Island Dogs is one of the five Pat Croce-owned Key West restaurants, offering simple food and live music. The music is generally in the evenings, so when I was there recently for lunch with a friend, it was pretty quiet. It is a bar atmosphere, as the center bar takes up much of the restaurant, but they also have quite an extensive menu.
Although there is lovely outdoor seating, it has been really warm already, so we opted for air conditioning. We chose a booth, which really was more of a sofa. It was like sitting in the living room of a fairly clean fraternity house.
The menu is much broader than I expected. I figured they’d have sandwiches and burgers, which they do. But they also have wings, oysters, shrimp, salads, a build-your-own hot dog option, pub pizzas and seafood entrees. my friend had the fish tacos, which are grilled and topped with avocado, onions, tomatoes and queso fresco, and served with fries. I opted for a burger, which was also good, nicely cooked and served with a zillion fries. Both choices were good.
But there is really nothing special about it. There are many places in town to get this type of food, and although this was good, and I am not averse to a return visit, there was nothing particularly memorable either.
Island Dogs is located at 505 Front Street and opens daily at 11AM.
