Business Spotlight: Caffe Abbracci, the Gables' Power Lunch Legend
Caffe Abbracci has anchored Coral Gables business lunches since 1989. Why institutions like it make office space Coral Gables a smart bet.
If you've worked out of office space in Coral Gables for any length of time, you've probably closed a deal, celebrated a hire, or impressed a client at a white-tablecloth spot on Aragon Avenue. This Sunday, our business spotlight lands on Caffe Abbracci — the northern Italian institution at 318 Aragon Ave. that has been feeding the Gables business community since 1989, and that says a lot about why companies put down roots here.
From a quiet block to a Gables landmark
When Nino Pernetti opened Caffe Abbracci on July 11, 1989, the block was hardly the dining destination it is today — according to Coral Gables Magazine, the original site sat across the street from a Greyhound bus station in what was then a sleepy corner of downtown. Pernetti had already proven himself on Miracle Mile with Baci, which he opened in 1987, but he closed it two years later to pour everything into Abbracci.
The bet paid off. Over more than three and a half decades, the restaurant's dining room has hosted Frank Sinatra, Brad Pitt, and three U.S. presidents — George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama — per Coral Gables Magazine's survey of the Gables' oldest restaurants. For the lawyers, bankers, and firm principals who fill downtown's office buildings, Abbracci became shorthand for the Coral Gables power lunch.
A family succession story
Pernetti passed away in 2022, and the restaurant's second act is a succession story any family business can learn from. His daughters, Tatiana and Katerina, had been quietly trained for years — taught how to greet tables, brought into the office, shown how the room works. Tatiana now serves as president and CEO, and Miami New Times reported that when the restaurant marked its 35th anniversary in 2024, the City of Coral Gables declared July 11 Caffe Abbracci Day, with Miami-Dade County adding its own recognition. The city had already renamed the 300 block of Aragon Avenue "Nino Pernetti Way" in 2023.
Continuity runs deeper than the family name. Loris Curzio, now vice president and general manager, has been with the restaurant since its second year. "We know the guests by name, just about every single one," he told Miami New Times — a standard of personal service that regulars from the surrounding office buildings count on. The menu honors the founder too: the Branzino Nino is named for Pernetti's favorite dish, a counterpart to the Tortellini "Tatiana" he named for his daughter decades ago.
Why longevity like this matters to your business
Caffe Abbracci isn't an outlier. Christy's steakhouse has been serving Caesar salads and prime rib to Gables dealmakers for nearly five decades, and JohnMartin's — the Irish pub founded the same year as Abbracci — was revived in 2022 by Breakwater Hospitality Group after its pandemic closure. Downtown Coral Gables keeps its institutions, and that stability is part of the business case for the neighborhood.
When you're choosing office space in Coral Gables, you're not just leasing square footage — you're buying into an ecosystem. A client lunch three minutes from your desk at a restaurant that has hosted presidents. A walkable grid where Miracle Mile, Giralda Plaza, and Aragon Avenue give you a different option every day of the week. The kind of street-level continuity that makes clients comfortable and makes recruiting easier. It's one more reason the Miami office market keeps sending tenants this way, as we covered in our guide to why companies base themselves in Coral Gables.
Abbracci also sits a short stroll from another Gables institution we've spotlighted, Books & Books on Aragon Avenue — together they anchor one of the most civilized business blocks in South Florida.
Put your office in the middle of it
Gables Executive Offices puts your business steps from all of it. Our furnished executive suites in Coral Gables come with staffed reception, conference rooms for client meetings, and flexible terms that let you scale without a long-term lease — a turnkey alternative to traditional office rental in Coral Gables. Whether you need a private furnished office in Miami's most polished suburb or a professional address near Miracle Mile for your growing firm, you can be settled in quickly and spend your energy on clients, not build-outs. Then take them to lunch on Nino Pernetti Way.
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