The Key Largo Chamber of Commerce's prix-fixe month is back for a second October, and it has grown. The official Taste the Keys participant page lists 23 restaurants for 2026, up from the 18 it lists for 2025. Most of the newcomers are casual places: a pizzeria, two wood-fired kitchens, a Latin restaurant and a shrimp shack. Their prices set the low end of this year's menus. Of the three cheapest Taste the Keys dinners in Key Largo, two come from first-year participants, and one of those is served only Sunday through Thursday.
When Keys Weekly first reported on the event in September 2025, it called Taste the Keys a new month-long celebration modeled on Miami Spice. In this month's Keys Weekly preview, it is an annual festival that invites visitors and locals alike and supports local businesses during the quieter fall season. Menus run through Oct. 31, so as of today, Oct. 12, there are 19 days left.
Who Joined, and Who Sat Out
Comparing the two years' lists shows where the event is heading. Eight restaurants are new for 2026:
- Snooks Bayside, which also hosts the first trolley night
- Coast to Coast Pizza Company, 99625 Overseas Highway, MM 99.6
- Buttonwood Grill, 45 Garden Cove Drive, MM 106
- C&C Wood Fired Eats
- Keys Latin House
- Kindler Wood-Fired Eats
- Amara Cay Resort
- Shrimp Shack Islamorada
Three restaurants from the 2025 lineup are not on this year's list: Crooked Palm Cabana, Pilot House Restaurant & Marina and Snappers Key Largo. Their 2025 menus are still archived on the event site.
The event now stretches farther down the highway. Kindler, Amara Cay and Shrimp Shack Islamorada sit outside the Key Largo group, along with Tavernier's Lido 73 by Italian Food Company and Italian Food Company Express at 92330 Overseas Highway, MM 92.3. That leaves 18 participants in Key Largo itself: Bayside Grille & Sunset Bar, Buttonwood Grill, C&C Wood Fired Eats, Coast to Coast Pizza Company, DiGiorgio's Cafe Largo, Gus' Grille at the Reef House Resort, Italian Food Company, Key Largo Conch House, Keys Latin House, Mrs. Mac's Kitchen, Skipper's Dockside, Snooks Bayside, Sol by the Sea at Playa Largo Resort, Sundowners Key Largo, The Buzzard's Roost, The Catch Restaurant, Vicky Bakery Key Largo and Zaika Indian Cuisine.
Where the Price Floor Sits
Across all 23 restaurants, the Taste the Keys site puts prix-fixe menus at $17 to $75 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Each restaurant chooses whether to serve its menu at lunch, at dinner or all day. Dinner menus in Key Largo run from $26 to $55 for October 2026.
Here is how the published prices compare:
| Restaurant | Lunch | Dinner | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coast to Coast Pizza Company | $18 | $26 | New for 2026 |
| C&C Wood Fired Eats | Not published | $29 | New for 2026; Sunday to Thursday, 4 to 10 p.m. |
| Mrs. Mac's Kitchen | Not published | $29 | At the "Big" Mrs. Mac's location |
| Bayside Grille & Sunset Bar | $25 | $45 | Lunch is the Day Boat Platter with Key Lime Pie |
| Buttonwood Grill | $25 | $45 | New for 2026 |
| Gus' Grille at the Reef House Resort | $28 | $45 | Returning |
| DiGiorgio's Cafe Largo | Not published | $45 | Ends with Tuscan bread pudding |
Every dinner in the table lands at either $26 to $29 or $45, with no price in between. A $45 menu at DiGiorgio's Cafe Largo or Bayside Grille, the neighboring restaurants at 99530 and 99540 Overseas Highway, gets you a choice of first course, a chef's-special main and dessert. At the low end, the $29 menus come from a returning favorite and a newcomer, and C&C limits its price to Sunday through Thursday evenings. Florida Keys tourism notes that most menus include three courses.
A Pizzeria With Marathon Roots
The cheapest dinner on the list comes from a first-year participant. In a story published Sept. 25, 2026, Keys Weekly reported that Coast to Coast Pizza Company opened its third location at 99625 Overseas Highway on Sept. 14 and held a Key Largo Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting. One local dining guide dates the opening to 2025 instead, so the exact opening date is unclear. Owners Nicole and Omar Maldonado started the business in Marathon and also run the SS Wreck & Galley Grill there. "We started in Marathon, but we always had our eye on Key Largo," Omar Maldonado told Keys Weekly.
