Based on Antica Mare's menu proclamations, you'd expect a line of waiting diners stretching from the Shorecrest restaurant's front door to the 79th Street Causeway. "Best chicken you could ever eat!" "First authentic Tuscan restaurant in Florida!" "Best octopus in the world!" "Owner's favorite dish — you'll eat everything except the bone!"

Instead, the bayfront restaurant open since January on the ground floor of the Shorecrest Club Apartments was alarmingly empty on recent visits, even by Miami slow-season standards. Perhaps the crowds simply haven't yet heard about Italian-born owner Marco Betti's ristorante — or they haven't found it. If you aren't looking for Antica Mare, hidden just north of the causeway, you're not liable to know it's there.

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Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/