Key West Restaurants-Nightlife
 

Any suggestions for restaurants in key west
and good bars-nightclubs to go to.

Head towards Mallory Square near sunset and do the Duvall crawl, if you dare. :S-

There are so many great restaurants it's nearly impossible to know where to start. Could you give us a better idea of what kind (and price) of food you're interested in?

For inexpensive fish, Half Shell Raw Bar is perfect. For wonderful Cuban, El Siboney. For funky - Blue Heaven

For fine dining:
Michael's - beef, veal, fish
Alice's - fish and more
Antonia's - Italian
A&B Lobster House - fish
Pisces - fish

For fun
915 (Duval) - tapas

For bars...walk down Duval, there are several on every block. There's a very popular revue of female impersonators at Alice's. Everyone is welcome.

... just returned three weeks ago, and Susan hit it right.

May I add Seven Fish and Cafe Marquesa?

The other best: Antonia's, Pisces, Alice's (at La Te Da Hotel), and for lunch, Mangoes on Duval.

Blue Heaven, oh yes, you might as well - funky, with great drinks and chickens underfoot.

Kelly's on Whitehead St has a good Happy Hour. Close to Mallory Square, but still far enough away to be away from the crowds. Nice area to walk, too.

Bagetelle on Duval has great food!
Also - I 2nd the comment on Antonia's!
Enjoy your trip!

Thanks for you help, we enjoy
both casual and also fine dineing
so we are looking for some nice
dinners as well as casual nights out.
Is Kellys a good place to dine?

Unless Kelly's has changed a lot in the last couple of years, don't eat there. Nice bar and ambiance, but the food, nada... We ate there twice--about two years apart. More fool me.

If you want some loud live music (typically roack and blues oriented) and an outdoor flip-flops and shorts type atmosphere, the Hogs Breath is a good place to quaff some brewskies. Captain Tony's has a good funky neighborhood bar feel (it is said to have been the original and real Sloppy Joe's where Hemingway hung out). Also.... not sure I I recall the name corrrectly but there's a bar called (I think) the Green Parrot - very casual and lots of local flavor - a mix of locals and tourists rather than just tourists.

Kelly's has been panned repeatedly - it is an interetsing place, but the food is just so-so. The same can be said of Bagatelle - it's ok for lunch, if you want to sit on their proch and watch the Duval scene. Their blackened fish sandwich is pretty decent. Green Parrot is indeed a dive, and not worth the trip - unless you want to score their t-shirt next door. If you want a dive uptown, try Iguana on Greene Street, just off Duval - great lunch and cold beer at good prices. Louie's Back porch is still not good, based on very recent reports by 10 people who "dined" there. The Catch Cafe on Simonton looked good, and gets good reports - but they failed to respond to numerous messages for a reservation. Hard to understand restaurants ignoring business, especially in KW.

The best" Pisces - Cafe Marquesa - Antonia's - Alice's. Michael's is said to be very good, but quite expensive, and their menu suggest you can find it in any major city.

Kelly's has the reputation of being a tourist trap. I've never been tempted to eat there, so I have no personal information.

If you're lucky enough to be in Key West when Michael McCloud is playing at Schooner Wharf, be sure and go hear him for a while. Ordinarily he plays in the afternoons.

My experiences at Bagatelle have been the reverse of the above poster. We've had some excellent dinners there - their hearts of palm salad makes my mouth water even now - but our lunches have been mediocre.