There Is a Damien Hirst Gilded Unicorn in a Miami Beach Restaurant and Almost Nobody Is Talking About It
PAO by Paul Qui at the Faena Hotel has a gold domed ceiling, a Damien Hirst gilded unicorn, a 4.8 rating on Resy, and 77 reviews. It is on the Seafood list. It is Modern Pan-Asian at $$. It is the most underwritten restaurant in Miami.
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PAO by Paul Qui is at the Faena Hotel on Miami Beach. The room has a glowing gold domed ceiling. It is anchored by a Damien Hirst gilded unicorn. The menu is Modern Pan-Asian at a $$ price point. The rating on Resy is 4.8. The review count is 77.
Seventy-seven reviews. For a restaurant with a Damien Hirst gilded unicorn, a gold domed ceiling, a 4.8 rating, and a spot on Resy's Greatest Seafood list. That gap — between what the room is and how many people have written about it — is the most interesting editorial fact in Miami dining right now.
The Faena Hotel is one of the most visually ambitious hotels in Miami Beach — the Alan Faena and Len Blavatnik project that opened in 2015 and set a new standard for what a Miami Beach hotel could look like. PAO sits inside it, in a room that Resy describes as Miami Beach design at its boldest. The gold domed ceiling is not a metaphor. The Damien Hirst unicorn is not a small sculpture in a corner. This is a room that was designed to be looked at.
Paul Qui is a James Beard Award-winning chef — Best Chef: Southwest, 2012 — who built his reputation at Uchiko in Austin before expanding to other projects. PAO is his Miami expression: Modern Pan-Asian, seafood-forward, in a room that most chefs would find intimidating to cook in. The 4.8 rating suggests he has figured it out.
The honest answer is that the Faena Hotel is not a neighborhood restaurant. It is a destination hotel in a stretch of Collins Avenue that most Miami residents do not pass through regularly. The guests who eat at PAO tend to be hotel guests or visitors who have specifically sought it out — not the kind of repeat local traffic that builds a 10,000-review count. But 77 reviews at 4.8 stars is a signal, not a warning. The people who have been are telling you it is worth going.
PAO by Paul Qui is at the Faena Hotel, 3201 Collins Ave, Miami Beach. Book through Resy. The room is worth seeing even if you are not hungry.
The PGM Edit
PAO by Paul Qui at the Faena Hotel has a gold domed ceiling, a Damien Hirst gilded unicorn, a 4.8 rating on Resy, and 77 reviews. It is on the Seafood list. It is Modern Pan-Asian at $$. It is the most underwritten restaurant in Miami.
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