Conch Republic Seafood Company — Restaurant in Key West

We started out by walking in, just my husband and I, looking for a table for the two of us. It was a Tuesday night, but it was fairly busy. It was a little strange to start out because they asked for our ID to hold onto while we had the buzzer. The hostess explained that they get stolen often, so while we thought it odd and not very appropriate, we proceeded to give her an ID. She seemed flustered, as did all the staff, and she said wait time was about 15 minutes, and we probably waited 20 at least. That didn’t bother me so much but what did was the instant acknowledgement I had that they were seating multiple others before us who had obviously walked in after we did. I try not to get upset about that stuff but it does make you wonder why we are on the back burner like that. When we finally sat down, we were sitting under the large porch covering but somehow were in one of the only spots that seemed to have a lot of sun. I had to wear my sunglasses to eat, and was uncomfortable and sweating the whole time, which was mostly only annoying because no one else seemed to have this struggle. They all seemed to have shade. Moving onto the waiter, he was polite but pushed menu items onto us almost forcibly. My husband and I are NOT alcohol drinkers anymore due to past histories of alcohol use and the first thing he loudly tried to sell us was boozy drinks. If it was a passing comment, I would have gladly brushed it off but he had a huge speech about what is good, and we LITERALLY had to politely cut him off to move on. As far as food, after waiting for my water which absolutely tasted sweet like watered down sprite, he did the same thing with the food menu. After the waiting period, we had our items all picked out and ready to tell him what we wanted but he had a several minute long speech about what he recommended while we had to patiently wait for our turn to tell him what we already knew we wanted. Granted, this all happened after we had been traveling since morning from a different state and were absolutely exhausted and JUST WANTED SOME FOOD. We ordered a cracked conch appetizer and the conch was very very chewy. My husband ordered a lobster bisque which he said had no meat to be found into it, and trust me, the prices are rather high. I ordered the spiny lobster. It was OKAY at best, honestly pretty chewy. I liked the rice but I’m not paying $42 for good rice. The vegetables were complete mush. We finally got out of there and let me tell you, it was not a good first representation of the island for us. Take care if you think of...

If I could give this place no stars, trust me, I would. If you are a Muslim, DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE. They are racists like no one’s business. As soon as I stepped through the door, the servers ignored us. I finally found the host who gave us a table as far away from everyone else as possible (which we did not ask for). The server who brought us water did not come back to take our order, instead the MANAGER showed up to take it when there were obviously so many servers standing around doing nothing. He was not friendly. We sensed an undertone of annoyance. He took our order for fish burgers and brought back a half cooked piece of fish on a dry bun with one little tomato slice, one piece of onion and a small piece of lettuce. It had no seasoning and no taste and cost $20. The bun was so dry some fell on the floor and a chicken came up and ate it than proceeded to jump on our table and eat the rest. I didn’t mind since it tasted horrible anyway but a waitress came around and literally KICKED the poor chicken out the window than proceeded to berate us for feeding the chicken and all the other birds that flew in. At that point, I about had it and wanted to leave. Decided to take the rest of the dried tasteless food outside to the side of the building to feed it to the birds, as soon as I stepped out the door, the same manager came right behind me and SHOUTED that I can’t feed the chickens in his restaurant. I barely managed to tell him I was feeding them away from his restaurant but he slammed the door closed and LOCKED it behind me telling me it’s an emergency exit and I can’t come back in thru it, which was an obvious lie as one of the workers was sitting by the door smoking a cigarette on his break so how was he going to come back in? My husband tried desperately to open the door for me and I told him thru the glass door that the manager locked it with his key. I had to walk around to the front of the restaurant to get back in. Paid them and left promptly. The absolute WORST experience at a restaurant I’ve ever had. I knew Key West was a place where rich white people retired, but I had no idea it was full of racists also. This restaurant is definitely on my list of places never to...

The food was so bland and it was obvious they were trying to cut corners despite the baffling prices for the very average food they served. I will say at $16, my Key Lime Colada was very good but it was super pricey for the portion! My conch fritters were tough and I honestly had better ones at the little shack outside of the Hoggs Breath bar! Those were at least tender! These were boring and you could really only taste the fried outside. My partner got the catch of the day sandwich ($22) which was a paper thin slice of Mahi-Mahi and a thick slice of onion, thick slice of tomato, and the waitress convinced him to get fried onions which were so unnecessary due to the giant red onion slab. There were a few other toppings to make this sandwich look like it had something going for it. It didn't though. The fish was barley there. My sister in law ordered the same thing and I watched her take the bun off to just eat the fish (the only good part of the meal) but It wasn't enough protein for the price at all. They should have served larger portions of fish in the sandwiches. The onion was an overbearing chunk for hers as well. She got the side of vegetables and I felt so bad, they were a soggy pile of carrot sticks and green beans steamed and boring. My brother got the scallops. I think there were 6? $36 and 2 giant bok choy that you couldn't even cut through. The scallops were not cooked very well. I had one and was unimpressed, having had delicious scallops at Lazy Days earlier that week...the ambiance is lacking, there was a giant rusty boat hanging above near we were sitting with fake ferns in it. It seems like a place where they don't have to try because they already have a good reputation and they're right on the water. For being right on the water, I expected them to cook fish well or have decent serving sizes for the price but they didn't have either. Boring food, small portions, expensive menu, stuffy vibe even though it's open-air eating. I can see some people who travel to Key West enjoying the place depending on what they get and maybe there are other good things on the menu but I think everything on the menu should be decent and not feel like a rip-off. Just...