Alabama Jack’s

Total dive. Totally worth stopping by on your way to/​from the keys. Grab some food and drinks and be happy you took Card Sound Rd.
Try the conch fritters probably the best in the keys (ask for some Crab sauce to dip it in). Pair that with a local beer (Florida Keys Brewery or Islamorada Brewery) and let the good times roll.

Love Alabama Jack’s! We arrived by boat from Miami on a Saturday early afternoon. Plenty of boat parking on the dock and seats available. We ordered some drinks and my fiancé and I split the seafood sampler. For $ 35 you got a HUGE serving of conch fritter (and it’s amazing), 4 large fried fish sticks, ½ pound of peel and eat shrimp, 2 fried crab cakes, and 8 coconut shrimp with 3 sides! It was so much food we could hardly get through half but it was incredible!
The views and vibe were also great. Laid back dive vibes with views of the water.
4-​stars only because service was a little slow. But hey, it’s the Keys! Most places in the Keys don’t have speedy service because everyone is on «island time».
Definitely worth a stop on your next trip to the Keys!

Awesome place with great prices! Went here on a Sunday and sat in the back by the water, only problem with that is we had to chase a waiter to serve us… guess they didn’t see us back there. I ordered the wings, which were delicious but beware they’re spicy! My bf had the fish tacos and they didn’t disappoint!

I consider myself a very fair minded person. I really don’t like writing bad reviews. However, I feel like I must express my feeling here and share my personal experience in this platform when we visited Alabama Jacks here.
I planned a mini 3 day vacation to Key West with my wife and mother in law and I thought it might be a good idea to make a few stop along the way down. I remembered back in the days when I was riding motorcycle with my friends, we’d stop by this place as one of the many «beer-​stops» to the Keys. I also was told that many restaurants in Key West are «pet-​friendly». So I thought maybe the same case applies to Key Largo, and this will be a good first rest stop.
We also brought our doggy-​stroller with us so we can place our fur babies in the strollers while we wine and dine. I asked my wife to place our doggies in the strollers while I go in the restaurant and let the wait staff know that we have two dogs with us. Before I even walked in the entrance, the waitress must have seen us in the parking lot with our dogs and she immediately approached me and say something like: Oh, sorry, your dogs must stay in the strollers at all times. Well, okay no problem, we plan to do that anyway. So we all went in and sat at the table with our doggies in the stroller. They were very well behaved. They weren’t barking or bothering any other guests in the restaurants.
We waited patiently for the waitress to get us our menu. While we were waiting, we saw one gentleman leaving the restaurant with his dog, wearing just a collar and a leash. Another 5 – 10 minutes later, we finally was able to get the menu from the waitress, however; she then delivered the news: well, you must pull the overhead cover on the stroller down and your dogs must stay under the cover completely during your visit. Well, where does that come from? We already put the dogs in the stroller like you requested. Now you are asking us to completely keep both dogs inside the stroller in a hot day? My wife asked the waitress, okay if that was the rule, then why you didn’t say that from the very beginning? You told us all we had to do is to place our dogs in the strollers, thats all. Now you are asking us to keep the dogs completely inside in a 90 degree day? And also, why didn’t you ask the gentleman earlier to comply with your rule that you are asking us to follow? All we heard was blah blah and that dog was a puppy and is a service dog in training.
No, first of all, that dog was not wearing any vests indicating that was a service dog, in training or not. Second, ever since we walked in the restaurant, we were treated with an «attitude». The staff were looking at us funny with a weird look. They weren’t very interested in servicing us, didn’t really want to give us any menus or silverware. And now usse this discriminating policy against us. It just sounds ridiculous.
I have been living in this country for over 30 years, and I have never been treated like this. We felt the way we were treated like we are 3^rd world citizens. Even if we were, there are no excuses for giving us this kind of treatment. But then again, this is the United States. It’s a free country and any private business owners are entitle who they wish to do business with. Okay fine. We get it. You don’t like foreigners, you don’t want our business, we’ll go elsewhere. I thought about confronting the restaurant manager about this. Then I realized that we are on vacation, and I don’t really want to cause a scene and let this kind of incident to ruin our weekend. I just wish the restaurant manager had the guts to tell me that in my face. I invite you to read other reviews posted by other people who went through similar experiences like we did. I believe this is not an isolated incident. I definitely will not recommend anybody to visit this business if they are from out of town or from another country.

Went here after hearing good things about it while in Key West. Located in Key Largo, it’s about 10 minutes off Route 1. The place has a it going for it with character, location and very good food. We sat right on the river and saw an alligator, a manatee and plenty of fish.
The food was good, with my wife getting their specialty, the conch fritters. I got the hot wings, which had just the right amount of heat. Any hotter and I wouldn’t have been able to eat them but they were ideal for someone like me who loves spicy food. The blackened chicken nachos were good as well but not remarkable.
I’ve read the reviews about it taking a long time to get the meal and those complaints are fair, but this isn’t the type of place you go if you’re in a rush. Instead, sit back, enjoy the ambiance and relax. It’s the Keys after all.

