Dorada — Restaurant in Key West

In full disclosure, I need to let you know that while we were being seated at our table. A young woman got up, walked into the direction of where the servers were standing and yelled “we’re ready to order now.” Not knowing what was going on, we watched at this guest collected her things, and she and another female left their table. Needless to say, the waiter promptly came to get our drink and appetizer order. When we first arrived the place wasn’t very busy, but over the course of the night the business “really” picked up. From what I could count there were only two servers on our side of the restaurant. These servers were “very” busy to say the least. Our appetizers came out, and our youngest son had always spoke about eating octopus. So tonight was the day, and he didn’t disappoint. He ate the entire appetizer with minimal help from my wife who ordered it originally. The additional appetizer we got was the Key West Pink Shrimp Ceviche. Rated an 8/10 that is was amazing. Our meal came out and we ate like kings and queens. We had chicken tenders for the kiddos, lobster ravioli, steak, swordfish for the adults. The staff were very friendly, helpful and professional. There were times when plates, glasses would pile up. And there was time when we needed our waiter that he was busy helping another table. I’m not sure about the server staff, but they were clearly understaffed for this evening. The grounds of the restaurant was spectacular, and the sun set on their pier is to die for. Rate the entire experience 7/10, the staffing issues was truly the worst given the amount of the meals. If you happen to be in the Key West area, please give Dorada a...

My fiancé and I came to the Casa Marina to check out the venue to see if this is where we’d like to get married. After an amazing dining experience and incredible sunset we were pretty much sold. We were really pleased to have Penelope as our server as she was really sweet and attentive. I am celiac and she knew the menu well enough to tell me what I could eat and what to avoid. I ended up enjoying the melon gazpacho (sans plantain crisp) and the Fresh Catch (Red Snapper…AWESOME) with extra asparagus instead of the Faro grain (has gluten) Shared a dozen oysters from PEI and a Dorada salad (LOVED the dressing!) and my man got the Lobster Ravioli. For dessert we had coconut and dark chocolate gelato, OMG. So creamy and delicious. Finished the night with Ketel One Espresso Martinis as we were going to head down to Duval Street for the first time. There was a great singer to serenade us set up on the pier, I believe her name was Belle. Voice of an angel. The overall vibe was very relaxed and romantic with a nice ocean breeze. We didn’t have a reservation but were seated immediately upon checking in and greeted right away. Penelope checked in with us multiple times throughout our meal to make sure we had everything we needed and checked us out as soon as we were finished and ready to leave. Even wrote down her other favorite places on the island to eat and check out. Thank you Penelope! Already looking forward to...

We stayed at casa marina for three nights and ate at Dorada every night. It was convenient and the food was delicious. The first night there we had Penelope as our waitress and she was fantastic. She was very friendly and was even able to recommend a few local spots to check out. Every night after that we went back to Dorada mostly because we liked her so much! The food was great and the cocktails were fantastic, if you are a fan of a margarita definitely get the pineapple cucumber margarita! My only critique would be that the menu is small, so while the food was amazing there aren’t many options or variety if you eat there a few times during your stay. With that being said the food was great. We had the pink shrimp ceviche every night which was my absolute favorite thing! We also tried the octopus appetizer which was also very tasty, very fresh. My husband who is Italian and very critical of any pasta dish with seafood in it ordered their pasta del mare dish and said it was one of the best he ever ate! We would definitely return for the food but also with the hopes that Penelope would also be there. She was great to chat with when she came by the table to check on us and was very knowledgeable about the cocktails and food. There was also live music every night. In general everyone at the restaurant and the hotel was amazing. All of the staff were very considerate and polite and they all get a thumbs...