Dockside Boot Key Harbor — Restaurant in Marathon

So we swing by there to see the local band playing Saturday night. The place was inviting as it looks like the local hangout. We had to look twice. If it weren’t for being packed with vehicles up and down the street we would have missed it. We walked up and into the bar area. Unfortunately it was a bit muggy but that’s to be expected for this time of year. Greeted immediately by the bartender and handed a menu. The band (and reason for us going there) was playing on the patio that we had a great view of. The band played cover music across four decades. Really eclectic and something for all age groups. Ordered a couple of drinks and appetizers. Expecting run of the mill bar food, we were so surprised. The drinks were great and then the food arrived. We ordered the conch fritters and calamari (keys=seafood). They came out in about ten minutes and looked pretty good, nothing overwhelming to be sure. The conch fritters are a bit small but there’s quite a lot of them. Clearly homemade (IYKYK). They were crispy on the outside and exploded with conch flavor. Seriously, the inside was a melty lava that made them the tastiest conch fritter I’ve ever had. Absolutely amazing must try for anyone who loves conch. The calamari was interesting when it arrived. While it looked good in the plate, I immediately thought because of the batter that they may have been frozen from a bag. Wow, was I mistaken with that theory. As soon as you take a bite accompanied with a banana pepper, the calamari pops it is so fresh. You can usually tell if calamari is not fresh when it tends to be a bit chewy and rubbery. This was NOT the case. With every bite they snapped and were bursting with flavor. Well I wish I could tell you about all the other things we had to eat there but we actually got there after nine and was there to see the band. We will definitely be back to run that entire menu. Thanks for the...

We went to Dockside twice on our recent trip and would visit again. Good music & atmosphere. We didn’t try the food, drink prices were what you will pay most places in the keys. We got to watch fish and a manatee swimming next to us while we were there. One thing that could have made it better was if there was table service but we understand staffing is hard anywhere right now.

One thing that isn’t really the fault of Dockside but maybe they could have said something or stopped serving her. The last night we were there a mom was there with several young children, including a toddler. She was at least 5 deep in alcoholic beverages and her toddler kept going up to the edge of the dock at 11pm on a Saturday evening. There is no railing because boats can pull up to enjoy an evening but my entire group of 4 adults (all parents) was so worried that this toddler was going to fall in the water. We left because we just were no longer enjoying ourselves. Where we are from kids aren’t allowed in bars after a certain time anyways so it was all around just uncomfortable. So if Dockside is reading, no kids after 9pm would be a great asset to your business ;) people go to bars to unwind and relax without their own kids, we likely would have stayed for another few drinks ourselves if it weren’t...

I have been to dockside tropical cafe several times since Eric Stone and his wife purchased it.Our first trip there was okay, seriously understaffed but we were happy to be back and glad it was open again after it had closed last year. Second visit was a little worse, confusing happy hour menu, small tacos for $2, isn't much of a deal, beer is pretty expensive, so is food, and again staff was not knowledgeable and stressed to point of breaking. Third time we were there it was so understaffed Eric and his wife were running food, normally a nice thing, but then they knew they had to help or else let disaster ensue. There were 2 wait staff for 30 tables. Fourth time it took us 2 1/2 hours to have an appetizer, 3 beers and dinner. About an hour or more was spent waiting to be served, waiting on another beer, or waiting for water, or waiting for the check. We were given the wrong beer, the wrong food, and the wrong check all in the same visit.

My wife and I live in the harbor 3-4 months a year and we won't go back anymore. Other friends of ours also say they get very poor service and random food quality. BUT it is on the water and close to our boat! It's honestly a shame. This could be THE go to place in the harbor if they could learn to manage a restaurant and stop taking the patrons...