Thai Island Restaurant and Sushi Bar

I'll admit, I'm not a Thai food expert by any means, but let me say, it was tasty.

When I arrived to Thai Island, I immediately wondered how to get in. There's a great outdoor balcony/seating area that over looks the bridge and bay area where all the commercial boaters dock in. It was cloudy today, but on just about any other clear day I bet the sunset view from the balcony is simply amazing.

They have a pretty extensive menu: fried noodles, curries, seafood, all types of sushi/specialty rolls, bento boxes, and thai and japanese soups and salads. Great selection, but I'm not sure how **authentic** it is--I'm guessing not very.
Their large menu is posted on the outside of the restaurant; there you can see just how many options there are!

Immediately walking upstairs to the restaurant, you're greeted with the option to sit inside or outside on the balcony. It would have been to sit outside, but considering my crew, we sat inside.

After being given our choice of table, we sat and were greeted by a nice young lady, Olga, who helped us out with what's good and great.

Okay, so, I know this is Key West--all touristy and whatnot--but the prices here are kinda high. I ordered the dubbed "Valentine Roll" which consists of "shrimp tempura, eel, masago, cucumber, avocado, asparagus, scallions and spicy mayo topped with tuna and tempura flakes." There are some good things in this roll, undoubtedly. The crispy shrimp tempura isn't too crispy to where your mouth is bleeding with each bite, but not soggy with grease. The masago and spicy mayo set the veggies and everything else off quite perfectly.  It was full of textural differences that I enjoyed, but....I don't really feel that one, single roll was worth $16.

My kids shared the Pad Thai (excuse the chopstick paper).  Olga suggested it for the kids because it's sweet and it's noodles. What kid wouldn't go for sweet noodles? The only drawback that I saw in the description of sweet noodles is ground peanuts. I told her that he's allergic, but said that they could make it without the peanuts, no problem. Good news to me!! Gabriel like it, but....I found it a bit too sweet--but maybe that's what the peanuts would have helped balance out--you try it out and let me know!

The final product? A pleased toddler. Happy toddler = happy mother.

The Bottom Line
Food: Okay. Sushi was good, noodles were too sweet, but overall just okay. Yours may be more tasty.

Price: Pretty pricey. The total bill for 1 sushi roll, 2 noodle plates, and a gyoza dumpling appetizer and an iced tea was $50.51,  with a local discount. It ultimately cost me $60 after tipping, because they were nice.

Service: Friendly. They were nice to my kiddies, which always makes me happy. They offered to make the menu work for us, which is always great.

Overall: Pleased. Not an earth-shatteringly amazing experience, but definitely not a horrible one. If you're looking into it, I'd recommend it.

About me..

Before I head out on my first review, I thought it would be best to let myself be known a bit more.
Me, my two boys and my husband live here in Key West. My husband is stationed here--and that's about the only reason I'm still here.

I won't lie, I'm not crazy about this place--it's really small and secluded and I can't get out to make friends or really do anything because I'm with my boys all the time.

Key West is definitely a vacation and retirement oasis. If you're not vacationing or retiring and are staying here, there isn't much here for you.  Considering the bars, and vacation-like atmosphere it isn't really the best place to have a young family (my boys are 2 and 1). So, the things that I will be paying special attention to is not just how amazing the food tastes, but how it'll be for a family, as well as other types of crowds.

I do know that when I go out to eat with my boys, 40% of the time at that restaurant I'm wondering why I thought it was a good idea to do it in the first place. But I'll be taking my chances.
So my first food adventure will commence tonight. I'm taking the boys to Thai Island Restaurant tonight and I couldn't be more excited to make this my first post!

There are actually quite a few Thai restaurants here on the island, but I figured I might as well start here. And you better believe the others are soon to come. Come back later for good info on some chow down!

Intro to Key West

When you get to Key West, its understandable that all that you could seem to think about is Margaritaville, going to the beach, and snapping a few photos next to the Southernmost Point buoy. But there comes a point in your tour of the city, as you're walking down Duval Street or trying to find your way through the one way street maze, when you realize "My stomach is going to eat itself if I don't find anything to eat soon."

I realize this is hard to conceptualize for many people, but Key West is.....isolated. It's a place where the only department store shopping experience you will have within a 4 hour radius is a single Sears store on Roosevelt Boulevard.

A place where there is ONE Winn Dixie and two Publix. And no, there is no Wal-Mart or Target--and in fact, Cuba is closer than the nearest of either of those two stores. Even Taco Bell and KFC are a delicacy, being and hour away in Marathon. 

Okay, Okay, you get the point: no Olive Gardens, no Chili's, no PF Chang's, nothing of the sort!  So what on earth is there to eat in this wretchedly isolated place? Answer: you have to look.

In this blog, I'll try to reveal some restaurants that aren't so well known around the island, and review some that are. As much as I like and use Urbanspoon in my travels, it just wasn't cutting it with what the good grub is here on the island. 

There are tons of restaurants--many only locals know about, and others only tourists stick to (like Pizza Hut). But, stick with me, and you'll likely be chowing on something good from this unique selection of grub here on the island.