Dockside Tropical Cafe

They made me a huge sex on the beach in a to go cup because we were heading out on a boat and it was only 5 dollars since it was happy hour. Nice people. Friendly. Hopefully will get to eat here next time.

Recommended.
This place caters to cruising boater types, many of whom lease slips at the marina or have done so in the past. Regulars are devotees and Enthusiastic about this place.
We took the opportunity to visit friends berthing their boat nearby. The food is OK as is the service. But don’t go out of your way to visit this place unless you have a specific reason to be there.

just left this place and won’t be back as our waitress asked for more money on her tip. on a 96.00 bill we left her a 8.00 tip. why? the mojitio didn’t have liquor in it, no bacon on the bacon burgers (had to remind them), and it took 45 minutes to bring out 3 sliders, 3 tacos and 2 burgers.
She pointed out the the SUGGESTED tip was 4.00 more and waited for us to give it to her. we gave it to her because she wouldn’t leave and made us feel uncomfortable.
interestingly enough, we have dined here before and brought friends from out of town because we thought it was great before but the service no longer keeps up with the atmosphere.

I happened to come here by accident because Keys Fisheries was closed for their annual cleaning, and I’m quite glad it was because I discovered a new place to add to my faves for when I travel south. We went for a late lunch and had the place almost to ourselves. It sits right on the water as most places in the keys, with picturesque views of sailboats just sitting posing for you to take a shot.
The menu has a Jamaican influence with some jerk items and some keys style fair as well. Make sure to look over the specials they have also. We weren’t too hungry so we opted to order 3 dishes and just share everything so we could taste a variety of dishes. We went with the hog handles, Mahi tacos, and jerk chicken sandwich. I must say they were all superb! The hog handles as you’ve seen in every other review is totally a must! The meat just falls off the bone and has the perfect blend of sweet yet smoky sauce. The side of mango chutney they give you gives it the perfect Caribbean touch. The Mahi tacos were also a winner with a generous portion of Mahi perfectly fried to a golden crisp and topped with some crunchy slaw. The jerk chicken was very flavorful but I don’t do too much spice and this was quite hot. It was very good however and if you love spice then try it out.
Our Server was great and was constantly refilling our glasses but the food did take a little bit to come out considering the place was empty. We didn’t mind because we were on keys time and were enjoying the view. I definitely plan on keeping this place on my list of must eats when in the keys!

Nun waren wir heute schon zum 2. Mal hier und wieder sehr zufrieden. Das urige Lokal liegt direkt Wasser und man kann auch gleich vom Boot aus einsteigen. Das Essen ist immer frisch zubereitet und sehr lecker, jedenfalls alles was wir probiert hatten.
Ab 19:00 Uhr gibt’s dann noch wirklich gute Livemusik! Also Leute, kommt alle her! ;-)

Super Ambiente, direkt am Wasser bei herrlichem Sonnenschein und mit Live-​Musik! Das Essen war ok, hatten das Slider-​Trio und den Caesar-​Salat, dieser war allerdings ziemlich pikant/​scharf :)
Die Bedienung ist auch freundlich und nett. Leider müssen wir heute noch fahren und können kein Bier hier in gemütlicher Atmosphäre trinken…

Ate here for lunch yesterday. The good news was they were able to seat a party of 14 since we gave them a 30 minute heads up that we were on our way. Our server did the best that he could considering he was the only person we saw working besides the bartender and the cook. We had a big party and there were only about 3 other tables seated while we were there but he was juggling. The bad news was the food. Absolutely horrible. Ordered a Woodchuck cider and got an Angry Orchard. No big deal, but instead of telling us and giving us a chance to get something else they just brought you whatever. They could have used more help for a Saturday afternoon when the weather was nice. We ordered the buffalo wings, dirty fries and a carne asada street taco. The street taco looked like they scraped it up off the street. Tiny tortilla with a few bits of dried meat and a couple onion bits with a speck of cilantro. Wouldn’t have been good even if it was free. The buffalo wings were ok, but missing the blue cheese. Didn’t ask for it because our server was already frazzled. The carrots and celery that came with them were scary looking at best. Here is a hint, «If it looks like it should be thrown out, don’t serve it to customers». The dirty fries came out cold and we think it is because they had already served them 10 minutes earlier to someone else in our party that ordered dirty chips and sent them back. Gross. They came back in a few minutes and it looked like they added a few new fries on top that were warm, not hot. Others in our party had mixed reviews. Some salads that were good and some salads that were gritty, burgers that were good and sliders that were under-​cooked. Fish tacos and the Chimichanga were reported as good. I have been here on other occasions and it always seems to take a long time for food to come out, so if you are in a hurry this is not the place to come. There are plenty of good places to go in Marathon with the same waterfront vibe, go there instead.