Kaya Island Eats — Restaurant in Key West

Off the beaten path lies this Key West treasure. Don't be afraid to venture off Duval, there's far more the city has to offer!

When you arrive, you expect it to be a casual dive. Ot is an absolute experience!

They start you off with a picture of water. It's infused with cucumber, mint, lemon, and lime! With all the walking or bike riding you do in Key West, just sitting in their shade, drinking that water, will completely refresh and revive you!

Our server the first night, was Mary Ann. She was phenomenal! I have an onion and a peanut allergy. I was recommended by a friend who has visited before to get the Moana. Mary Ann told me it was premixed with almond syrup and she suggested I get a different drink. I told her to surprise me, and she did! She brought me out a limbo stick served in a hollowed pineapple! It was perfection.

Keeping allergies in mind when we moved to appetizers, we wanted to try the Veggie Warrior Won Tons. It comes with a Thai Peanut Hoisin sauce. She suggested we swap it out for soy sauce, and my boyfriend preferred the soy sauce even more! Even though I didn't try the peanut sauce, I was not missing out on anything! Definitely ask for a side of soy sauce with them!!

Before we went to Key West, we were told by several people to try Kermit's in Key West for their key lime pie. We were told it was absolutely the best key lime pie in Key West. We did try Kermit's, and several other key lime pies while we vacationed, and Kaya Island Eats has every other key lime pie we had in Key West, beat! And, we had a lot of key lime pie while on vacation. We only wish they served it whole so we could have taken a whole pie home instead of just two slices.

Between the casual chill vibes, the food that is undescribably good, the live band with the karaoke, and the phenomenal staff, this was our go-to place out of all of the other places we went to. In the end, we wound up coming here three nights in a row for dinner, our last three nights, and for lunch so we could grab two slices of pie the day we were heading home.

You will not be disappointed when you step off Duval and walk into...

Came here one evening during our trip to Key West. According to my food finding algorithm, this was the best overall restaurant in Key West, so it was a no brainer, we had to check it out.

Right on Duval, we walked in for a pretty early dinner, around 5PM, and we got seated immediately. We had a nice server who was fine on her own at 5PM, but they really need to bring someone in as the night gets busier. By the time we were done, she was serving like a dozen and a half tables. But she did a good job. We were very well taken care of.

Ambiance was nice. Island vibes, as promised. And if you go exploring further back into the restaurant, you'll find that there is a large compound full of other rooms that do other things like pool and karaoke, it was wild. Lots of fun to be had here.

As for the food, we started off the evening with Those Incredible Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings! (Goat Cheese /Jerk Sauce /Green Onion), and they were so unique and good. Wings were cooked to perfection, very crispy and juicy, and the thick sauce that was all over them was super fun. It's also a good idea to let people put as much sauce on their wings as they want, to help control the spice levels. Bravo.

Next we moved onto the The Legendary Rasta Pasta (Macadamia Nut Jerk Pesto made with Hemp Oil, Jerk Seasoning, Macadamia Nuts, Garlic and Basil). A huge portion of pasta, very well coated in that subtle but delicious pesto. Couldn't really taste any hemp oil. Jerk seasoning provided a little heat, the nuts added in some good texture, and the basil added in a nice herbaciousness. It was just a lovely dish.

My main event was the Hawaiian Kahula Pork (Slow Roasted in Banana Leaves with Guava Lava Sauce & Mango Pineapple Salsa). Very flavorful, tender pork, atop a massive bed of rice. Very good sweet sauce and salsa on top, not a lot of different textures, but that's ok, it was just so delicious.

Dessert was some sort of coconut ice cream pie. So if you like ice cream desserts, and you love coconut, you'll love this dessert.

Overall, a solid dinner. Very delicious food....

My favorite stop on my trip to KW. I had dinner here 3 of the 6 nights I was there. Bang bang fish appetizer was hot, fried perfectly with a great crunch to it, would strongly recommend this as an appetizer. I had this app twice and it’s my favorite menu item. The jerk chicken wings app was also very good, personally I still liked the bang bang fish more, amazing. The cuban style roasted pork of the entrees I had I would say was my favorite. Great flavors with the pork itself being very tender and juicy, great portions. The killer fish tacos were very good as well, fried coating being perfectly done and portions being filling. The big beach burger was of the three the least exciting, it was not bad, but the burger itself just didn’t seem like it had much seasoning/flavor as the other two dishes. Even with added mushrooms and bacon the burger felt flat, the fries felt like normal fries with nothing particular to write about. The biggest compliment I can give to this is the portion size is massive, 1lb of meat, I had to split the burger and eat half for dinner and half the next day for lunch. I assume the dish was made to be as non-eccentric as possible to have a menu item that could appeal to those with a less explorative palate. I would love to see this be modified with a change in seasoning blend or a sauce or something to add to the dish. Music is at a good level, feels nice and cool inside even with the doors to outside open. Plenty of TV’s to watch while there, plenty of seating. Happy hour is 4-6PM half prices apps and drinks. I would make this an early stop on your trip, I visited here several times and don’t regret not exploring more, I was very happy with this restaurant experience. Please give the bang bang fish a go!!

My other recommendation would be to make the bang bang fish a entree with larger...