I love Key West. Rob and I got married almost five years ago on one of the beaches there - it was a super fun town. Even in July, there was enough of a breeze that we were not miserable, and I don't remember it being humid at all. Key West typically is about 82 degrees during the day and 72 degrees at night. I could really get used to that.
When we travel to fun places, we like to dine on what the area is known for. In Key West, that's conch. It's a shellfish that tastes similar to shrimp or crawfish. So we loved sampling conch fritters (plus, isn't everything better fried?) and the like when we were there.
Last night, I asked the dinner fairy to please come visit my house (via Facebook. I'm pretty sure he/she lurks on Facebook). As I was leaving work, Rob sends me a text and asks me if I had any dinner plans, then suggests a change of scenery. (The dinner fairy can show up in a lot of different ways, so just go with it). We had been to the Boathouse restaurant at Rockett's Landing in February and noticed a little restaurant next to it called the Conch Republic. Both restaurants have an awesome view of the James River and the city skyline. So I suggested that the dinner fairy take us to Conch Republic.
We get there and the bar is pretty much hopping which I would guess were young professionals working in the city. It was too chilly to sit outside last night, but we got a great table looking at the sunset (well, at first the sun - so if you decide to go, bring your sunglasses). We got to watch several blue herons float in the sky above the water. And we got to order dinner.
For appetizers, we decided to get alligator bites (and yes, they do taste a lot like chicken). I ordered a bowl of she-crab soup for dinner and Rob decided on the Jambalaya which had conchs in it.
The food portions were huge - I'm glad that is all the food we ordered.
Unfortunately for us, we thought all of the food was way too salty. The gator bites breading was light, which was nice, but we found ourselves sucking down water. My soup was really meaty - one of the most crab-meaty she-crab soups I've had in Richmond. Again, though, it would have been much better with less salt. Rob's Jambalaya was also not great, which is a shame because they did use nice spices and vegetables that would have been very flavorful.
All in all, the experience was great, but the food was meh. I'd go back for happy hour, and possibly only order a salad to eat.
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