4 Best Restaurants in The Everglades, Florida

Background Illustration for Restaurants

Dining in the Everglades area centers on mom-and-pop places serving hearty home-style food, and small eateries specializing in fresh local fare: alligator, fish, stone crab, frogs' legs, and Florida lobster from the Keys. American Indian restaurants serve local favorites as well as catfish, Indian fry bread (a flour-and-water flatbread), and pumpkin bread. A growing Hispanic population around Homestead means plenty of authentic, inexpensive Latin cuisine, with an emphasis on Cuban and Mexican dishes. Restaurants in Everglades City, especially those along the river, specialize in fresh (often just hours out of the water) seafood including particularly succulent, sustainable stone crab. These mostly rustic places are ultracasual and often close in late summer or fall. For finer dining, head for Marco Island or Naples.

Farmers' Market Restaurant

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This quaint eatery is inside the farmers' market on the edge of town, and it's big on serving fresh vegetables and seafood. A family of anglers runs the place, so fish and shellfish are only hours from the ocean. Catering to farmers, the restaurant opens at 5:30 am serving fluffy pancakes and omelets with home fries or grits in a pleasant dining room. For lunch and dinner, you can choose from fried shrimp or conch, seafood pasta, country-fried steak, and roast turkey, as well as salads, burgers, and sandwiches.

Rosita's Mexican Restaurant

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This delightful hole-in-the-wall Mexican spot boasts authenticity you can't get at the Tex-Mex chains. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner entrées, served all day, range from Mexican eggs, enchiladas, and taco salad to stewed beef and fried pork chops. Order à la carte specialties or dinners and combos with salad, beans, and rice. The food is spicy, but for extra heat, reach for the fresh salsa, pickled jalapeños, or bottled habanero sauce on tables. Spiffy, with an open kitchen and takeout counter, Rosita's is a favorite among guests staying at nearby hotels.

Royal Palm Grill and Deli

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This popular "breakfast all day, every day" enterprise has two locations, only a few blocks apart, to accommodate a steady stream of customers who come for everything from omelets and pancakes to biscuits and gravy, plus salads, steaks, and seafood.

Recommended Fodor's Video

Shiver's BBQ

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Piggin' out since the 1950s, Shiver's BBQ is celebrated near and far for its slowly smoked pork, beef, and chicken. Be forewarned as you settle in at the communal tables; this spot is no place to cut calories. Barbecued cheese fries, potato skins, fried mac and cheese, fried mushrooms, and fried okra are staples for sharing. People rave about the cornbread soufflé. For feasting in the Everglades, you also can order takeout by the pound.

28001 S. Dixie Hwy., Homestead, FL, 33033, USA
305-248–2272
Known For
  • Hickory-smoked barbecue
  • Baby back ribs
  • Takeout service

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