Santiago's Bodega — Restaurant in Key West

Pros & cons: We live in the Keys and our goal is to try all the restaurants throughout the Keys. We are a long way from completion! The reviews we read for Santiago Bodega were so good that we had very high expectations! Overall our experience was a 2.5 out of 5 or a 5 out of 10. Pros: Service staff was friendly Loved eating outdoors (nice breeze & shade) The ribs & sautéed onion dip were our favorite! Neutrals: -The white and red Sangrias were both just standard. (We love the strawberry fields sangria at Moon-Dogs in Key West so Santiago’s just didn’t compare) but it wasn’t bad. -The chickens were out of control (flying up on the tables to steal people’s food). We see chickens everywhere in K.W. but they don’t usually fly on your table when you are seated. -Since spring break just got over and it was mid afternoon, it is possible that their main chef was taking time off? This may have played a part in our experience being less than someone else’s. Hard to say for sure. Cons: Outdoor patio and patio shade covers were dirty, The saganaki was not melted or very hot (which is the whole point of flaming cheese), The French onion soup had very little flavor, The bacon wrapped dates were good but when compared to others we’ve had they were just ok, The chicken kabob had way too much rosemary, We requested extra berries on the chocolate cake we ordered for dessert and it came out with only 5 blueberries on top 🤔 (presentation was lacking & I regret not taking a photo). It had good flavor however. We eat out “a lot” and our experience wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good enough for us to get excited about going back. The only reason I’m leaving this review is because we rely heavily on reviews when we eat out so I felt this may help others. As with most things, you really need to check it out and decide...

We made reservations online for two by a window at 7:30 PM. We arrived at 7:00 PM and were seated immediately, by a window, as requested. Our server " Arene" took our order and the meal was bought to us, one by one. We began with a cup of the spicy shrimp bisque soup (very spicy, but good), then the tuna ceviche (extremely lemony), tomato and basil bruschetta (really good!,) Beef Short ribs (very good), special of the day ( fried yellow tail with rice pilaf)... Delish, brussel sprouts ( ate one piece and hated it, but Arene was nice enough to remove from our check), croissant bread pudding with vanilla bean ice cream (it's a must!). This was the first time that we had eaten at Santiago's Bodega, even though we enjoyed most of all our selections, with the exception of one, it's not a restaurant that I will be writing home about. We found the menu to be very simple with just a few selections. The atmosphere was cozy and relaxing, but were confused with the fact that we kept on getting our neighbors food. The only good thing about that error, was that we got to meet a couple from West Palm Beach, who sat next to us, and had us in stitches, of how funny they were. They were there celebrating Stevens birthday. I was a little disappointed that no one gave him a free desert or even sang happy birthday to him ( this would have been such a nice and memorable gesture! If you plan on visiting Santiago's Bodega for a birthday celebration, you might want to reconsider. All in all, Santiago's Bodega was a cozy restaurant, with simple food selection and not so bad if you just want to hang out and have some tapas. Then this is a cool hang out, but not a fancy place to go to for a...

Fantastic little restaurant. Placed in a little less desirable of an area with limited parking nearby at least at the time of my visit, the restaurant is on the smaller side so this doesn’t seem to be an issue. Arrived around 4:30 to a nearly empty restaurant. Sat quickly, provided menu, list of specials and given recommendations based on preferences. Incredibly attentive service, food came out very quickly. I can’t remember the fancy name but the special of chicken potstickers was very good. Sweet but not overly so Sparkling Sangria was a nice addition the Short ribs were the most flavorful and exciting dish I had, I would absolutely recommend this dish. The shrimp and chorizo was alright, it was not bad by any means but the dish felt flat with not a lot of excitement, if you’re looking for something that feels very light this might be a good choice. Lastly the bread pudding croissant and ice cream was great, croissant was nice and hot with the contrasting ice cream melting with a bite of each. Tapas style restaurants are not known for large portion sizes or value for portions so I wouldn’t expect to be stuffing yourself off of them. If you want to try a few variations of different dishes with small to moderate size portions (traditional tapas style, recommend 2-3 dishes at a minimum, dishes range from ~$10-20 a dish)I would definitely make this a stop on...