Key West

[MMerrill]

Any opinions out there about eating in Key West? We'll be there for a while in early December. I couldn't find any earlier discussions.

[phaelon56]

Lower your expectations a bit if you have them raised high but expect to find some good food here and there, particularly if you focus on locally available ingredient such as fresh seafood. Here's a thread to take a gander at

Key West Bars and Restaurants

my short version....

- Blue Heaven is a must for breakfast - dinner's pretty good too

- El Siboney for Cuban - moderately priced family place

- A&B Lobster house for lobster and steak - conventional but said to be decent

- Half Shell Raw Bar for raw clams and oysters

- Alice's La Te Da for more upscale "fine dining"

- Hilton's "Latitudes" on Sunset Key (short water shuttle ride from the hotel near Mallory Square) a bit pricey for slightly above average hotel type dining but an outside beach table with the tiki torches at night is extremely romantic

- Kelly's is said to be good for drinks only. Ditto for Louie's Backyard - great view but food is said to have slipped in recent years.

- Good conch fritters on the pier at Mallory Square dutring sunset celebration but IMHO the ones from the cart by the aquarium entrance are better (but only available during day time hours).

- Mangia Mangia for fresh pasta - moderately priced

There are at least one or two upscale fine dining places in KW that have opened since I was last there. In a few of the the most upscale places men will generally wear a polo shirt and dress slacks or pressed Dockers (or their equivalent) but that's about as dressy as it gets. In all but a handful of places one can walk in for dinner dressed in T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. I don't but it's not uncommon.

[MMerrill]

Owen, thank you for lots of helpful info! I'm interested in funky places in the lower Keys too.

[Richard Kilgore]

I used to stop in at Turtle Kraals, down by the docks, to have a bite to eat and watch the Tarpon roll in the water off the back of the restaurant. A little bit of important Key West history in this place, too.

It's been several years since I have been there, and the restaurant scene changes frequently, so I can be of little help. But you could call Jeffrey Cardenas or his staff at the Saltwater Angler in the Hilton, or the folks at the Island Bookstore, and ask them where the locals eat. There are at any one time usually several good breakfast places, good Cuban places, and higher end places -- and most of them a block or more off touristy Duval Street.

Good luck and please let us know where you eat and what you think.

[deibu]

There was a tapas bar, called Nine One Five, at 915 Duval Street, that I remember as being particularly good. The best tapas dish on the menu by far was the sashimi tuna stuffed with lump crabmeat...

[hazardnc]

I will second Siboney for Cuban - we had lunch here and it was excellent. Another great place for a really good Cuban sandwich is 5 Brothers Grocery.

Very good burgers and grouper sandwiches were had at Caroline's on Duval.

You will be there during peak stone crab season. If you are driving to KW from Miami, I strongly recommend stopping at Keys Fisheries in Marathon. You can eat there or buy your claws to go.

I have ordered claws to be sent fed-ex twice - in fact, it's time for another order!

Best key lime pie is from the Blonde Giraffe - especially if you like mile high meringue.

I recently read a good review on Louie's. I haven't eaten there in years, but even the locals say it's still one of the best spots in town.

Another local spot for a great burger, great fish sandwich and wonderful local atmosphere is BO's fish wagon.

Stop by Peppers of Key West for a huge selectino of hot sauces and other chile pepper inspired products. The staff is fun, you can sample all you want.

Off Little Torch Key there is the exclusive resort Little Palm Island. They are supposed to have excellent dining. You have to reserve in advance and you get there by water taxi.

[iguana]

I was there for a wedding about a year and a half ago and found the dining quite acceptable. I third (or whatever we're up to now) the recommendations for El Siboney. Also, our favorite meal of the weekend was at 7fish (http://www.7fish.com/home.html), a funky little seafood place. (To clarify, it's funky in an upscale sort of way-- interesting fish dishes, cool atmosphere, nice but not too formal.) As of this week, our fond memories of the destination have outlasted the marriage we witnessed. Sigh.

[Angela Alaimo]

Last time I was in Key West was 10+ years ago. We ate and drank a lot, and the drinks, I think, outweighed the eats (Oy!). Yep, they did. But I remember one day, I was hot (it was August!) and thirsty, and tired, and so we stumbled into the current Sloppy Joe's, and after refreshing ourselves with some good beer, on a whim I said, "Oh what the hell. I'll have a sloppy joe." It was the best sloppy joe I ever had, and I am not too sloppy in sloppy joe creating, when the whim arises.

Actually, the best thing of all to do is be adventurous, be willing to walk and walk, and find some of the neat stuff there for yourself. From what the others have said, it's changed in 10 years. But shoot, the locals fancy themselves adventurous and free-wheeling, so why not be a little like them?

Hope you have a great time there!

Angela

[suzilightning]

just down there this last march/april

915 duval is very good for upscale dining. we had some beers at an irish bar near there where johnnybird DIDN'T realize it was a gay bar and he was being hit on by the guy he was talking to(a bit too many mojitos at el mason de pepe).

we really liked kelly's for the food and beer(it was a late lunch).

el mason de pepe is someplace i would like to eat at next time. i do like good cuban food. if you're going towards the mid of the month there is supposed to be some kind of festival centered here... will try to dredge it up from the back of the mind...

if you like good, basic food the restaurant just before 7 mile bridge is quite good.

there is another we ate at twice i will try to find and edit into this post. we hit it on the way down to key west and then the next day when we were birding. good lightly battered fried fish, stone crab claws and some of the best coleslaw(my particular benchmark)... sorry, will edit.

