An institution in Miami Lakes for decades, Beverly Hills Cafe was everybody’s favorite spot for lunch (and dinner, too, but especially lunch) until it closed about two years ago. Now, a former longtime employee is opening what you can think of as a kind of sister restaurant to Beverly Hill Cafe. It’s called Hills Cafe, and it’s opening at 7380 W 20th Ave, Suite 101, in Hialeah.
“Beverly Hills cafe was around since 1978,” Hillary Fayth, who is working to launch Hills Cafe next month, told What Now on Friday. “My mom was a waitress there, and my dad tended bar; that was how they met. Then, fast forward 25 years, and I was working there. I started in 2001, and I was there for 23 years. It was like the Cheers of our community, where everybody knew your name.”
That the loss of Beverly Hills Café was widely felt is clear: Hills Cafe’s Instagram page already has more than 3,700 followers, waiting for that NOW OPEN sign.
The menu at the Hills Cafe will be familiar to anyone who frequented its predecessor. Lots of salads, lots of soups, the best rolls in town, and more. Menu-wise, Fayth says, it’s sort of like mom-and-mom-style Cheesecake Factory: burgers, sandwiches, salads, pasta, seafood, you name it.
But perhaps just as important as the food: a local gathering place will be getting new life. Fayth envisions Hills Cafe as a meeting place for various local groups, whether it’s extra study groups and financial literacy classes for young people preparing for college life, or just a place to bring the kids and relax. To that end, Hills Cafe will also feature arcade games and other kinds of play for kids (and grownups) of all ages.
How closely will Hills Cafe resemble Beverly Hills Cafe? Pretty closely, Fayth says.
“I’m sort of putting my own swag on it,” said Fayth. “We’ll have the base of Beverly Hills Cafe—it didn’t change a lot through the years—but we’ll be adding some things people said they wanted all along.
You can keep up with the opening by following @hillscafe_miami on Instagram.
