Do I Adore Cafe Dior?

Just when you thought the Miami Design District couldn’t get any ‘bougier’, it’s now upped itself with the addition of Café Dior. Which, as you can guess, is just as expensive as the name it bears. Dior has its signature cafe in Seoul and St. Tropez, so to open one up in Miami has made it the place to be - why? The cafe is Instagram-worthy as the perfect aesthetic for ‘haute’ coffee photos and photo backdrops.

I went to the cafe for my birthday with my husband and two friends. Of course, taking photos and posting them on my instagram story was easy, since the place itself is already cute. But listen up, because this is the part no one really talks about, the coffee and desserts are obscenely expensive. First of all, the coffee is $12 (+tax +tip +non-dairy milk) (there’s a reason they don’t advertise the menu online) and no, it is not worth it. I enjoy my cup of Nespresso and Starbucks more than the coffee they provided. A single macaron (pictured below) cost as much as the coffee. I thought Laduree was pricey, their macarons seem like a very reasonable $2.80/each.

So what’s the point? I had a very interesting conversation with a few friends on the power of social media for cafes and restaurants. It has the power to drive masses of people to these locations for the perfect photos. Even I’m guilty of this. I appreciate a beautifully designed space, I am an architect after all. My issue is there needs to be a balance between quality/price and Instagrammable design, otherwise these locations will gain fast momentum and die out just as fast. If it’s not already obvious - I would not recommend this cafe nor do I see myself going back. Yes, I can see the couture vibes beating a local corner Starbucks, but with places like OTL Miami right downstairs, Dr. Smood, Blue Bottle Coffee around the corner, etc… there is no need to choose Cafe Dior when there is an abundance of reasonably-priced, Instagrammable places right next door.

I did have a lot of fun, but this is true with any situation when you’re with the best people. This is all just my experience and opinion, maybe its a one-time-only kind of place or maybe there are those of you who think the ‘Dior’ powdered outline is worth every penny. All I’m saying is I’m not going to lie and say this is an amazing cafe just because the photos look amazing. There needs to be a little more transparency on social media when it comes to these things.

Dior, 162 NE 39th Street, Miami Design District