Juan Loves Lucy

This place is amazing… Feel like you are on vacation in Cuba without leaving key west! Love it!

Yes! Come by this place and try some good Cuban food. It tasted just like home cooking. I had the Vaca Frita and it was so well seasoned, the rice and beans were delicious with just a hint of coconut. You can’t beat that! Again, it tasted like home cooking! The patio seating was just perfect! Lush foliage when you walk down to the restaurant, a well decorated patio and Cuban music playing in the background. The art on the walls is beautiful too! I wish I would have asked if any of the pieces were for sale. Swing by, you’ll love Juan Loves Lucy!

This is definitely a place you should check out. Food is delicious, people are very friendly and the atmosphere is perfect!

Awesome atmosphere! My BF ordered the grouper and it was excellent. I got the seafood paella — flavor was excellent but the seafood was overlooked. Still good, but could have been better. Quiet, warm evening, and we were the only ones here, but service for us was fast (ish) and very personable. :)

This is a good restaurant. It’s difficult to find, tucked away off Duval next to The Smallest bar in Key West. If you’re only in Key West for a few days, have a drink at the Smallest Bar then go next door to Juan Loves Lucy for great Cuban food and a very pleasant garden type atmosphere. The owner Juan is also a fantastic artist so check out his paintings. Carlo who works there is a former Cuban cigar roller now a US cigar roller. He buys only the best tobacco in Tampa and rolls great cigars. Be sure to buy your cigars from Carlo. I’ve smoked cigars from many other KW cigar stands and with the exception of Carlo they’ve all been really bad.
If you want to smoke a locally rolled cigar by a real Cuban cigar roller, buy Carlo’s cigars.

In key west this IS THE place. Tucked back behind all the huff and puff of the main street u get a small taste of cuba. Intimate setting wonderful service and amazing food. A must go!!!

Had the seafood paella and it was Fantastic. My wife had the tropical Shrimp and she loved it. Great place, great food and the perfect atmosphere. We will come back again and again

I was very impressed. Quiet atmosphere for being on in the thick of all the craziness in Key West. Jackie was a lot of fun and the drinks were good. The Cuban pork dish was even better than I expected and was very affordable. I also recommend buying some of their hot sauce if you like to add a kick to your food back home too.

Excellent! My wife and I shared the paella seafood platter and it was very tasty. Also it is a cool little place tucked back off of duval street. I would highly recommend. Great Cuban food.

Funky little restaurant tucked away off the side of Duval Street. Great Cuban food. Would recommend for lunch.

I had the Paella and Cuban pulled pork… along with Castros Breath (hot sauce) and Jackie the waitress who was as crazy as i am, or a little crazier… and a Cuban Sangria! How can you go wrong? It was such a magical serting, but you might walk past it if you dont look hard. Dont forget to buy a cigar from the nice guy out front rolling them. Great quality. Great people! Magical garden out back… and very clean.

Great Cuban food the palomilla was excellent and it was a great little tucked away restaurant on duval street. Great meal great service.

Perfect Cuban cuisine in a warm and delightful venue hidden away off Duval. Excellent authentic Cuban food; the seafood was fresh and perfectly cooked, the ropa vieja was well seasoned and tender, the Cuban café con Leche and flan ideal finish!

We had dinner here last night. We walked back and apparently there was only 1 guy working in the whole place. He took our drink orders, but it took 15 min to get a glass of water. Our food was ok, but not amazing. It’s a really cool place, but not to eat.

The food was AMAZING here, but like a lot of people have said, the service can be pretty slow. When my group of 6 came in, it was just one woman doing everything – seating people, clearing plates, taking orders, getting drinks, serving food, etc., and so everything was slow to come out. My roast pork with Cuban side dishes was so delicious though, I’m willing to mostly look past the slow service. The pork was tender and juicy, with melt in your mouth fatty marbling. The cup of black beans were delicious, well seasoned and kind of soupy, which I enjoyed. And you can never go wrong with a couple pieces of fried sweet plantain. I wish the Cuban espresso was a double shot, but aside from that I have no complaints about the food or drink.
If you want good Cuban food in Key West, I would definitely recommend this restaurant. I might also suggest you come between major meal times so that there isn’t a big rush that will overwhelm the very limited staff. It’s a smoking-​permitted restaurant as well, so if you’re sensitive to that, you may want to pass. For me, it was a little annoying, but didn’t ruin my meal since the restaurant is pretty much open air.

Never had such an amazing mojito and the sangria was just as wonderful might need to try the cuban sandwich too.

Cute location. Came recommended. We planned to do a full meal but plans changed so we just split a Cuban sandwich. It was tastey, right amount of salty, moist and a healthy portion.

Fun little find to stumble upon. Around 8pm after sunset.
Located down a little alley way, and a fairly small restaurant. there was only one other couple inside. Waitress was friendly, happy and bubbly. Gave fairly ok recommendations. We would have had the paella but it was an additional 20 minutes
We had the roast pork and the Shredded beef instead.
Pork was über fatty, but tasty other than that.
Shredded beef was awesome. Basically tastes like stewed meat, soft & tender. Simmered/​marinated in yummy spices.
Rice was lovely, big tasty grains with a full flavor but not too intense.
Beans were awesome! Black pinto beans that had a hint of sweetness. Very tasty
Their hot sauce is delicious. Little bit of heat & kick with wonderful rich hot sauce flavor. Mm so good!
Had a beer, not the highlight, but it was fine.
This was a neat little place to find and a great quick meal.

Excellent! service was great, food was great.
small gripes: only patio, smoking is allowed.
pork was a little over done.
no AC…
raves: amazing shrimp
yellow rice is life
beans cooked to perfection
let’s not get started on how amazing the plantains are.
it is a little pricey but for the quality of food and compared to the type of restaurants around it, it’s the best deal. authentic Cuban.

I recently went on a weekend cruise which stopped in Key Wes. One of our friends needs Cuban coffee in the morning so the first thing he did was find out where the nearest Cuban joint was. Boy were we surprised to find a hidden oasis. The ambiance is cozy and has a tropical lush setting. I can only rate the place on ambiance and Cuban coffee and Cortadito, however on the cruise I happened to run into a couple from North Carolina who actually had breakfast and they raved about how great their steak and eggs were. I will definitely go back on my next visit to the Keys for some coffee. By the way if you blink you will miss the place since the entry is an alleyway leading to the restaurant.