***** 101 Italian Restaurant & Lounge, 17082 Collins Avenue, Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 33160, (786) 8111.

Got an absolutely dynamite joint for you guys, 101 Italian Restaurant & Lounge which opened about 3-months ago in Sunny Isles Beach.

Real simple tale to tell you here…

101 Italian Restaurant & Lounge is owned/operated by the same guys who created/owned-the wildly successful Matteo’s Restaurant chain- which for our purposes- currently has 2-South Florida locations -Boca Raton and Hallandale. To this very day, Matteo’s is one of Jeff Eats’ all-time favorite Southern Italian Restaurants. If you wanna check, I got some real nice “reviews” on Matteo’s.

Long story short,

Not sure of the details or politics or for that matter the money- involved, but Matteo’s original owners sold a few years ago…they are now “back”- with a new Florida restaurant named 101 Italian Restaurant & Lounge.

Jeff Eats, Mrs. Jeff Eats and Daughter Jeff Eats ate there last night…delicious food, terrific service, modern decor, full liquor bar, reasonable prices, 200+ seats with both indoor and outdoor seating.

Last night’s chopped salad, baked clams oreganta, fried zucchini, grilled pork chop, penne alla vodka and shrimp Luciano were absolute dynamite. Just so there is no misunderstanding, 101 Italian isn’t a Matteo’s clone- trust Jeff Eats when I tell you-that although many of its dishes-are similar, 101’s menu has a real good handful of items-that Matteo’s doesn’t have -and vice versa!

Let me wrap this up for you, 101 Italian Restaurant & Lounge is going to be a homerun. Its got the right pedigree!-the guys running the show, are consummate and I do mean consummate pros!

You can checkout menu/prices/info at Italian101Miami.net.

101 Italian Restaurant & Lounge is open Sunday-Thursday 5pm-10pm, Friday-Saturday 5pm-11pm.