Rum Barrel

We went to the Rum Barrel for the first spot of my bachelorette party and we sat on the roof deck. It was really nice because the music was good and the space was big with a relaxing atmosphere! We had a lot of fun at the Rum Barrel and the service was great!

Had a private party at this venue. No complaints other than during the day it is very hot on the outside balcony and inside, otherwise food was ok. Convenience of two full bars whether you are on the upstairs balcony or in the downstairs main space. Not bad for lunch or dinner. Worth trying…

highly mediocre. conch fritters were doughy. buffalo chicken flatbread Pizza inedible. just not great
all but nice atmosphere
up a. star

I did not eat in the restaurant, I placed an on-​line order and had it delivered. I order a grilled tuna sand which and it was cooked to perfection (medium rare). Delivery time was good — maybe 30 minutes?

Have been to this restaurant for years everytime when we visited Key West, the service is great, but the only thing that bothers me is that they use regular glass to serve Guinness, not the curved shape one.

We were a big party seated upstairs on the deck on a Wednesday night. Guitarist was decent, service was questionable, but drinks and food are top notch. I had the Tuna Avocado Melt with a side Caesar salad; I’m pretty picky about my Caesar dressing and theirs was very good. The sandwich was also delicious… I’m not usually one to eat my entire meal at restaurants (the servings are just so big!) but I cleaned my plate with this one.
For drinks I tried their Original Mojito, which was good but nothing off-​the-​charts as Mojitos are concerned. Still… a good Mojito is a good Mojito. On the other hand, the banana-​flavored 302 that I had was both strong AND delicious. If you want a frozen drink that’s a bit sweet but not just full of sugar — something that has a kick to it — I highly suggest the 302.
Overall, I just wish the service had been better. It was 4-​star food and drinks with 2-​star service, very slow, impossible to get our check split (problematic for a large group), and just generally the only not good thing about Rum Barrel. (At least on my visit.)

Pass this place over if you can. We went here and sat upstairs and were checked on three times, one of those was us flagging the waitress down. Ordered the «jumbo» shrimp to receive tiny shrimp that were clearly not jumbo. The food was cold once arrived to the table, and the seasoning on the Philly chicken cheesesteak was way over powering.
The only plus was the live music which was very nice.

Excellent service. Employees are very nice and food is great! Cheese steak egg rolls are a must!!! Only complaint is the bar upstairs smells horrible.

Terrible food, flat beer, but the live band (duo) were fantastic, food was overcooked, beer looked like black coffee, and nearly as warm, only give 3 stars for the entertainment

Stopped here a few years ago to watch a Flyers game. The cheese steak was fantastic as well as the atmosphere. I think we also had a special for an appetizer. Cheese steak empanadas comes to mind which I don’t recall having any complaints about. There are outside tables too which I believe are upstairs. Came here again just recently only to have the drink listed on the bar crawl to get the free t-​shirt. Out of all the t-​shirt drinks this is the biggest bang for the buck. It was called the Rum Barrel I think and it was straight booze unlike some of the other drinks on the t-​shirt. Here is the description-​Rum Barrel–
Bacardi Select, Bacardi Gold, Bacardi 151 with cranberry, pineapple and orange juices, splash of grenadine. Peg leg included, B.Y.O. parrot. If I had my own parrot I would have lost it after this drink!

What the heck was I thinking when we chose this place for dinner? We were desperate! It was late and we were tired.
The signs were there for a poor experience. Hostess was unapproachable.
Their burger was dry and flavorless. Their chicken sandwich was yucky!
Service was ugh. We skipped apps thinking that would speed up the food coming out… not so much. 30 minutes for our Barrel Burger and grilled chicken BLT to come out… and mind you the place was empty.
Even their beer wasn’t cold and the mixed drinks were water down…
We skipped dessert and headed to the Key Lime Pie Factory for a well deserved reward for dealing with this place. Skip this place and try other restaurants…
Pat Croce, you give us Pasquale’s a bad name!

After waking around for a few hours in key west, we wanted to grab a bite and to be honest key west has so many restaurants that it was hard to decide where and what to eat. We stumbled upon Rum Barrel bar and grill. At first we weren’t sure if we wanted to eat there as it looked more like a bar but then we looked toward the right side of restaurant and we saw the dining tables so we decide to stay.
Our server was very nice & friendly. Taking an order for 7 people can be tricky but she handled it well.
I liked the food, one of nephew’s said that his philly cheesesteak was dry, I did notice that it didn’t have a lot of cheese or peppers or onions, my lobster roll was good, the majority of our dishes were good.
The only problem that I had was that while we were eating we watch our waitress leave (we had the view of the street). We were left waiting for a server to check on us, we needed to go boxes and we needed our check. I turned around to face the host and told him that we saw our server leave and that who is going to take care of us now. So he did.
I just didn’t like that our server left. I felt like my tip was not going to be appreciated as it was meant for her. Yes, I did leave my 15% tip and only 15 because the person that took care of my group was no longer there. Maybe I am just weird like that.
I Also found the place expensive for the type of food that they serve. Three burgers, two philly’s, 1 lobster roll and one jalapeño Mac & cheese and one Sir Charles burger, 2 beers and 4 fountain drinks $ 200.00 not including the tip.

I can only say 2 things. Not words, but things. So don’t correct me on this.
Scallops
And
Beer
Scallops tasted fresh as hell, and they served red velvet beer. End of story. Fucking delicious. The amounts are quite small however for the price.

They can’t split a bill in half it’s against our company policy said the inexperienced waitress. The communication was inconsiderate and it was suggested we go to an ATM as if that was responsive to our question.
I walked out and won’t be back.

