Harriette's Restaurant — Restaurant in Key Largo

Harriette's Restaurant Bayside, Mile Marker 95.7 Key Largo, FL 33037

4 Stars

Stopping for some morning chow at Harriette's Restaurant in Key Largo should be a requirement for everyone traveling down the Overseas Hwy exploring the vast beauty of the Keys. However, once again, my taste buds are ahead of my fingers and I get ahead of myself.

As I entered Harriette's Restaurant, I was immediately transported back to my Grandmother's house on the Sebastian River. Not only was the outside reminiscent of a bygone era, the décor ; screamed mid-century time capsule, however, it was the scents assaulting my olfactory orifice that had me looking for my favorite chair at Grandma's table. This may be in the Keys, but I am confident that it ain't no tourist trap.

Christina was my server for the meal and was exemplary in every way. She began her service with a sincere, warm Southern greeting, making all her customers feel like family. We are in Grand Ma-Ma's house, after all. I asked my new favorite second cousin twice removed on my mother's brother's babysitter's side for a stack of Pancakes, an order of their Corned Beef Hash, two eggs over medium, Sausage Biscuit, hash browns, and one more biscuit as they looked so good. While I didn't try one, If you take a peek at the pics, you can see that they have quite a panoply of muffins and are well known for them.

Christina soon returned with our Southern viands, and I eagerly got to work. Have I mentioned the aromas disseminating about the place? I slapped some butter on the stack of fresh-off-the-griddle Johnny Cakes, poured some real maple syrup over the top and plopped a forkful in my mouth. The cakes were warm, fluffy and delicious. Nothing beats a flapjack right off the griddle with real maple syrup. Nothing.

However, I wasn't here to enjoy sampling their delectable delights; I was on a mission to bring you raw, unadulterated food reviews. To that end, I turned my fastidious palate to the Corned Beef Hash before me. This was quite good. I don't think it was made in the back, as the cut was too uniform for most line cooks. If it was food service Hash, at least it wasn't bottom-of-the-truck stuff. It was flavorful and cooked to perfection. My eggs were cooked correctly, the hash browns were obviously made fresh to order and the sausage gravy was spot on. Finally, the biscuit was not only gigantic; it was obviously made with love and pure devotion to the obvious -- care. Is this place going to win a James Beard award? No. Is it my new favorite place for breakfast in the Keys? Maybe. I know one thing for sure: Harriette's Restaurant is an excellent breakfast for a splurge vacation to the Florida Archipelago.

The Big Boy says, “Enjoy the homemade grub and if you try a muffin, please...

On vacation in Key Largo, decided to try Harriet's for breakfast due to the high ratings. We did take out. Called in our order and picked it up.

We ordered simple breakfasts and some of the muffins that everyone was raving about.

My breakfast was the eggs and country ham with hash browns. My ham was very dry like it was several days old and was very tough to cut up. That was disappointing to say the least. I was given a child size teeny tiny plastic fork and "knife" to eat with. There must have been a special sale on these. Since the plastic utensils weren't working on the ham, I had to tear it apart with my fingers! The hash browns were nothing special, same as anywhere else. The eggs were a little runny, which I don't care for.

My daughter ordered the eggs, bacon, and hash browns. Same set of tiny children's fork and knife set. She laughed when she saw them. Luckily with bacon, you can eat with your fingers. She said her breakfast tasted average.

We also ordered the biscuits and gravy since people were raving about them. They were huge but very dry and doughy. We took one bite and that was that. Plus they forgot to include the gravy!! Unbelievable.

The muffins were as follows:

Pineapple Upside Down - delicious Guava - delicious Double Chocolate Chip- disappointing! There were no choc chips in it. Just lots of dry chocolate cake. No bueno.

Our bill was $60. Our server was Hugo, nice and pleasant but should've checked for the gravy to go with biscuits.

Inside was really cute and cozy! It was still empty at 8:30am. Next trip we won't...

After experiencing abysmal service at Robbie's in Islamorada (we left before even getting our waters, which we waited 20 min for) Harriette's was a breath of fresh air. At first when we pulled up people were waiting outside, but turned out they were just leaving.. We were sat right away and within seconds were asked what we wanted to drink. The menu has your pretty normal breakfast fare, with a few things extra that make it unique like the "conch burger and eggs". Basically it's a huge conch fritter that is smooshed flat and grilled. I found it was little dry on it's own, but dipping it in my eggs, it was heaven on a fork. Their corned beef hash is off the chain too, along with the HUGE biscuits and sausage gravy. Some of the best I have had. Light and fluffy biscuits, not too heavy. The best was saved for last, however, and that is thier made from scratch muffins. The star of this bunch is the Key Lime muffin.. a delectable muffin with key lime pie filling and powdered sugar on top. The blueberry muffin is amazing as well. Service was awesome and very friendly. Definitely give this place a shot if you are in the southern Key Largo area. We will be back next...