We also wanted to visit this place after seeing it featured on the Food Network show. It’s a 15 – 20 min drive for me but beautiful driving into the Upper Keys.
The day we went was not busy at all. Huge space, one could tell they can have some raucous times out here. We all sat down, my sister was visiting from Arizona and she loves Seafood. She ordered the Oysters, and we got the Calamari and their famous Conch Fritters.
It was so good that we were almost full when our food came out! We ordered Fried Fish platter, Fries, Shrimp, and a Fish Burger. They were all cooked to perfection.
Great selection of Beer (fully stocked Bar) if you are into that. The nice part is we sat next to the water and we saw all kinds of wildlife swim by! So cool… that alone made the visit more amazing including the food. This place is on our rotation list!

I never knew that there was an alternative way to get to Key Largo than US 1. It was neat trekking thru nowhere-​land. We stopped at Alabama Jack’s. Somehow I thought the restaurant would have amazing seafood dishes. I ordered the fried fish with potato salad and cheese fries. I was expecting a whole fried fish with the head on and eye still intact LOL but got fish squares instead. The sauce was different and I did enjoy the potato salad (tasted homemade-​apparently it is). My friend ordered the fish dip (sorry but Smilin Bob has the best fish dip!!).
The restaurant overlooks Card Sound and people have reported seeing wildlife in the area. It’s got a lot of history. The décor is very decorative LOL and I like the outdoorsy vibe to it.
No cell service. I was down from 4G to 2G and the internet was in and out!

Food was good had the large seafood combo. This platter fed 5 and we all were stuffed. The service was really good and very polite. Great last stop after a weekend in the Florida Keys.

Not worth going out of your way. Food was average at best. Most everything was frozen or from a can and what was fresh was cooked badly. Service was also below average — our server had a serious attitude not only with us but with the other staff as well. We won’t be back!

I’m giving this place a 4star just because I had to wait almost an hour for my food. Went on a Sunday and it was super busy, it took half an hour for the server to bring our appetizer and another 25 minutes for our food. We had conch fritters, crab cakes, fish sticks, sweet potato fries, onion rings and for appetizer we had the shrimp and crab spring rolls served with a chili Thai sauce, and we topped it off with beer. The food did not disappoint. They have entertainment, a band playing oldies and older ladies dancing, it was fun to watch.
If you go to this place hungry, you will starve waiting.

Service is horrible. Hands down, the worst. They took a long time to sit us and then they never gave us menus. I went up personally and got menus for our whole party since everyone on staff was too busy to assist with that. And to be honest, it seemed as others were given more attention than we were. It felt a little discriminating. Especially when the server told us her coworkers didn’t want to take our order. Racist much? I know we are loud and Latino but hey we’re fun! :) anyways… the conch fritters are the best item on the menu. Start with that. I had the mahi mahi with sweet potato fries and cole slaw as my entrée. It was good but I wanted more conch. Hehehe. We were seated away from the entertainment (maybe on purpose) and it looked fun. Too bad we didn’t get to enjoy it. I’m sure if we would have sat near the bar, we would have been distracted from the bad service. Oh well.

Not sure what all the hype is about this place. It was super busy, the food wasn’t good and the service was terrible. It’s in the middle of no where but the views are pretty cool. Other than that we ordered the conch fritters, crab cakes and a few beers.
Conch fritter I should say. It was one big chewy piece of conch.
Crab cakes were awful with maybe a tiny bit of crab in them. I asked our sever for extra lemon three times. At that point I just went up to the bar and got them my self.
I’m glad we went to check it out but won’t be back anytime soon.

Heard this was a right of passage for heading into the Keys, so we stopped here for dinner on a recent trip. The location is gorgeous, right on the water, and I can see the occasional wildlife viewing next to your table. They close early (no later than 6:30−7), so come early if you want to get dinner. Tables were left dirty and cleaning did not appear to be a priority, nor was service, as we had to ask if we got served at tables or had to go somewhere.
The conch fritters were really quite good, but I felt like we had better in Key West. The menu was seemingly 95% fried seafood, which was of seemingly decent quality. However, I left feeling gross, not a sign of a great job with the frying. Honest impression was that they have let their quality drop due to their reputation. Disappointing.

Agonizingly slow service, cold food and a server who chewed us out just for asking.
We have been coming to Alabama Jack’s frequently since we moved here in 2007 but the last two times have been terrible. Although we ordered right away, the waitress disappeared, I had to try to find her to help her remember our drink order (twice) and the food came very late and very cold. The other servers have tunnel vision.
When I politely pointed it out to her she gave me a lecture I didn’t need about how they put up the ticket in a certain order. .My bill was $ 47.50 for two so I left $ 50 in cash. I would have taken change from that if I could have found her again.
Twice in a row means we won’t ever be back and I have never been told off by a server. There is simply no excuse for that ever happening.

