Bucking any sort of new trend, Merrick Park’s newest restaurant/lounge has enough hookah pipes to put you into a coma. The new Sawa , brought to you by Ramzi Zahr (the man who’s been serving up French food at C’est Bon not too far away) has opened the doors to his Sawa Restaurant and Lounge to the hungry masses. Sawa is Coral Gables newest duel-concept restaurant, with the bar and dining room inside, and patio lounge outside.

The dining room serves up a menu of Mediterranean cuisine with some Asian sushi and a touch of fusion. Exotic would be the keyword for the card. While the chef specializes in Asian-Mediterranean, the exotic touch comes with addition of frog legs, beef carpaccio, sushi, and other meat and pasta entrées available. Kebabs, salads, seafood and a tapas menu pairs up nicely with the wine and cocktail list. Drinks and food are one thing, but they all get pushed to the backburner after 10 pm – that’s when Sawa transforms into the evening lounge … a requirement for any Miami restaurant, really.

The patio stays open until 2 am every night, complete with a live DJ, cigar smoke puffs, and – did I mention? – hookah. Sawa offers tobacco in its usual regular and premium types in the traditional flavours, but the house also offers a new kind of kick to the bubbles. It’s called Hookah on Steroids , and it’s not just the new way to inhale tobacco, but it’s a new way to down your drink as well. With the new foreign cocktail flavours, the barkeep will mix the hookah water with three ounces of your chosen drink. For example, get the Mojito flavour and the bar will add three ounces of Mojito with the water so you get the taste in a completely different way.

The earthly atmosphere within also doubles as an art gallery for Lebanese artist Chady . Fun fact: some of his art is 3-D, even printed on the inside of the menu so you can see multi-dimensional pictures while you annoy your waitress by not having your order ready. Just make sure you’re only smoking the hookah for that one, any other plant in there could make the 3-D thing a bit trippy.

Address: 360 San Lorenzo Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33146
Contact: (305) 542-3119
Cuisine: Fusion
Area: Coral Gables
Venue: Restaurant, Lounge
Hours: Opening March 29
2010
Price Range: $$$ (Within Reach)
Payment: Cash, Visa, American Express, Mastercard

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