Taste the Keys, Read From the Islamorada End

Taste the Keys runs October 1 through 31, 2026. The Key Largo Chamber of Commerce presents it, and it was inspired by Miami Spice. This year 22 restaurants offer special prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus priced from $17 to $75 per person, before tax and tip. Most of those restaurants are in Key Largo. Five are south of Mile Marker 93: three in Islamorada and two in Tavernier.

Those five matter because of the price pattern most participants use. A large part of the list sticks to a $25 lunch and a $45 dinner. The Tavernier restaurants follow that pattern exactly. In Islamorada, Amara Cay keeps the prices but splits lunch and dinner between two venues. Shrimp Shack prices below the pattern, and Kindler prices above it with a time limit. Each Islamorada menu has its own conditions.

The Standard Format, and Who Follows It

Over and over, the participant menus offer a three-course lunch for $25 and a three-course dinner for $45. That's true at the Italian Food Company in Key Largo, at Buttonwood Grill on Garden Cove Drive, and at both Italian Food Company locations in Tavernier. The cheapest menus are at the north end of the list. Keys Latin House at 105970 Overseas Highway has a $17 breakfast. C&C Wood Fired Eats charges $29 for dinner, Sunday through Thursday only. The big Mrs. Mac's Kitchen charges $19 for lunch and $29 for dinner.

Here is the southern end of the list, by mile marker:

Shrimp Shack Comes In Under It

At 81901 Overseas Highway, Shrimp Shack Islamorada lists lunch at $24.99 and dinner at $34.99, before tax and tip. That makes it the lowest-priced Taste the Keys dinner in Islamorada, $10 below the $45 that so many other participants charge.

The dinner is built around one dish. The Islamorada Stuffed Lobster is a Florida lobster split in half, stuffed with a shrimp cake and six sautéed shrimp, and served with garlic butter. For dessert, the choice is house-made Key lime pie, plain or with chocolate ganache. Lunch gives more choices. Start with shrimp fritters, coconut shrimp with piña colada sauce, or a bowl of red, tomato-based shrimp chowder. Then pick the Morgan salad, shrimp and grits in a Creole sauce, or chicken or fish prepared Senator style with an almond crust or Continental style with panko.

The lobster is also Shrimp Shack's nominated dish in the Signature Dish Showdown. That becomes important later in this post.

Kindler Goes Over It, With a Time Limit

Two miles south, Kindler Wood-Fired Fare at 84001 Overseas Highway goes the other way. Its Taste the Keys menu is dinner only. It costs $69 per person, or $79 with one cocktail or glass of wine, and it's served only from 5 to 7 p.m. That's the highest price among the southern participants, and Kindler is the only southern restaurant that limits its menu to a two-hour window.

The courses explain the price. The first course is listed as "choose one to share": burrata with heirloom tomatoes, steak tartare with grilled Cuban bread, or prawns with pancetta chili crunch. Each person chooses an entrée: house-made gnocchi with wild mushrooms and basil cream, mahi-mahi over butternut squash purée, piri piri chicken with coal-roasted potatoes, or a prime wood-fired hanger steak. Dessert is also listed as shared, either Key lime pie or butter cake with macerated mango. The menu can't be combined with any other discount.

Since the starter and dessert are shared, Kindler's menu is set up for at least two people. A two-person dinner here works out to two entrées, one starter, and one dessert, all eaten before 7 p.m.

Amara Cay Keeps the Prices but Uses Two Venues

Amara Cay Resort, at Mile Marker 80 in Islamorada, charges the usual $25 and $45. Unlike the other participants, it serves lunch and dinner in two different places.

Lunch is at the Tiki Bar. It's a two-part menu: the Amara Tiki Wrap, filled with mojo shrimp, blackened chicken, falafel, or grilled mahi, and then coconut bread pudding. Dinner moves to ReelCatch. It's a longer meal: salad, a coconut-curried shrimp wonton, a choice of jerk-spice grouper or Key West Fried Chicken, and an Island Dream banana cream dessert. The price matches the standard format, but lunch and dinner are different experiences, so check which venue serves the meal you're booking.

In Tavernier, Both Restaurants Follow the Standard Format

Of the three Islamorada participants, Amara Cay is the only one charging the standard prices, and it serves them in two different rooms. Both Tavernier restaurants follow the standard format in every way. They belong to the same restaurant group, and they serve different menus at the same prices.

Lido 73 by Italian Food Company at 90451 Old Highway serves a $25 lunch and a $45 dinner.

• Lunch: fried house-made mozzarella, bruschetta, or meatballs, then a smashburger, chicken parm sandwich, or Philly cheesesteak, then tiramisu or triple-layer chocolate cake
• Dinner: flatbread, calamari, or bang-bang shrimp, then Ultimate Alfredo, chicken parm, or Mahi Florentine, then pear-ricotta cheesecake or rum baba

Italian Food Company Express at 92330 Overseas Highway charges the same $25 and $45.

• Lunch: bruschetta, meatballs, or arancini, then a Roman Super Margherita pizza, penne vodka, or a Caprese focaccia sandwich, then tiramisu or triple-layer chocolate cake
• Dinner: mussels, sausage with pomodoro, or calamari, then Fiocchi di Pera, Ultimate Alfredo with chicken and shrimp, or a meatball, pepperoni, and mushroom pizza, then tiramisu or pear-ricotta cheesecake

Lido 73 is also the only restaurant south of Key Largo that's a stop on the Trolley Foodie Tour. The tour runs twice, on Thursday, October 15 and Thursday, October 29, from 5 to 9:30 p.m. It's $150 per person, $125 for Chamber members, and limited to ages 21 and older. Each ticket includes a tasting and a drink at four restaurants. The October 15 tour checks in at Snook's Bayside Restaurant & Grand Tiki Bar, 99470 Overseas Highway. From there it stops at Sol by the Sea at Playa Largo Resort and then at Lido 73 at 7 p.m. for an Italian tasting with wine. The October 29 tour stays in Key Largo, with stops at The Catch, Sundowners, Buttonwood Grill, and Zaika Indian Cuisine. Driving from Islamorada, the October 15 date is the one that stops in Tavernier. Ticket sales are handled on the Key Largo Chamber's event pages. The trolley page already shows an "ended" notice on the October 15 listing, so confirm availability with the Chamber before you plan around it.

Voting in the Showdown From the Southern End

Each participating restaurant is meant to nominate one standout dish for the Signature Dish Showdown. Diners try the dishes during October and vote online, and the winners are announced in early November. Ballot details are on the Signature Dish Showdown page.

The 2026 Showdown list doesn't show a dish for Amara Cay or Kindler, and neither restaurant's menu page marks a signature item. That leaves Shrimp Shack's Islamorada Stuffed Lobster as the only Showdown dish in Islamorada. In Tavernier, the Showdown lists Shrimp Fra Diavolo for Lido 73 and the Ultimate Alfredo with chicken and shrimp for Italian Food Company Express. Lido 73's own menu page doesn't include Shrimp Fra Diavolo and stars the Mahi Florentine instead, so ask your server which dish is the entry.

Islamorada residents who want to try every southern Showdown entry before the October 31 deadline have three stops: the lobster at Mile Marker 81.9, then two Italian dishes in Tavernier at Mile Markers 90.5 and 92.3. For comparison, Shrimp Shack's Taste the Keys dinner costs $34.99, and each Tavernier dinner menu costs $45.

If you're thinking about a home where Shrimp Shack, Kindler, and Amara Cay are a short drive away, Alina Davis has lived in the Keys since 1982 and would be glad to talk about which part of Islamorada fits you best. Let's Connect.