The Florida Keys Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Florida Keys - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Florida Keys - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
In a contemporary setting with indoor and outdoor seating, welcoming staff serve original, eclectic dishes that stand out from those at the hordes of Key West restaurants. Key lime–stuffed French toast and yellowtail snapper Benedict make breakfast a pleasant wake-up call; the crab cake BLT commands notice on the lunch menu. Two varieties of homemade gnocchi are a dinnertime specialty along with daily fish specials and steak. Brunch is served daily 9–3.
The aroma of rich, roasting coffee beans arrests you at the door of "the Southernmost Coffee Roaster in America." Buy beans by the pound or coffee by the cup, along with sandwiches and sweets. Locals swear it's the best coffee in the Keys and beyond. But there's a whole lot more than just damn good coffee: check out the gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian specialty foods, as well as the assortment of wine and craft beers.
This tiny counter-service restaurant is the best-kept secret in Islamorada, with the tastiest and most affordable ($11) grouper Reuben sandwich in the Keys. It's a small place—with six tables inside, a bar overlooking the kitchen, and an outdoor patio—and most diners are locals. The menu ranges from fresh seafood to excellent pizza. Don't miss the meatballs.
The sunset views alone are worth a visit, but the food here is stellar as well. Enjoy a key lime martini at the bar or a seafood dinner in the air-conditioned dining room or on the open-air patio. For dinner, try the lobster quesadilla or seafood cocktail as an appetizer before moving on to the shrimp and lobster fettuccine with asparagus and chèvre or crabmeat-stuffed yellowtail. The breakfast menu features a bevy of options from fruit smoothies to lobster Benedict. Creative salads and sandwiches make lunch an intriguing affair.
Authentic French food is on the menu at this supercasual eatery run by chef-owner Michel Bitton. The gelatos and homemade French pastries might be famous, but don't miss the opportunity to savor his daily quiches, fresh salads with Dijon vinaigrette, rustic soups, and French baguette sandwiches. French-press coffee? Just say, "Oui!" You will not be disappointed.
The outdoor dining area here is often referred to as "the quintessential Keys experience," and it's hard to argue. There's much to like about this historic Caribbean-style restaurant where Hemingway refereed boxing matches and customers cheered for cockfights. Although these events are no more, the free-roaming chickens and cats add that "what-a-hoot" factor. Nightly specials include black bean soup, Caribbean barbecue shrimp, and jerk chicken. Desserts and breads are baked on the premises.
This little corner of France hides behind a high wall in a residential neighborhood. Inside, French training intertwines with local ingredients, creating delicious takes on classics, including a must-try conch carpaccio and some of the best bouillabaisse that you'll find outside Marseilles. Hog snapper is a specialty, prepared several ways by chef John Correa, including with beurre blanc or red-pepper-custard sauce. From the land, there is filet mignon with a wild-mushroom demiglace.
Because of its location where the fast ferry docks, Conch Republic does a brisk business. It's huge, open-air, and on the water, and the menu is ambitious, offering more than just standard seafood fare. Try a Caribbean-style twist on oysters Rockefeller with the baked oysters callaloo, or opt for paella, plantain-crusted mahimahi, or steak. Live music adds to the decibel level.
Pop into the bakery for something sinfully sweet, or spend some time people-watching at the sidewalk café next door. You can get breakfast or lunch at the café, and the bakery is open late. Try the eggs brioche with mustard sauce for breakfast. Quiche and savory sandwiches are the standouts at lunch, but you can also get delicious burgers and salads. Finish off your meal with a chocolate Grand Marnier mousse. There's a second location on Stock Island.
This is the place to dine—alfresco or in the dining room—on refined Cuban classics. Begin with a megasize mojito while you browse the expansive menu offering tostones rellenos (green plantains with different traditional fillings), ceviche, and more. Choose from Cuban specialties such as roasted pork in a cumin mojo sauce and ropa vieja (shredded beef).
