Swordfish Grill — Restaurant in Islamorada

My wife and I decided to stop here for breakfast on the morning of July 18th, 2025 after we checked out of our hotel in Islamorada and headed down the Overseas Highway to Key West for the next leg of our vacation. We arrived at about 8:30 am and the "restaurant" was completely empty except for the owner/manager who was sitting inside at a small table and working on his computer. It's not really a restaurant per say, but rather an anteroom to the bait and tackle shop here at Bud and Mary's Marina. We asked him about getting breakfast, and he informed us that business had been slow that morning due to the poor weather outside, and he had already pre-made a few breakfast burritos that hadn't sold yet and pointed to a heated glass case where there were a few of them wrapped in aluminum foil. At that point we almost walked out and drove back up to the Midway Cafe (a mile north of here), but that great breakfast place looked crowded that morning as we drove past it, so we decided to stay here at the Swordfish "Grill" and give it a shot. I ordered two coffees (self-served from a carafe inside the "restaurant") and one of the pre-made breakfast burritos, but my wife wanted a bagel with cream cheese, which the owner/manager said he would have to go next door to make. He got my burrito out of the heated case, rang us up at the cash register, then left for about 10 minutes to toast the bagel and apply the cream cheese. Both items we ordered tasted just okay but not as good as a breakfast meal at a McDonald's, BK, or a Duncan. Alarmingly, the bill for this rather small, below-average breakfast meal was just over $30, so that rubbed me a bit sour. I think this place was set up to cater exclusively to charter captains and their clients who depart from the adjacent Bud and Mary's Marina first thing in the morning (like 6:30 am) and this "restaurant" opens at 6:00 am. In other words, it's kind of like a small regional airport's terminal that only has one restaurant inside. The airport's transient travelers are a captive audience, and they are forced to pay a highly inflated price for average or below average quality food only because there are no other choices available to them without leaving the airport and risking missing their departure flight. I won't go here again, even though there is a nice little patio outside with tables and a nice view of the water and marina. Additionally, breakfast isn't really a meal that most people will pay an extra price for just to have a nice view of the water, and I'm now one of the people...

Excellent food and excellent staff! You can’t beat having breakfast with a...