Del Mar Review: A Fort Lauderdale Beachfront Dinner With a Few Highs and One Great Dessert

★★★☆☆

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By Kris Furrevig | March 25, 2026

AUTHOR BIO: Kris Furrevig is an engineer and FSU grad who lives in Fort Lauderdale. He's an expert in the peatiest of whiskies and tacos made from fresh-caught lobsters.

There’s something about a restaurant that feels like it’s in on a secret—and Del Mar has that energy from the moment you arrive.

At the ground floor of Auberge Beach Residences, the restaurant sits in a calmer stretch of Fort Lauderdale Beach, away from the usual shoulder-bumping madness. It replaced Dune, the Laurent Tourondel spot that closed in April, and came in with a different agenda: a big Mediterranean crowd-pleaser, with chef Mitch Brumels coming down from the Ohio sibling location.

The mood here starts before dinner. After valet, there’s a long corridor lined with hanging basket chairs, one of those little touches that says somebody thought about the arrival. We had booked hoping for patio seats at golden hour and got denied, which normally would sting. But the dining room did a decent job of making up for it. Inside, Del Mar is warm without trying too hard. There’s greenery overhead, enough distance between tables to keep the conversation your own, and music that stays where it belongs—in the background.

Roasted red pepper spread

Cocktails were the first sign this place might really have something. My Old Fashioned, made with Buffalo Trace and fig, was one of the better ones I’ve had in a while. The fig softened the edges without hijacking the bourbon. My wife’s cosmopolitan disappeared quickly enough that a second one arrived not long after, which told me plenty.

Del Mar Restaurant Auberge Fort Lauderdale Beach Hummus

We started with hummus and a roasted red pepper spread. The hummus was smooth, properly seasoned, and paired with warm pita that actually held together. The pepper spread had a nice texture but wanted either more salt or more acid to wake it up.

Hummus and pita

Del Mar Restaurant Auberge Fort Lauderdale Beach Octopus

The octopus, unfortunately, was a miss. The flavor was fine, but the texture had that dense, slightly collapsed feel that makes a table lose confidence in a dish pretty quickly. We moved on.

Octopus with bell pepper vinaigrette

Halibut

A smart decision, because the meatballs were a completely different story. These were the kind of dish that make you reconsider your usual menu strategy. Perfectly cooked and layered with flavor from the sauce, herbs, and little pops of feta. It was one of those dishes where you stop talking for a minute just to focus. Easily a return-worthy item, and I don’t say that often about meatballs.

For mains, we split a halibut special and the lamb chops. The halibut was the standout of the night—fresh, flaky, and set over risotto with a pesto that brought the whole thing into focus. If that dish becomes permanent, it should sell a lot of return reservations.

The lamb chops, on the other hand, landed somewhere in the middle. We ordered medium, got medium-well, and while that’s not a dealbreaker, the bigger issue was the fat content. When half your bite is fat, it throws off the balance. There was a glaze on the plate with great flavor, but it felt underutilized. This is a dish that would benefit from being more generously coated or finished tableside—something to tie it all together. As for the sides, they didn’t leave much of an impression. The broccolini had a nice snap, but by the time the second squash dish rolled around, we were tapped out.

Lamb chops

Del Mar Restaurant Auberge Fort Lauderdale Beach Frozen Greek yogurt

Dessert got things back on track. The frozen Greek yogurt with olive oil cake, orange marmalade, honey, and candied walnuts sounded slightly busy on paper and worked beautifully in practice. It was bright, rich, textured, and clearly built by somebody paying attention. My wife, who knows her way around a kitchen, put it best: “If you’re zesting, you’re trying.”

Then came the easy part: a quiet walk on the beach just steps away. That isn’t Del Mar’s doing, exactly, but it does feel like part of the package. Del Mar isn’t flawless. But between the room, the drinks, the meatballs, that halibut, and one very good dessert, it gets enough right to earn another visit.

Frozen Greek yogurt