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When it comes to her outlook on business, owner Goldie Pouca stays firmly on the bright side. “At LOVE IT or LIKE IT, you’re going to love our food and like our customer service.”
LOVE IT or LIKE IT is a new health-oriented Miami Gardens restaurant with big promise.
The eatery features diverse menu items like pasta, buffalo shrimp salad, wings, wraps, burrito bowls and smoothies.
The grab-and-go style restaurant is perfect for quick meals. According to Pouca, it’s healthy food with flavor. They offer breakfast, lunch and dinner, and are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pouca’s favorite item is the Jerk Shrimp Pasta, but the smoothies, like something green — with spinach, kale, mango, pineapples and banana — and avocado chicken wraps, are lunch-hour favorites.
“We’ve got a medley of foods, a little bit of this and a little bit of that,” she said. “We get a lot of City Hall employees through here while on their lunch breaks.”
For Pouca, it’s been a journey opening the doors to her café. After being a teacher for more than twenty years (20) years in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, restaurant ownership was not an easy transition. “My stepdad used to always say that I should start a restaurant.” After he and her mother passed away two (2) years ago, she started to think about making that dream a reality.
“It was hard for me to work, with the loss of my parents. I just stopped one day and said it’s time to do something different,” Pouca said.
She started the planning process with her husband supportively by her side. In a conversation about what her mom, who was also a teacher, might think of her changing career paths, he said something along the lines of, “she would love it or like it.” And so the restaurant’s name was born.
LOVE IT or LIKE IT opened on January 25, 2020, a few months before the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s been a challenging experience and a learning experience. I left teaching to start my own business. Now I’m learning everything from scratch.”
Pouca has had some community support though. Young local artists have painted colorful murals on the walls inside. “They brought Wynwood to Miami Gardens,” she said proudly. “All of the artwork was done by local people in their 20s and 30s. It’s important for me to give employment to Dade County students.” The Miami Dolphins Foundation also hosted an event at LOVE IT or LIKE IT to help spark community interest.
Despite the intense amount of work she’s put in, Pouca wouldn’t have her new life as a restaurateur any other way. She’s thankful for her husband, who leaves his daily work as an Assistant Principal, then clocks in at the cafe. “He has no days off,” she said. “It takes a lot of family support to run a restaurant. You also have to be passionate and love what you do.”
People from her church and her daughter’s friends also help out. “It’s been hard finding dedicated employees,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to the economy coming back.”
LOVE IT or LIKE IT also offers catering services and has plans to expand to Miami and Broward via a franchise model.
18587 N.W. 27th Ave, Miami Gardens, FL 33056
305-974-2028
loveitorlikeitcafe.com
