Reviewing The Key Club: A ‘contemporary take on a classic American bar and grill’ in Coconut Grove, FL. 

The Key Club is beautiful, and although we had reservations, we hit a snag right away. We had to make a choice of sitting inside or out, and that truly was a tough one. Both areas are so beautiful and appealing, but we are still in Miami’s hottest season, so eventually, we elected to go inside to shake off the early afternoon heat. 

Cocktails were foregone today since our next stop was to see Bullet Train, and we didn’t want to booze snooze during time with Brad Pitt. But wow, some of the cocktails being served at The Key Club looked really glorious and quite fancy. Next time.

It was brunch time at The Key Club, so I ordered the lobster Benedict, which was perfectly cooked with slightly runny eggs. The English muffins were toasty, and there were lots of big Maine lobster chunks and creamy hollandaise sauce. I loved it. My friends wanted to try the Miami Spice menu. Technically, though I don’t know why, all parties at the table are required to do the Spice menu, but our waiter kindly let us slide.  

One friend ordered the smoked salmon rosti. It was traditional salmon with red onion, capers, and chive cream, sitting on top of a fried grated potato cake. Thank the Swedes for creating the rosti! She also got the Denver omelet, which came with ham, cheddar cheese, onions, red peppers, and crispy baby potatoes. My other friend ordered the little gem salad with avocado, cherry tomatoes, and a delicious champagne vinaigrette. We aren’t sure what happened, as it wasn’t listed on the menu, but her salad also had some nice salmon slivers on it, and it was delicious. 

I should also mention that I definitely taste-tested all the dishes when offered, so having two spice girls got me an extravaganza of extra nibbles. I’m not just going by their ratings. Her main was a chicken sandwich made with crispy chicken, Swiss cheese, a kale slaw, and honey mustard. Though not listed on the menu, it also came with slices of ripe, juicy tomato.  

The fries were a huge portion of skinny crispy fries that none of us could keep our hands off of. Their spice desserts were a Key lime pie with a delicious toasted coconut crust and a piña colada pavlova, which was meringue and pineapple over toasted coconut gelato. Miami has so many good restaurants, but The Key Club just got added to our must-re-do list for dinner — and soon.