[MMerrill]

Again, everybody, thanks for all the suggestions. I'm getting good ideas - and also getting hungry. We leave next Friday and have 4 nights there. Will report on what we do that's fun, and what we eat that's good.

Molly

[phaelon56]

You absolutely MUST have breakfast at Blue Heaven. If they happen to have the shrimp with grits and white cheddar available, order it even if it sounds a bit odd. it's very, very good. Their "really good" pancakes are also something else and really worth trying.

There's a place called Pepe's that's been highly recommended to me for breakfast. I tried one and it was okay but I think it may have been the wrong Pepe's (there are two). If you want to take a picnic lunch out someday there's also a good gourmet grcoery / deli by the marina.

Many, many people swear by the Half Shell raw bar over at the Bight. I was extremely underwhelmed by both the conch fritters (greasy) and the conch chowder (bland) that I ate there but I've subsequently read/heard so many good reports that my experience may have been a fluke (that or perhaps the conch dishes just aren't their strong point).

[whatsup1]

Hot Tin Roof is excellent

Little Palm Island is an awesome experience but the food is overrated

Pepe's is great for lunch or dinner - I have never gone there for breakfast

A&B Lobster House

Louie's Back Yard is okay, but not as good as it used to be

Bahama Mama's Kitchen a little ways north of Key West

Damn Good Food

Harry's for breakfast

[MMerrill]

Had a lovely, balmy 4 days in Key West, including an incredible Christmas parade right down Duval Street on Saturday night! Food had its ups and downs. First lunch was at Caroline's on Duval for fried grouper sandwiches - very good. Dinner that night at Turtle Kraals where the casual waterfront atmosphere is nice but food was disappointing. A calamari appetizer fried with a strange cornmeal batter just didn't work. Smoked fish dip was pretty good. Oysters baked with spinach and cheese were totally overwhelmed by their filling and a broiled seafood platter seemed mostly dry and tired. Breakfast at Blue Heaven next morning was excellent, starting with a serious Bloody Mary. We tried everything from pancakes, eggs, hash, fried potatoes, fruit plate and fresh lemon poppy bread and liked everything. Plus delicious Baby's coffee. That day we took a couple Cuban sandwiches from 5 Brother's Grocery to the beach which were good but not extraordinary. After the parade on Saturday night we got a seat at the bar at Nine One Five on Duval and tried several tapas and wine by the glass. Everything we had was delicious, particularly a special of minced stone crab with granny smith apple covered with a dome of sushi grade raw tuna - fabulous! Locals there recommended trying Michael's, Cafe Sole, and Pisces. Sunday we had another excellent breakfast, at Pepe's Cafe & Steakhouse on Caroline and lunch at the snackbar at Bahia Honda State Park (good hot dog with sauerkraut). For dinner we went to Michael's Restaurant on Margaret Street and loved it. We sat in the garden which is very pleasant and enjoyed a very good dinner - a fabulous veal chop, top-quality steak, and hog fish stuffed with crab - and one chocolate volcano for dessert. Entrees here were in the $20 + range and wines start in the mid $20's and go way up. The bartender/sommelier and another patron there spoke highly of Opera and Alice's. Alice has left La Te Da and now has her own restaurant across the street on Duval. We intended to go there for our last dinner but our stomachs and stamina let us down and we ended up wandering back to the waterfront and eating more simply on the deck at Alonzo's. They're owned by the group that also owns Turtle Kraals and Half Shell Raw Bar, but we liked their food better. They have the same calamari in cornmeal batter (which we knew to avoid). Instead we started with okay conch fritters and went on to fried shrimp and broiled mahi-mahi which were quite good. Also had a very good mojito - which most places did not have - no mint! So, there are dining opportunities that might exceed your expectations, as they did ours - and those that don't quite make it.

Thanks again to all for the helpful suggestions! Molly

[phaelon56]

So, there are dining opportunities that might exceed your expectations, as they did ours - and those that don't quite make it.

Ahhh... a classic KW dining experience... so so-so and some trulu excellent but somehow the ambiance and the weather make the food take second stage most of the time. Glad you enjoyed the time there and the updates are truly appreciated by those of us who haven't been in awhile but look forward to returning.

[scubadoo97]

I used to stop in at Turtle Kraals, down by the docks, to have a bite to eat and watch the Tarpon roll in the water off the back of the restaurant. A little bit of important Key West history in this place, too.

It's been several years since I have been there, and the restaurant scene changes frequently, so I can be of little help. But you could call Jeffrey Cardenas or his staff at the Saltwater Angler in the Hilton, or the folks at the Island Bookstore, and ask them where the locals eat. There are at any one time usually several good breakfast places, good Cuban places, and higher end places -- and most of them a block or more off touristy Duval Street.

Good luck and please let us know where you eat and what you think.

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The Turtle Kraal is the one place that I go to time after time. Never had a bad meal there. The fish is always fresh and tasty. I have been to My Blue Heaven. Good for Breakfast and lunch. Kellys was a disapointment