topic Re: Restaurants in Key West in Community Chat

Restaurants in Key West

beach-mom — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 21:50:51 GMT

Destination wedding, but we'll be there a little longer. We don't know where we'll be staying yet (could be one of three different houses), but we will have a car.

Any recommendations?

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

The only thing I know I want to do is visit Ernest Hemingway's house. I've already told my family - this is a must, no complaints!

Any good shopping?

Re: Restaurants in Key West

I am still oxox — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 22:04:33 GMT

Kellys Key West Bar and Grill, the building was the original location for Pan Am Airlines.

Beautiful outside patio and good food

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madcity411 — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 22:53:24 GMT

Sloppy Joe's!

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seattlegirl98026 — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 22:55:40 GMT

Margaritaville!

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Miami Spices — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 00:00:24 GMT

Louie's Backyard. Get a table outside. Beautiful! Breakfast at Blue Heaven. Hog's Breath Saloon for conch chowder and people watching.

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Preds — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 00:09:53 GMT

Boat tours I would schedule. The rest you should be good .... depending on the dates you are going.

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Shelbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 00:20:41 GMT

You can take the Trolley Tour, it stops at lots of places of interest, including the Hemingway House. You can get off and go in, and get on another trolley later.

Re: Restaurants in Key West

Shelbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 00:22:11 GMT

Duval St is very crowded, a real tourist trap. We walked it one night, but chose to eat in less trendy spots. We ate our dinners in the newer section of town. Loved Abondonzza for Italian food, and Duffy's Steak and Seafood.

We also took the glass bottom boat tour, very nice and interesting.

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PAX — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 02:29:47 GMT

Blue Heaven for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. This restaurant inspired Jimmy Buffet's Blue Heaven Rendezvous.

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Muttlvr — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 22:44:19 GMT

Thanks for the good info. all. I'm going on a cruise in the fall and first stop is Key West.

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beach-mom — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 23:29:11 GMT

Thank you for all of the advice and recommendations! I talked to my family, and they're very interested in the glass bottom boat tour. Should I arrange that ahead of time, or will we be OK if we wait until we go down there? What about the restaurants - do you need reservations ahead of time, or are same day ones OK? We're not big planners. When we go away, we usually just let the day take us where it wants to!

Re: Restaurants in Key West

Shelbelle — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 21:40:57 GMT

On 6/22/2014 beach-mom said:
Thank you for all of the advice and recommendations! I talked to my family, and they're very interested in the glass bottom boat tour. Should I arrange that ahead of time, or will we be OK if we wait until we go down there? What about the restaurants - do you need reservations ahead of time, or are same day ones OK? We're not big planners. When we go away, we usually just let the day take us where it wants to!

We went in October, no reservations anywhere, and had no problems getting in anywhere. Got tix for the glass bottom boat the night before we went. Definitely recommend the Trolley Tour, stops everywhere.

Re: Restaurants in Key West

Burnsite — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 22:14:04 GMT

I just want to second Ernest Hemingway's House and also to recommend the 'Truman White House', a presidential home he stayed at to recuperate from pneumonia one year. He had a poker game nightly, and kids who mowed the lawn there (it's really owned by the Navy) and other people still alive from that era have a dinner party annually to honor him. Key West loved Truman. After he wasn't President, he refused the residence (though it is open to former Prez's and family) and stayed in a boarding house.

I never remember the names of restaurants, and haven't been to Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffett's (much as I like his lyrics)--skeptical about celebrity venues.

But I have never had a bad meal in Key West along the waterfront. Try tripadvisor, my lifeline for travelling, for current restaurant recommendations.

If you're a germ freak as some here are, you won't dine outside, because there are chickens that wander around the outside spaces of restaurants.

I absolutely love Key West, even though I hate the idea of sport-fishing, which is its major cache.

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seattlegirl98026 — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 22:29:56 GMT

I've been to Margaritaville. It's worth checking out, IMHO

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scotttie — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 23:31:31 GMT

It has been waaaaaay too long since I was there to give you any help beach-mom. We were there on our honeymoon and it was a fantastic trip. Would love to go again some time.

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beach-mom — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 06:18:42 GMT

Thank you so much everyone for all of your recommendations!!! I had my little red notebook with my notes about what you suggested. When we weren't involved with family events leading up to the wedding, we enjoyed going to all of the places you recommended - and we LOVED Key West!

The wedding was on the beach. It took about 15 minutes, including pictures. It was very informal. I wore a maxi dress. The other women guests were mostly in long pants, with a few capris thrown in, and a few maxi dresses like me! Like all of the men present, DH and DS wore shorts.

The kids and adults split into 2 groups, with the kids (all in their 20's) doing all of the water sports they could find, and the adults relaxing by the pool or heading to some of the historic sites. DH and I took the historic approach. We were lucky to find parking about 3 blocks from the downtown area that didn't cost anything. But we walked, and walked, and walked! Thank goodness for my trusty Birkenstocks! And it was HOT - 92 degrees and humid. I grew up in the south, so I thought I could handle this. I was wrong! We were drenched, but we still had fun!

Usedtobeoxox - DH and I had lunch at Kelly's. Since we were late, there was only one other table in the room. It was relaxing and we enjoyed reading the history.

madcity411 - DH and I had sloppy joe's at Sloppy Joe's our first night there. It was noisy and exciting, and the band there was great.

Miami Spices and Georgie the 5th - DH and I went to brunch early the first morning we were there at Blue Heaven. This was my favorite place! I had shrimp and grits, and DH had their popular Lobster Benedict. I MAKE shrimp and grits for my family, but it tastes nothing like this! And the Key Lime pie was incredible! We tried to go back with our children the morning we left to come home, but the wait was an hour, and we had a plane to catch. I would have been happy eating there every day! We were hoping to have dinner there, but we didn't have any free time for dinner. Interesting - our server was from New Jersey. He said he and his wife came down on vacation a few years ago and the day after they arrived bought a house! Of the 7 servers there that morning, 6 were from New Jersey!

Shelbelle - DH and I couldn't get on the trolley, but we did ride the Conch train, which I found very interesting. We did get off on the stop by the Customs House and walked to the Audubon House. Some of the group visited the two restaurants you recommended our first night there. Most of the adults wanted to stay away from Duval Street at night!

The Truman White House was supposed to be within walking distance of where we were parked. It wasn't, but we ended up walking anyway. We were both exhausted and incredibly hot when we got there, but it was definitely worth seeing! Again I enjoyed the history, and I wished I could have sat on the porch to relax a while.

We got to visit the Hemingway House with our children the morning of the wedding - the only day the kids weren't snorkeling, jet skiing, scuba diving, parasailing, etc. We all are cat people, so we all enjoyed that!

Some of us went on a sunset dinner cruise one night. The food was much better than I expected. Although I would have liked to do the glass bottom boat, there was no time.

We were there for only a few days, and I hope we can go again sometime and spend a little longer time there. I would have liked to relax by the pool and read, but there was so much there I wanted to see!

I hope you all see this. Thanks again for your help!

ETA: I said the kids were all in their 20's. Three were not, including DS! But there was no one there under the age of 18! So letting them do the water sports on their own was not a problem. DS had to take a test to get his temporary boating license for the jet ski. He passed it!

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Iluvlucy — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 11:25:24 GMT

They wanted to send dh there this week but he's having surgery on Wed so we can't go. I haven't ever been there so would have loved to go.