19 Best Restaurants in The Florida Keys, Florida

If you're a fan of vibrant coastal decor and fresh local seafood, you'll gush over this restaurant and bar overlooking the water and Hawks Cay Marina. The menu is varied with options that include burgers as well as grilled fish, the cocktails are creative, and there are more than a dozen beers on tap. Live music and comedy nights bring in the locals. The restaurant also offers a "Hook and Cook" option whereby your catch is prepared and served family style with sides.

What started out as a fish house on wheels appears to have broken down on the corner of Caroline and William Streets and is today one of Key West's junkyard-chic dining institutions. Step up to the window and order a grouper sandwich fried or grilled and topped with key lime sauce. Other specialties include fish nuts (don't be scared, they're just fried nuggets) and cracked-conch, shrimp, or soft-shell crab sandwiches. It's a must-do Key West experience.

You'll find seven or more inspired entrées on a changing menu each night, including anything from yellowtail snapper to seared duck breast. End your meal on a sweet note with chocolate pot de crème and homemade ice cream. There's also a fine selection of wines and custom martinis. Adjoining the intimate Marquesa Hotel, the dining room is equally relaxed and elegant.

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 local favorite makes big waves with fresh seafood that's prepared with tropical flair. Carnivores can feast on prime-grade beef, which is carved in-house and has the kind of marbling that just melts in your mouth. Gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian dishes are also available.

It's easy to miss this café tucked between Grassy Key and Marathon, but when you find it (upstairs at Rainbow Bend Resort), expect it to be filled with locals who appreciate a well-planned menu, lovely ocean view, and quiet evening away from the crowds. For starters, dig into escargots à la Edison (sautéed with vegetables, pepper, cognac, and cream) before feasting on specialties, such as a rarely found chateaubriand for one or a seafood medley combining the catch of the day with scallops and shrimp.

Authentic southern Italian cuisine, with freshly made Neapolitan (Naples-style) pizza, pastas, and desserts is the focus here. A nicely landscaped garden with a cute Fiat decked out in the colors of the Italian flag should alert you to founders Tony and Isis Wright's obsession with detail. All the ingredients are imported from Italy, including the tomato sauce and olive oil, and master pizzaiolo Leopoldo Figlioli churns out pies with chewy crusts that are nicely blistered from the brick oven. 

This is the place to satisfy any French-pastry craving—from the made-from-scratch croissants to the cookies, muffins, coconut macarons, and of course, breads. A lovely patio is the perfect backdrop for breakfasts of brioche French toast, quiches with fresh salads, and a croque madame oozing with bechamel and poached eggs. Look out for the little French bulldog who meanders around the tables and is the unofficial mascot of the place.

Take the short boat ride to lovely Sunset Key for lunch or dinner on the beach, where the magical views are matched by a stellar menu. At dinner, start with the crispy lobster-crab cakes, then move on to one of the creative entrées, such as seared scallops with spiced butternut squash. Choose a table inside looking out over the Gulf or outside beneath the palm trees.

Dishes such as ahi poke and lobster-crusted mahimahi nod to executive chef Pavy Keomaniboth’s native Hawaii. The spectacular indoor–outdoor setting features coconut palms strung with lights and panoramic sunset views. The extensive cocktail menu carries on the pan-Asian theme by incorporating fresh, tropical fruit with infused liquors that embody the flavors of the Hawaiian tropics. Non-resort guests are welcome, but reservations are encouraged.

This casual-yet-stylish haven of "American coastal comfort food" has garnered local and national accolades for its eclectic seafood-focused menu and industrial-cool design. The crab beignets are a must, as is the Southern-style fried chicken with bacon salt fries and barbecue ribs. The brunch here is legendary, and the breakfast with banana-bread pancakes does not disappoint. Craft cocktails like the Key Lime Martini and Hemingway's Daiquiri pair nicely with the seafood feast.

Atop the famed Square Grouper restaurant is a secret spot that locals love and smart travelers seek out for its tapas and well-stocked bar. Sit at a high-top table or on a sofa, and savor made-from-scratch small plates you won't soon forget, like salted caramel puffs or chicken lollipops. My New Joint is a blissful marriage of creative cuisine, funky lighting, and good music.

Twinkling lights draped along the lower- and upper-level porches of a 100-year-old Victorian home set an unstuffy and comfortable stage here. If you like to sample and sip, you'll appreciate the variety of small-plate selections and wines by the glass. Starters for lunch or dinner include a cheese platter, crispy duck confit, and a grilled octopus plate. Salads and pastas and a selection of gourmet tacos round out the lunch menu. For dinner, there are also larger plates like "Soul Mama" seafood soup or crispy Florida Keys whole snapper.

One of the Keys' most elegant restaurants, Pierre's marries colonial style with modern food trends and lets you taste the world from its romantic verandas. French chocolate, Australian lamb, Hawaiian fish, Florida lobster---whatever is fresh and in season will be masterfully prepared and beautifully served. Pierre's oozes style, especially the wicker-chair-strewn veranda overlooking the bay. Save your best "tropical chic" duds for dinner here. The downstairs bar is a perfect spot for catching sunsets, sipping martinis, and enjoying light eats.

Picky palates will be satisfied at this funky, dark, and sensuous tapas restaurant, which is well off the main drag and is a secret spot for local foodies in the know. Small plates include yellowfin tuna ceviche with hunks of avocado and mango or filet mignon with creamy Gorgonzola butter. Waiters recommend choosing three small plates per person, then sharing.

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.

In an unassuming warehouse-like building on U.S. 1, chef-owner Lynn Bell is creating seafood magic. For starters, try the flash-fried conch with wasabi drizzle or homemade smoked-fish dip. While the restaurant earns rave reviews, its name still earns snickers—"square grouper" is slang for the bales of marijuana that were dropped into the ocean during the drug-running 1970s.

The views are nice at this waterfront restaurant, but the food is what gets your attention. Burgers, fish tacos, and seafood baskets are lunch faves. Dinner is about seafood and steaks, any way you like them. Try the smoked-fish dip, served with Armenian heart-shape lavash crackers. Look for the big signs on U.S. 1 that direct you where to turn—it's worth finding.

The restaurant at the exclusive Little Palm Island Resort—its dining room and adjacent outdoor terrace lit by candles and warmed by live music—is one of the most romantic spots in the Keys. It's open to nonguests on a reservations-only basis, but no one under 16 is allowed on the island. If you can get a reservation, go. The oceanfront setting is one that can't be matched, except for maybe in St. Barts or Fiji. Keep that in mind as you reach for the bill, which can also make you swoon. The menu melds Latin and Caribbean flavors, with exotic little touches—think foie gras crème brûlée with mango and toasted coconut, followed by grilled Spanish octopus and corn-jalapeño pudding. The Sunday brunch, the full-moon dinners with live entertainment, and the Chef's Table Dinner are very popular.