As far as the food goes… It was so so… Very average. The place itself is nice, pirate theme all around. It fits the name. The have a street level bar and an upstairs area with music. You can have a fun time there.
I would suggest eating somewhere else. There are to many really good restaurants in KW to only get an average dinner.

It came time for dinner on our Key West excursion and we were so tired and hungry that we stopped in here seeing the OK Unilocal reviews. Everything seemed to rub me the wrong way here.
We were seated promptly and our server brought us waters. It was college game day and this was a sports bar so my husband decided to try some of their beer specials on tap. I asked if they had any other specials for food or anything else and I was rudely told by our server «It’s football season honey, that’s all we have» the way he said it he was just totally talking down to me and I did not appreciate it one bit.
My husband got their cheese steak and I got a chicken platter with onion rings and mashed potatoes. The cheese steak was totally devoid of flavor. The chicken was seasoned well and was not dry so that was good. The onion rings were crispy but the mashed potatoes were gummy and had a weird yellow color to them.
At this point we wanted to get out of there ASAP so we grabbed our check only to find that my husbands beers were full price even though they were shown as specials on the menu. We asked our server about this and he told us we were wrong and it was only 1 beer that was on special. We were tired of arguing with him so we sucked it up and took the difference in price out of his tip.
Bottom line food was OK at best and came with a side of attitude from the server. I would skip.

UNLESS YOU’RE A PHILLY TEAM FAN… EEK! METHINKS NOT… is right!
After a long hiatus from here do to other mishaps, I decided to take a chance and see if things have changed. NOT!
THE GOOD
I stopped in for a light dinner around 6:30pm and ordered an unsweetened iced tea which the bartender Jodi kept full at all times. She was very nice and attentive. The menu provided was simple enough, just two sides. I ordered the grilled scallops appetizer and small side salad. Everything seemed okay.
THE BAD
Within minutes of Jodi going to the kitchen to place the order, the scallops and salad arrived. I said to myself… that was fast! How can that be possible? I started with the scallops first so they didn’t loose their temperature.
Meanwhile… my iced tea was served in a plastic cup when all cocktails around the bar were in a glass. I had clearly just gotten there and requested a menu. There was no need for a traveller. It made me feel as if I was being exited before I even started. Also, I later noticed there were happy hour specials on a flip chart at the bar. The bartender did not inform me of any of these options.
THE UGLY
With the first few bites of the scallop it tasted cold, as if sitting out for a while and not cooked fresh. Likewise, the corn dressing it was served on top of was equally served at room temperature. I took a slice off the second and it was equally as cold with a jelly type of texture. The scallops were full of sand and had a crunching sound in my teeth with each bite. What a disaster! The corn dressing and grilled scallops were not a perfect culinary marriage. Regarding the flavor, the corn overpowered the what should have been delicate flavor of the scallops. I pushed the dish aside and couldn’t take another bite.
Next, Jodi did ask me how it was and I let her know that they were cold and sandy. She quickly whisked them away to the kitchen. After what seemed like an extended period of time in the kitchen, she returned and said there was a fresh order coming out. This time there was a bit of a wait before the order returned. Low and behold, they came out hot, through and through. Not room temperature as before.
The food runner also provided a side of salsa to accompany it which wasn’t provided before. Jodi then came by and told me she asked to put the salsa on the side because it is served mixed into the dish and that it may have cooled it down. NOT! What kind of craziness is this? I’m exhausted. Appetizers shouldn’t be this difficult to execute. As far as the side salad, it was below par.
MOVING FORWARD
I overheard at the bar they are changing the menu again this week. This will be the 3^rd or 4^th time now.
THE RESULT
A beautiful place to enjoy a drink and watch a football game in air conditioning during the season. A pirate/​sports bar theme with a good selection of games. A pure Philadelphia teams bar. As far as dining, this has been a painful trial eating experience.

I had eaten here before about two years ago and the food was good. This time around it just wasn’t. I believe I was the only one who semi liked what they ordered, which was the lobster roll. The mac and cheese I got as a side was no doubt a boxed variety with no flavor. Even the caesar salad was bad with a weird tasting dressing.
Service wasn’t much better. We were a large party (11) but the place wasn’t very busy and the waiter never returned to refill our drinks. We actually had to flag him down and ask. I was really disappointed this time around because we liked the place last time we were here. With so many great restaurants in Key West we probably wouldn’t visit again.

I’ve been to Rum Barrel on vacation before but forgot to write a review!
Rum Barrel is the perfect place to grab dinner after watching sunset on The Sunset Pier. They are close to the perfect sunset spots and are off the beaten path so we didn’t have to wait to get a table.
I recommend sitting on the top deck «Quarter Deck» to enjoy live music and people watch from up high. We had the french onion soup which was perfectly cheesy and oniony and I had the Barrel Burger which was cooked to perfection and juicy.
5 stars for Rum Barrel!

Located right on Front Street, this is actually a Philly bar in Key West clothing. Decorated like the inside of a pirate ship, the rum selection is foreboding. What drew me in was the offer of fresh peel ‘n eat, Key West «pinks» or shrimp as we know them. And of course I wanted to try a rum drink, so I stuck with a mojito.
I loved the shrimp, they were large and sweet. I split a 1 lb. order and got 18 sweet, pink shrimp with just enough cocktail sauce. They were the best I’ve had in as long as I can remember. At $ 1.35@, it wasn’t actually a bargain, but you get what you pay for here. The mojito was strong and sweet too; a little light on the key limes and mint flavoring but not on the rum. We were there for happy hour, when well drinks were 50% off; I saw no discount on my drink tab unless a standard mojito is $ 19.
Service was happy and accomodating. We made friends with a local Philadephia transplant who comes in the afternoon for her traditional vodka gimlet straight up and a steak and cheese egg roll. She loved the shrimps so much, she wanted to trade egg roll for shellfish. No deal!