Caroline’s

The Dolphin fingers we’re alright not great, not much taste. Ordered a rum runner me or the wife couldn’t drink! Whewwwww!

The best fish sandwich I have ever had! This street is so busy and there are so many options, I was really not sure what to expect but boy was I glad in the end. This place did not disappoint. The service was great, the food options were great, the taste of the food was great, the people and atmosphere was cool, laid back and fun! The best fish sandwich I ever had… I’m telling you!

The steak was cooked to perfection! Great location to people watch. Server was great. Thank you!

Omg this place was delicious. From beginning to end I had the best food in key west from my vacation so far.
I had the Caroline’s famous fish sandwich with French fries. That sandwich was ginormous and yummy. The fish was fresh I mean it couldn’t have been better than that. The tartar sauce was exquisite.
My boyfriend had the front street sandwich. That sandwich was amazing too the French fries were fresh. The service was amazing.

The food here was surprisingly good. It’s located right off of Duval near Mallory Square so it is great for people watching. The Macon and Bacon salad is amazing!!!

This place was great! Their drinks and good were awesome. My husband and i each got salads and had no complaints. Would def recommend.

I really liked Caroline’s. The food was generous in serving size and we had one of the most friendly and cheerful waiter’s known to man.
There were a few things, however, that I didn’t like so much. The level of cleanliness could be debated. The tables just felt sticky and tacky to the touch, pigeons were all over the place (which I understand, it’s an outdoor space, hard to control), and overall, it just felt a little bit grungy. Also, the fans, while awesomely appreciated due to the heat, made it really hard to actually get food from the plate, to the fork to the mouth without something flying off either in your lap, on your face or perhaps into the personal space of your neighbor. Not sure how that can be addressed given that the fans are a total necessity given the heat.
What makes up for that is definitely the quality of the food. It was really good. My husband’s chicken quesadilla was very over-​stuffed and he said it was a really well-​made and tasty dish. The only problem he found with it was that it was difficult to eat given the over-​stuffed nature… so while he wanted to pick it up and eat it like a slice of pizza … it was a little too messy.
My very tasty Southwest Salad was awesome. Loads of toppings, great dressing, yummy grilled chicken. I was torn when ordering because they also had a really delicious sounding Maple Bacon salad with Fried Chicken… even thinking about it now makes my mouth water… and if I were to go back, I’d definitely try it. However, my salad didn’t disappoint and the tall cool glass of pink lemonade that I ordered definitely hit the spot as well.

The words «tourist trap» gets tossed around a lot when it comes to describing places in Key West. It is easy to presume Caroline’s is one with it’s prime location Duval St, its lively bar towards the front center of it and their fun waitstaff. Since I like their places, The Porch and Other Side, so much I had to check this place out — I’m glad I did.
Like many other reviews mention the Shrimp Po’ Boy is a good option. Mine was overflowing with perfectly fried, crispy shrimp sitting on top of a hero with lettuce and tomato that seems like a bit of after thought along with a mound of perfectly cooked french fries. The yellow tail salad was another good option with nice tender slabs of slightly cooked (mostly rare) sushi grade yellow tail — we asked for the citrus-​y dressing on the side. Seemed right to enjoy these lunches with some Key West Sunset Ale.
Most days sitting for lunch will make you melt and Caroline’s has thought of that with a water misting system that cools you off. You can even get a feel for it as you walk by. Our waitress was in such a good mood — friendly and smiling, which just made the entire experience pretty great. Overall the entire bill was reasonable for portion side and quality of the food.

Fun, fun, fun! Right on Duval Street, this outdoor patio was great for people watching and making noise. We were welcomed by our server, LuLu, who, as it turns out, was from our home town but has been in Key West now for over 20 years. She was great; excellent service! The drinks (especially the rum punch) were terrific! The conch fritters, dolphin sandwich (mahi-​mahi, not Flipper), mahi-​mahi fingers, Southwest egg rolls were out of this world! Great place to eat and have fun! Recommend!

A good spot for people watching (Duval St) and an average Margarita.
The Boston Lettuce Wraps were hyped up. They were just ok. Left kind of feeling disappointed.
We didn’t try any other food as this was just a quick stop before our real meal at a different restaurant. Meh, I could take it or leave it in the future.

This place feels like a tourist trap. Offerings consist of mostly fried seafood & watery drinks. Also, cleanliness has taken a back seat here.
Server seemed uninterested in the whole endeavor-can’t say I blame him.
Meh all around.

Had dinner at Caroline’s while on vacation with family and had a pretty tasty time.
We were looking for an outdoor, crowd-​pleasing dinner option and Caroline’s fit the bill. We felt taken care of from the moment we sat down!
We ordered a bunch of food and drinks, including the peel-​and-​eat shrimp, dolphin (mahi mahi) sandwich, chicken lettuce wraps, two orders of jambalaya, and several fruity cocktails.
It was all very tasty, especially the mahi mahi, which was cooked just right and very fresh. The jambalaya was good, not outstanding, and the shrimp could have been a bit fresher. My one real complaint is with the bar. Caroline’s apparently doesn’t have a blender so they can’t make drinks like piña coladas… which I really, really wanted.
But life goes on. In all, Caroline’s is a great pick for a casual dinner on Duval, just don’t expect to order a frozen drink!

Not quite the Cuban that I was in search of but it did hit the spot none the less. After a little customization, it worked out. The pulled pork was delicious. I’ve been here before but can’t remember what I had but this is a pretty good spot overall. The waitress Lisa, was EXTREMELY nice though. She knew there were real Cubans dining in so she asked them questions for me and related those messages and we worked it out.

