Salty Frog's Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Key West

Mediocre food, bad service, and the server changed my tip. It started to rain so we hopped in for some shelter and hot food; we should have risked the rain. We were a party of 3, I ordered the hangover burger. It was that or the bbq burger which I would never get (pertinent to story). I don’t like bbq sauce so it’s not something I would order even by mistake. After a long wait, and several orders for other tables making a stop at our table first, we finally get our food. They deliver the BBQ burger to me. “Oh, I’m sorry, I ordered the hangover.” The lady helping bring out the foos was nice but the server Linda snapped at me “No! I heard you plain and clear. You ordered the bbq burger.” That’s just not the right answer. Even if it was something I could have mistakenly ordered, that’s not the way to handle the situation. I’m non-confrontational and was very hungry so just took it. I could scrap it off. I open the burger and there wasn’t any BBQ sauce on it. So I’m not even sure what they delivered. To top it off, it was luke warm. Whatever. I ate it. Servers have a tough job. One of the people in my group is a server and was more offended for me than I was. And confirmed I ordered the hangover bc it came with an egg on it. The bill was $21.50, I left $5 tip which I thought was decent (more than 20%). I wasn’t even going to review. BUT then I look at my statement today. She changed the $5 tip to $55. Making the total $76.50. I actually kept my receipt so I was able to confirm that my bill was only $21.50. I’ve disputed the charge with my cc company and will never go back to this place. There are so many good places to eat in the area, just keep walking. Keep your receipts and check...

Salty Frog has only been open for a few weeks as of this posting, but they have good momentum so far. I'll start by saying the location is absolutely perfect as they're set just outside of Mallory Square with inside (bar) and outside dining options. The patio is great for people watching and I believe there is a stage area so hopefully live music is coming soon. The restaurant is clean and well maintained.

The menu is relatively short, but some solid and unique options. Everything tasted great, but I will say compared to the ~dozen other restaurants we visited In the area - the portions were on the smaller side. You don't see cheese curds too often down that way, but they were surprisingly good. I'd suggest they add a dipping sauce (Sriracha, Horseradish, Raspberry, etc.) like you find often in northern cheese country. They just come plain in a bowl. The burgers are almost seasoned like a meatloaf which I didn't expect, but did enjoy. I didn't try the frog legs...hadn't had enough booze yet.

Big shoutout to our awesome waitress, Deanna who got us sorted on some nice Mojitos. They didn't have the ability to make frozen drinks just yet.

One quirky thing I'd share is they use a mobile POS system when you pay your tab which is a little weird as they basically do it with you live at the table. So if you don't have a rockstar waitress/waiter it could get awkward with tipping while they stand there.

One other recommendation for the owner/investors - where's the merch? If it exists I didn't see it. You've got the makings of an iconic brand in and iconic location...sell me a shirt or something.

Looking forward to see how things progress. We'll be...

Met the Fonze of dogs at a restaurant. Tony has been co-Pilot on many a plane trip, he’s been skydiving and wanted to go again right after he got back in the ground, he travels by plane back and forth to Louisiana and Key West, for work, and he’s the coolest dog you could ever meet. We had some good conversation and I shared my conch (conk) fritters because I only wanted to try them, but I was told what they are and what they do to them so I couldn’t stomach eating them, even though it was good. Toby actually prefers bacon, but he enjoys trying different delectables, if given the chance. He was so well behaved, and communicative when you talk with him, it’s like he doesn’t even know he’s a dog!

Oh my goodness, I am so sorry, I completely forgot to review the restaurant lol!

The bartender was great. He told us some places to check out and he was friendly and relaxed, so it was a relaxing environment.

The food was very good. I tried what the bartender recommended, which was a white fish. I can’t remember what my husband ordered, I remember that we both liked the place a lot. He had a couple beers and enjoyed those as well. The bartender helped me invent a new drink that I then ordered the rest of our vacation everywhere else we went!

We really liked this place....