When we were living in the keys in 2020, visiting Ziggy and Mad Dogs was a bit of an argument between Peter and I. Although they do serve seafood, it’s known for it steak. Peter was adamant that he would not eat somewhere in the keys that was known for steak! While I do eat plenty of seafood in the keys and likely would not order a steak at any of their typical restaurants, I was very interested in going. Fortunately, after several friends of ours who know the keys well told us how great it was over the past year, I was able to convince Peter that we should check it out! The big question is- was it worth going or should we stick with seafood in the keys? Let’s find out!
If you have visited the Florida Keys you know that many restaurants have outdoor seating and are on the water. This one has outdoor seating on a porch overlooking the highway and normal indoor seating. The outdoor seating looked nice and we considered sitting out there but opted for a table inside to escape the heat. Indoors you can tell it’s an older restaurant but it’s very nice with dim lighting.
We ordered a bottle of one of my favorite wines, Jordan ! Peter had an old fashioned. They brought a delicious basket of warm bread with honey butter. The bread came so fresh out of the oven that the kids had to let it cool down before they could hold it!
For appetizers we ordered the Barbecue Bacon wrapped shrimp, Shrimp Cocktail, and Cajun Crawfish dip. All were delicious but I would say the Cajun Crawfish dip was the biggest winner and a must if you come eat here!
For starters almost everyone ordered the lobster bisque. I absolutely love Cesar salads, especially at a good steak house so I stayed faithful to my salad! I thought I was not a fan of lobster bisque but Peter made me take a sip of his and I have to say it was PHENOMINAL! Turns out maybe I am a fan of lobster bisque! My Cesar salad was also very good as far as Cesar salads go. The Cesar salad had chunks of cheese which I love!
For entrée I ordered the New York Cut. While I still prefer some of the steaks Peter makes at home, Flemings or Ruth Chris, it was very good! Peter had the Cowboy cut bone in Rib Eye which he did like but it was not his favorite steak of all time. He also prefers the steaks he does at home, Flemings and even the steak he had at Big Fire at City Walk in Universal Orlando. I thought this was better than Big Fire.
I can’t forget to mention the delicious sides! We went with the Truffle Mac and Cheese and the Pistachio and Parmesan Creamed Spinach! The combination of the pistachios, parmesan and spinach was SO GOOD! This was a good amount for the 4 of us (kids didn’t eat these) given the amount of starters we had ordered and the size of the steaks. Despite how delicious they were we had a little leftover. Don’t worry though! We took them to go and Peter made sure they did not go to waste a couple days later!
Finally, we couldn’t finish this amazing meal without dessert! My dad is a huge fan of Key Lime Pie so it’s our go to dessert in the keys! We usually order one with 4 spoons so we can all try it and have something a little sweet. This key lime pie was AMAZING! I am not huge on sweets so I love when something sweet has something savory in it like nuts. The Key Lime Pie crust had nuts in it giving it a salty and crunchy touch that went really well with the pie! It’s a MUST!
Our friends that had convinced Peter to try it out had recommended that we come without the kids. We actually had more than one couple suggest a kid free date night here. I called before coming to make sure it was fine for the kids to come and they said kids are definitely welcome but I do understand why everyone was urging us not to bring them. Peter and I are not fans of giving the kids phones or iPads at the dinner table because we feel they need to learn you come to dinner to spend time with each other and have good conversation but in certain situations we make an exception. This was one of them. The service was excellent but this isn’t a dinner you want to rush through so it is paced out.
So what was the final verdict? Should you come to the keys to eat steak? I prefer steak to seafood so in my opinion, YES! Do come eat here. The food and service were great. My dad’s response was if he is only in the keys for one day he wouldn’t come eat here, however, if he was staying about a week, he would recommend coming. As for Peter, he was ok with coming since we are here for 5 weeks, however, he says if he was only here for 1 week he wouldn’t recommend coming. Sounds like I can plan on coming here once a year unless our friends can convince him to go again this summer! haha
Thanks for visiting!
-Jenny