I am giving 3 stars instead of 2 only because the service was on par. Our waiter was very attentive and helpful with answering our questions. Also, our food came out quickly.
As for the food, our whole group was quite unimpressed. We were surprised at the lack luster quality of the food especially since this place has such raving reviews about how excellent the food is. I personally got the Cuban sandwich. It was very dry and lacking flavor. I’m glad it came with fries because I barely ate any of the sandwich.
Lesson learned: take the highly rated restaurants on Duval Street with a grain of salt, especially the restaurants by all the bars. You will find way better quality restaurants further away from this area.

Nice restaurant located on Duval street where all the action, stores and over crowded tourists hang. This place was cute and had a good variety on the menu and had some great Unilocal reviews. Was here with some friend and there kids and the outside atmosphere along with the picnic tables seemed perfect. Our waitress Amy was pleasant and let us know of some other great restaurants that served oysters since they didn’t have any.
We ordered conch fritters as the appetizer and although they had good flavor I felt they went a little to easy on the conch so it was mostly veggies and dough. My friend and I both ordered the famous fried chicken sandwich and both had the same impressions, to fried and lacking flavor, although the lettuce, tomato and tartar sauce were good. My friends husband and son both had the jambalaya and that was really good, my love had the grilled Mahi Mahi sandwich which he devoured and said was really really good (he would definitely come back and order the same thing) but the best dish in my opinion was my friends daughters dish. She ordered the blackened chicken pasta and man I could’ve used my fingers to get every last taste of the sauce alone but that dish was on point. I wouldn’t mind coming back here for that pasta but never again for that famous fried fish sandwich and honestly I should’ve known better, I’m not really into fried and battered foods but hey at least I gave it a try

We stopped in here for lunch after a recommendation from our concierge. It seemed mediocre to us. Our server was nice but obviously busy, leaving her very short with us. The food was average. To drink we ordered the key west lemonade and thought it had a weird taste so we switched to corona light. For my lunch I ordered the portobello sandwich with fries, it was okay. If you are looking for somewhere unique to the area I would definitely try somewhere else. However we were in and out with no time wasted.

Do you like seafood? Do you like your seafood deep fried? And do you like large portions?
Yes yes yes.
This place has both indoor and outdoor seating. Since it was pouring (what is wrong with the weather, this is key west!)… we sat indoors. You have to start off with the conch fritters. I had never had conch before but everything tastes good deep fried. For my main course, I had the fish sandwich, that is deep fried too. It is nothing like filet o fish. Its way better than that. The fillet was crispy on the outside and really soft on the inside. It was amazing.
Since the portions were so huge, I had no space for desert. The toilets are located outdoors.

Not on my list of favorites. We ordered peel and eat shrimp as an appetizer. Conch chowder for my meal and my husband got the chicken lettuce wraps as his main course. The food took a very long time to come out and it all came at once. Was expecting my shrimp appetizer first and then my soup. The service was okay. Waitress didn’t say much at all. Honestly was expecting more upbeat service considering we were right smack in the middle of the touristy part of Key West.
The peel and eat shrimp were pretty puny looking. The conch chowder had way too many bay leaves and almost tasted grassy, plus the potatoes were undercooked. The chicken lettuce wraps were okay though. Lots of fresh veggies and really good peanut sauce. The noodles that came with were a bit undercooked.
With so many other food options in Key West I wished I had done a better job at finding one. We didn’t have much time in Key West because we came off a cruise and honestly felt like we wasted our time at this place. Thought it would be good because it had a nice outdoor seating area and bar but I thought wrong. Oh and the restroom was gross. Yuck.

5 star service but I didn’t find the food very impressive.
We all ordered a round of specialty cocktails and we weren’t impressed. $ 8 that were made with wells alcohol. My mojito was so bad that I had to send it back. However, management and our waiter were happy to do so and immediately replaced my drink. The mango margarita was probably the best drink on the table.
We ordered the conch fritters and those were pretty good. The rest of our meals just slightly missed the mark. The Cuban was bland and the shrimp on the burger that we ordered would have been better if they were fried and breaded.
I guess our experience is fairly typical for vacation towns like key West.

You’ll never forget your first lettuce wrap. My friend certainly didn’t forget it, and that’s how my group ended up there for dinner on our recent trip to Key West.
The lettuce wraps were enough to draw us in and didn’t disappoint. Neither did our beverages, entrees or the service.
First, let me commend the staff at Caroline’s for embracing and welcoming my group of gal’s that were in their bachelorette party glory. Read: rowdy, loud and already a little tipsy. We were still treated with utmost respect, and our bachelorette got some warm wishes from a gentleman (who I think) was the owner.
So back to the lettuce wraps. They were really excellent. Since they were being shared amongst a group of 5, we opted for extra shrimp. Even with 5 people sharing them, there were more than enough wraps and other fixings for everyone to have their fill. They were prepared Thai-​Asian style with a tangy peanut and spicy sauces. They also came with bean sprouts, cucumbers, carrots and rice noodles.
For my main, I split the catch of the day entrée with a friend. It happened to be mahi-​mahi and we ordered it blackened. It was a huge piece of fresh fish that also came with rice pilaf and broccoli. The entrée portion was absolutely big enough for two people to share if you also had an appetizer/weren’t super hungry. The broccoli was steamed and wasn’t really seasoned. It was a little boring, but we weren’t there for the broccoli.
Good food, good service, good times.

Ce restaurant situé sur la plus grande rue de Key West est souvent un peu bondé … Mais la nourriture est bonne !! La salade césar est simple mais bien garnie. Le service est très rapide mais ça semble être un peu «à la chaine » … Par contre si vous voulez goûter une bonne key lime pie (le gâteau typique de Key West) je vous conseille d’en prendre une ici. Elle est très bonne et pas trop sucrée !
Bön petit restaurant malgrè quelques petites fausses notes.