Establishment: The Fish House
Location: Key Largo (!)
Meal: Lunch
Drink: Coca-Cola (in a giant glass)
Appetizer: New England Clam Chowder and Crabmeat Stuffed Mushroom Caps
Topped with a mixture of cheeses and sherry, then baked
Main: Baked Stuffed Mahi Mahi (Dolphin)
Today's catch (whole fish bought from local commercial fisherman) stuffed with blue crabmeat stuffing
Side(s): French Fries
Dessert: Key Lime Pie
Graham cracker crust, creamy sweet tart key lime filling, topped with lightly browned meringue (the authentic Florida Keys version made daily by Chef Jose)
Server: Catalina ("like the dressing ... or the island ... or the RV ... or the sailboat ... or the car" she said)
With company in town visiting and nearly two years of southern Florida living with only having gone as far south as Key Biscayne National Park, it was time to take the drive down the Keys. Since it was just a day trip, we made it as far as Key Largo ... and to the "freshest of fresh fish" restaurant at mile marker 102 ('cause that's how people refer to places in the Keys). Of course, the irony was not lost that, while eating in the sunny and 71 atmosphere, coverage of winter storm Jonas was on the bar TVs. Despite learning that mahi mahi was dolphin (that made me sad), almost everything else about the experience was great (the main exception being listed below about the service that was some odd mix of "hurry hurry" and "the Keys are laid back"). Plus, the fried oysters I took off someone else's plate in our party (that's them in the corner of my dish) reminded me pleasantly of the Green Dragon stand back home.
AMBIANCE: 10/10 (it was *exactly* how you wanted a fresh fish restaurant in the Keys to look ... and to smell ... and our seat by the bar with the lights all over the ceiling and the assorted Keys tchotchkes was spot on [see photo below])
FOOD: 9/10 (point lost for plates so hot that the middle blue crab stuffing had a layer of char that had to be scraped off, but everything else was fresh [including a bit of sand in the clam chowder ... for which no points are being deducted because that's how damn fresh it was) and delicious ... and oh the key lime pie)
SERVICE: 7/10 (point lost for having to tell the server she should smile [her reply ... "I'm just tyring to get it to you fast"], and a second point lost because when she did smile, she had beautiful dimples [so we were robbed of seeing them the first half of the meal], and a third point lost because she spent time near the end talking to a busboy right in front of the table about how the server minimum wage went up on the first of the year)
BACON: 0/10 (I looked over the menu more than once and couldn't find ANY reference to bacon ... and it seemed like everything I ate could have been even better with bacon added to it ... although perhaps there are no pigs on the Keys?)
BONUS: 10/10 (+3 for being representative of the Keys, +3 for the fish lesson, +3 for that amazing key lime pie and +1 for being a place to return )
TroyScore: 36 out of 50 -- aka 72, a C (but only because one starts out 20 points behind on my scale when you choose to not serve bacon)
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