The menu comes three ways, New York, Detroit and Sicilian, with dough and sauces made from scratch. For Taste the Keys, the restaurant entered the SS Wreck Key Lime Pie as its signature dish, which brings a Middle Keys dessert to an Upper Keys counter. Weekday hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the shop says to call ahead for weekend hours. So the $18 lunch and $26 dinner fit most easily into a regular Monday through Friday.
Two Thursdays, Eight Stops
The Trolley Foodie Tours are the one part of Taste the Keys that requires a ticket. Each runs 5 to 9:30 p.m. for ages 21 and up and costs $150 per person, or $125 for Chamber members. The two routes visit different restaurants.
| Thursday, Oct. 15 | Thursday, Oct. 29 | |
|---|---|---|
| Check-in, 5 to 5:15 p.m. | Snook's Bayside Restaurant & Grand Tiki Bar, 99470 Overseas Hwy: Sunshine State Salad with wine | The Catch, 102041 Overseas Hwy: whipped feta dip with hot honey and focaccia, plus coconut-crusted chicken, with house wine or beer |
| 6 p.m. | Sol by the Sea at Playa Largo Resort: smoked mahi dip on lavash crisp with a Fiery Key Lime Margarita | Sundowners: smoked fish dip and a top-shelf piña colada |
| 7 p.m. | Lido 73: a taste of Italy with wine | Buttonwood Grill: signature ribeye steak with wine |
| 8 p.m. | Mrs. Mac's: Key Lime Pie with flavored iced coffee or a Watermelon Smash mocktail | Zaika Indian Cuisine: parota beignets with cardamom sauce |
| 9:15 to 9:30 p.m. | Back at Snook's | Back at The Catch |
The Oct. 15 route is the only one that leaves Key Largo, heading south to Lido 73 in Tavernier. That night ends at Mrs. Mac's with Key Lime Pie. The Oct. 29 route stays in Key Largo and swaps the pie for dessert at Zaika, 105045 Overseas Highway: parota beignets made from layered flaky bread with cardamom, pistachio and chocolate. Each route includes one first-year participant: Snooks on Oct. 15 and Buttonwood Grill on Oct. 29.
Voting Runs Through the End of the Month
Sixteen of the 23 restaurants entered a dish in the Signature Dish Showdown. A star on each menu marks the entry. Diners vote online through a Chamber ballot during October, and the winners will be announced in early November.
The 2026 results won't be out until November, so the only winners announced so far are from the first edition. Speaking on Keys Talk radio, the Key Largo Chamber's president described the showdown as a virtual version of the cook-off the Chamber ran for many years. Keys News Talk reported that she named Sundowners the first-place winner with its Key Lime Seafood, Italian Food Company came second with its Gnocchi Bowl, and Buzzard's Roost was third with its Yellowtail Margarita. All three are back this year. Italian Food Company now has three restaurants in the event, including Italian Food Company at 98070 Overseas Highway, Lido 73 and the Tavernier Express, so the family of kitchens behind last year's runner-up is also the largest presence on this year's list.
The Same Thursday Has a Reef Option
On the first trolley night, Key Largo has a second plan. Keys Weekly lists REEF Fest 2026 for Oct. 15 to 18. The Reef Environmental Education Foundation has held it since 2015, and it opens Thursday evening with a free welcome reception at the REEF Ocean Exploration Center, 98380 Overseas Highway.
Here is the rest of the REEF Fest weekend:
- Friday, Oct. 16: free seminars and a happy hour social at the REEF campus. Speakers include Kai Lopez, a Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary coral reef scientist who will cover the reef fishes of the Keys.
- Saturday, Oct. 17: more free seminars, then the For the Love of the Sea Celebration from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at a bayside property next to Quiescence Diving Services, 103674 Overseas Highway. Tickets are $125 and cover dinner, an open bar with local craft beer, a silent auction and the sunset over Florida Bay.
- Sunday, Oct. 18: hands-on conservation activities, with details still to be announced.
Most events are free, but REEF asks people to pre-register, and the seminars will also be livestreamed on its Facebook page and YouTube channel. New this year, dive and snorkel excursions are booked directly with the operators instead of through REEF. With REEF Fest on Saturday and C&C's $29 menu running Sunday through Thursday, the weekend and the weeknights in the last half of October each have their own plan.
If a Taste the Keys dinner this month has you weighing a place closer to Snooks, Sundowners or the Tavernier end of the highway, Keys Ocean Realty can share what ownership looks like from Key Largo down to Marathon. Schedule a Consultation whenever you're ready to talk it over.