If you want a taste of the island's Cuban heritage, this is the place to dine alfresco or in the dining room on refined Cuban classics. Begin with a megasize mojito while you browse the expansive menu offering tostones rellenos (green plantains with different traditional fillings), ceviche, and more. Choose from Cuban specialties such as roasted pork in a cumin mojo sauce and ropa vieja (shredded beef).
At this family-style restaurant, the dining room bustles, the food is traditional cubano, the prices are reasonable, and the sangria is muy buena. There are well-seasoned black beans, a memorable paella, traditional ropa vieja, and local seafood served grilled, stuffed, or breaded.
This no-frills, roadside eatery has a loyal local following, an unfussy ambience, a couple of outside picnic tables, and friendly service. Signature dishes include snapper on grilled rye with coleslaw and melted Muenster cheese, a fried-fish burrito, George's crab cake, and tomato-based conch chowder. Landlubbers can choose everything from burgers and dogs to meat loaf and Cuban pork. Plan to dine early; it's only open until 6:30, but the hours depend on the season.
Inspired by an Ernest Hemingway photograph of a family fishing trip in Key West, this oceanfront spot pays homage to pristine seafood that's served alongside views that will make you feel like you're on a luxury liner. While the indoor dining room has a bright and airy feel with nautical decor, the outdoor patio is the spot to reserve, a fitting backdrop to dishes of wood-roasted oysters with smoky lemon, Key West pink shrimp, or grits and vegetable island curry. Don't skip the key lime pie for dessert; this one stands out from the pack.
Like a fine wine, this small natural-foods eatery and market surrenders its pleasures a little at a time. Step inside to the aroma of brewing coffee, and then pick up the scent of fresh strawberries or carrots being blended into a smoothie and the green aroma of wheatgrass juice, followed by the earthy odor of hummus. Order raw or cooked vegetarian and vegan dishes, organic soups and salads, and organic coffees and teas. Bountiful sandwiches include the popular tuna melt or hummus and avocado. Sit at the counter or in the back garden, and mingle with the locals as folks have been doing since the early 1980s. Then stock up on healthful snacks like dried fruits, raw nuts, and carob-covered almonds. There are gluten-free items, too.
This circa-1947 landmark—with its vintage neon sign, wood-paneled walls, and period photos—is a slice of Florida Keys history. Breakfast options include French toast made with challah bread and Captain Morgan batter or Keys Benedict with a blue crab cake; at lunch, opt for lobster mac and cheese. Turtle chowder (don't gasp; it's made from farm-raised, freshwater turtles) is a staple. For dessert, the seventh-generation pound cake gets a standing ovation.
Smack-dab on the docks, this legendary place gets its name from the oysters, clams, and peel-and-eat shrimp that are the stars of its seafood-based menu. It's not clever recipes or fine dining (or even air-conditioning) that packs 'em in; it's fried fish, po'boy sandwiches, and seafood combos. For a break from the deep fryer, try the fresh and light conch ceviche.
If you're looking for comfort food—like melt-in-your-mouth key lime biscuits the size of a salad plate or old-fashioned hot cakes with sausage or bacon—try this refreshing throwback for a hearty breakfast. At lunch, Harriette's shines in the burger department, and all the soups—from garlic tomato to chili—are homemade.
This shack-like spot has been the go-to for quick, affordable comfort food since the 1940s. You'll find all the Old Keys staples—conch, lobster tail, fried oysters, and fresh fish—as well as cheeseburgers and filet mignon. Sit at picnic tables on the screened-in porch or inside, where it's air-conditioned. More than 20 craft beers are offered daily, and the entire wine selection is available by the glass or bottle.
It's worth a drive to Stock Island for a meal at this down-to-earth spot, where hogfish is, of course, the specialty. Favorites include the "Killer Hogfish Sandwich," which is served on Cuban bread (be sure to sprinkle it with one of the house hot sauces), as well as the hogfish tacos, gator bites, lobster BLT or pot pie, pulled-pork sandwich, and barbecued ribs.
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