The South Beach Seafood Festival returns for its 14th year next week, running Wednesday, Oct. 21 through Saturday, Oct. 24, and ending with an all-inclusive afternoon on the sand at Lummus Park where 40 to 50 South Florida restaurants compete for a single title and Miami Beach Senior High culinary students take the stage with a ceviche battle of their own.

Four nights, four very different rooms

The festival is built as a week rather than a single party, and each night has its own personality. It opens Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. with Made in Miami, a five-course collaborative dinner across the bay at Phuc Yea on Biscayne Boulevard. Chefs Cesar Zapata and Jose Mendin host alongside GOYA's Chef Fernando Desa, with Michael Beltran, Eileen Andrade, Eduardo Lara and Max Santiago each contributing a course. Seats start at $235, and the menu leans hard into the local accent: oysters al pastor, a key lime shrimp aguachile and grilled Florida fish with green curry.

Thursday, Oct. 22, brings the dinner series the festival calls An Evening in Miami Beach, with paired dinners at two of the island's best known dining rooms, Rao's Miami Beach at 1601 Collins Ave. and Macchialina. Rao's is capping its table at 40 guests for a multi-course Italian dinner that runs from baked clams and shrimp fra diavolo to a cowboy cut prime ribeye and the house cheesecake. Tickets start at $250, with the Rao's seating priced at $500.

Friday, Oct. 23, the action moves onto the beach for the VIP Chef Showdown from 7 to 11 p.m. Eighteen chefs face off in nine head-to-head seafood battles, and guests sample, sip and vote at each battle pavilion before the finalists cook in front of a judging panel. Bartenders get their own competitions the same night, with a Pacifico beer cocktail contest and a tequila bartender showdown. Friday tickets start at $175.

Saturday is the big one

The flagship Seafood Slam runs Saturday, Oct. 24, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Lummus Park, and it is the event most residents will want. A $160 All Access ticket covers samples from 40 to 50 restaurants, wine and spirits tastings, festival cocktail stations, live music and kitchen demonstrations, and every guest gets a vote in the Best of the Fest competition. Each restaurant team serves two or three dishes, and the winner is named at 4:40 p.m. on the main culinary stage. A weekend pass covering both Friday and Saturday is $275.

The festival's timing is deliberate. It is designed as the unofficial kickoff to stone crab season, and Saturday includes a stone crab pavilion where fresh claws are sold at special festival pricing. Those claws are an add-on, not part of admission, so plan accordingly if they are the reason you are going.

The part worth staying for

Tucked into the Saturday entertainment schedule is the moment that makes this more than a tasting. From 2:30 to 2:50 p.m., 12 culinary students from Miami Beach Senior High go head to head in a ceviche battle alongside their culinary director, on the same stage where professional chefs demo all afternoon. Just before them, from 2 to 2:20 p.m., Chef Diego Rivera of Ikigai leads a whole tuna carving.

The rest of the afternoon is a mix of competition and showmanship: a new Fresh From Florida oyster shucking contest, a home chef competition with two finalists cooking live, a live fire Argentine grill, DJs on multiple stages and a college football watch party for anyone who refuses to miss a kickoff.

The 2026 chef lineup is a good snapshot of who is cooking around South Florida right now. Names already announced include chefs from Smith & Wollensky, Bistro Collins at Loews Miami Beach, Aguasal by José Andrés Group at the Andaz Miami Beach, Zaytinya, Buccan, Skinny Louie, CJ's Crab Shack, Hole in the Wall and Monty's in Coconut Grove, with more being added through the week.

Where the money goes

The festival is owned by a nonprofit, the South Beach WFF Foundation, and is hosted by the City of Miami Beach. According to the festival's programs page, proceeds support EAT SMART, a youth nutrition program that brings healthy meals and nutrition education into Miami-Dade County public schools, along with a culinary education track that puts students next to working chefs and opens doors to internships and first jobs in local kitchens. That is exactly what the Senior High ceviche battle on Saturday looks like in practice.

If you are going

  • Wednesday, Oct. 21, 7 p.m.: Made in Miami dinner at Phuc Yea, from $235.
  • Thursday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m.: paired dinners at Rao's Miami Beach and Macchialina, from $250.
  • Friday, Oct. 23, 7 to 11 p.m.: VIP Chef Showdown on the sand, from $175.
  • Saturday, Oct. 24, 1 to 5 p.m.: Seafood Slam at Lummus Park, $160.

Tickets and the full schedule are on the festival's events page, and the FAQ covers questions on weather, accessibility on the sand and what you can bring. The Loews Miami Beach is the host hotel for anyone turning it into a staycation.

For South Beach residents, this is the weekend the restaurant season really starts. Ocean Drive's front lawn turns into a tasting menu for the whole county, the stone crabs make their first appearance of the year, and a dozen local high schoolers get to cook in front of a crowd that, for one afternoon, includes their neighbors.