comes with it. I suspect that this is just pandering to the typical American love of creamed everything. Yes, I am aware of how gross that sounds! This restaurant features a tuna pizza that I would have loved to try, but for the fact that I looked at the picture and saw too much questionable creamy goo on it. I HATE mayonnaise. I don’t care whether it’s «Japanese,» or American. Please keep it out of my sushi rolls/​pork buns/​Asian tacos/​WHATEVER! OK, tangential rant off.
I’d say the winner out of what I tried was the Kobe beef roll. It was odd, the first bite, I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not, as the beef in the context of a sushi roll seemed to be giving my palate a strange earthy taste sensation. This quickly grew on me, though, and turned out to be my favorite.
Definitely worth a try. Just be careful of what you order if you are revolted by mayo.

hawa has become a staple in our office lunch routine.
the prices are a little more than regular quick lunch but the quality and quantity are worth it.
i love the tofu pocket
the tuna pizza is so unique you just have to try it to understand it
the jasmine roll is still a fave
and their salads are big and fresh
they recently explanded and now have double the eat in space. its a really nice place and totally different than most typical gables spots.

Very unusual place to say the least. They have a small sushi bar where we sat and received a warm welcome.
The reason we didn’t give more stars was the menu and cost/​benefit ratio. It was difficult to order from because I didn’t recognize half of the stuff on it. Lebanese-​Japanese fusion is strange but they do pull it off. We got salads because we didn’t know what to order. The salads (mine was with ahi) were very good and quite filling. The sushi chef gave us ½ of one of his specialty rolls and it was fantastic. I’d try this place again, good stuff.

I. Love. Hawa.
I had read the great reviews, and to my surprise, I found two of my top five cuisines in one place; Lebanese and Japanese. Not only this, but I did very much appreciate the Peruvian influence (as I am a proud Peruvian girl) with all the Tiradito starters and «ceviche» style roll.
Last weekend, I finally had the chance to try this restaurant out. The staff was super friendly and attentive. The food came out fast. Healthy, light, refreshing, and most importantly — tasty.
I had the Ahi tuna salad, which was right up my alley. My sister ordered the ceviche roll which was excellent. The star of the show? The Golden Pockets. yes, you better order them.
This place has a lovely ambiance, great location, lovely staff, and great food. I would recommend it in a heart beat — so much so that I am going back for dinner tonight :)

OMG, this place is getting better by the day. They expanded and the chef told me they would soon be expanding their hot dishes as they just installed a stove & hood. There is also a sushi bar on the way! And aparently they’ll also be serving breakfast soon!
I got the Hawa fusion pizza with tuna. Holy crap, this is awesome! Get it. I’m serious, suck it up, try something new and try the tuna pizza. I’m serious! It’s fricking amazing.
P. S. Did you know Hawa means love in Arabic? Their food is definitely made with love!

You have to try the golden pockets. Out of this world. True fusion baby.
Was invited there today for lunch by a group of foodies from work, and was amazed. Tried the golden pockets, and wow, I could have had just 5 more for lunch. Then lunch arrived. The Mango pineapple salad sushi was amazing. I tried 4 more dishes (everyone at the table ordered something different) and ALL of them were great. It is going to be very hard to decide next time I am there. Golden Pockets? For sure.

Wow! So I discovered this place on my search to get a salad for lunch; it’s at the old Gable’s location of Giardino Gourmet Salad. Wondering what this place was all about, I decided to give it a shot. I’m so glad I did! I never would’ve thought Japanese & Lebonese food could be combined.
I ordered the Mango Pineapple Salad w/​Jasmine Roll. It was delish, though next time, I’ll need to get the dressing on the side since it was too much for me. The jasmine roll was perfect on its own, and pretty to look at too! Everything was great, and I was extremely full after, though that might have had to do with also having one of their smoothies. I can’t remember the name, but it was a matcha green tea smoothie that had pistachios in it. I would’ve liked for it to be a bit thicker, it was more liquidy that I was expecting, but the taste was good!
I had to stop myself from going back their for dinner that night! I will definitely be eating here again!