This place is so quaint it is by the water and really your eating outside under like a pavilion looking at the water.
The only reason I am not giving them 5 stars is they were out of most of the food that my family wanted to order while we were there (which is understandable when their shipment hadn’t come in yet)
You have to try the conch fritters when you go here because they are absolutely amazing instead of like conch fritter balls they are like a conch fritter pancake. They gave us so much food the very reasonable prices we all ended up taking food home with us because it was just too much we couldn’t eat it all.

Along the way to Key Largo, this is the first stop for good food. Live band and busy lines out the door. Sat at the bar and ordered Conch Chowder ($ 5), Conch Salad ($ 5.50) and the Smoked Fish Spread ($ 8.25). We were advised from the bartender to order from the small bites menu because everything else would take 40min due to how busy the restaurant was.
We followed his advice and our order came out in less than 10 minutes. The Conch Chowder and the Smoked Fish Spread were already prepared and in disposable plastic containers so they just pulled it out of the fridge and aligned some crackers on the plate. The Chowder was just heated up. Food tasted great and the chowder wasn’t salted at all (good thing since it made me feel that much better about choosing a «healthy option» amongst all the fried stuff on the menu… Le sigh).
Good place for small bites.

Don’t come for the food, come for the atmosphere. It’s an interesting place and if you can, get a table with a view of the canal.
We were driving back to Miami, it was about 1.30pm, Sunday and wanted some lunch. This was the only place on the way and we heard it was good. It was chaos. We waited about 20 minutes to be seated then told it would be about 1 hour for the food. Luckily we had time before having to get back to the airport so we waited. There were still drones of people pouring in at 3pm when we were leaving.
We had a great waitress, she was quick with the drinks and checked on us as few times. While we waited for the food there was some entertainment, a band and some oldies doing some dances and stuff, it was very fun to watch.
The food was crap. I got friend fish with a side of mac & cheese and coleslaw. He got Crab cakes with a side of sweet potato fries & coleslaw. The coleslaw & fries were good but the rest was a bit ordinary for a 1 hour wait. I’m not sure where the crab was meant to be in those cakes but they tasted like nothing. Empty calories. If you’re going there just for the food, think again, but if you’re going for a good time and food is just to soak up the alcohol, go for it.

Ducked in for a Grouper sammy and a coldy and it was a fine time, here’s why:
* Waterfront
* Rustic
* Genuine
* Timeless
* Live Music
* Hottie waitresses, some times
* Ice. Cold. Beer.
This joint is the definition of a roadside honky tonk. Whatever that is. It’s a old-​Keys charming roadside dive-​bar come family restaurant popular with a wide range of customers.
Great fried fare in a red basket type of food, and sat on the water so you can feed the fish, too.
It rocks.
Cabeza OUT!

It’s hard to explain why I completely love this place!
If you are driving from the Miami/​Homestead area, there is no toll on Card Sound Road since it’s technically, on the Miami-​Dade County side. If you go through the toll while driving southbound, you missed Alabama Jack’s although… I seriously don’t know how you could do that???
Park on the side of the road and walk right in. If I have a willing visitor, I head this way every time. It’s not fancy at all, dive like and I love it! If you get lucky, you can sit by the water and watch the boaters drive by. Unless they are busy, just go in and grab a table. If there is a line, jump in. The tables do open up on a regular basis, even on a Sunday. It feels like very «old» Florida and survived the removal of residents that were initially in this area. Warning, it’s been here since the late 40’s and it does show too. That is one the reasons I like it so much.
I usually stick with the same meal, a Dolphin sandwich which never disappoints. Expect bar food with a Key’s flair. Prices are reasonable too!
Normally, I visit on Sundays and the crowd can be very unique. A typical day can include the Southern Belle with the wide skirt and bikers in leather to boot. There is usually someone playing music and at the same time, interesting couples dancing and twirling.
A must stop in my book!

I really wanted to love this place. I had been wanting to try it for a while. Finally made it out this weekend.
As soon as we parked I was so excited. We got seated within minutes right by the water. The day was beautiful and the view was perfect.
That was the only positive of the afternoon. The waitress warned us that the wait time for food was longer than expected. At that point, we were so excited to try the conch fritters that we decided to order anyways. What a mistake, 1 hour later with sweat dripping down our bodies and our skin badly burned from the sun our food arrived.
Let’s start with the conch fritters. Yes they are the best conch fritters I’ve had. The dolphin sandwich was dry and flavorless. The cheese fries were stale and honestly some of them still tasted frozen. Topped with a glob of hot cheese sauce on them which only made it worse. My husband had the sampler and didn’t even eat half of the plate which says a lot. My kids had the chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks. Both of which were definitely frozen so I don’t understand why it takes the food so long to arrive. Maybe it’s a ploy to get you to think its freshly made.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, I had to take my daughter to the bathroom. I almost died. It was disgusting. I get that it’s the keys and there’s a laid back feel but please put a little more effort in keeping the restrooms clean!
I have to say that the waitress was super nice and attentive. She really made an effort to glorify our experience. But unfortunately not enough to get us back here.