3 Best Restaurants in The Florida Keys, Florida

Nestled on the third floor of the main building of Baker's Cay Resort, this waterfront spot offers panoramic views of the Gulf and a creative menu of Creole-Caribbean-inspired dishes. Start off with a round of craft cocktails (the Dark Rum Sazerac is a popular one), and then head to a table on the multilevel balcony for a dinner of Keys pink shrimp and lobster pasta or local mahimahi with miso-honey glaze. The white-chocolate bread pudding with rum sauce for dessert will leave you swooning.

This is the spot you might imagine when you think of dining by the water in the Keys. The Caribbean-influenced menu includes things like lobster and shrimp cakes, fried whole fish (the presentation is a photo op), and catch of the day served with fried plantains and rice and beans. You can't go wrong with the fish sandwich, grilled, blackened, or fried, and key lime anything for dessert.

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.