Since I was heading down to Key West, I thought I would give Kelly’s another try.  My first experience here was absolutely horrible– bad service and bad beer.  I thought my second time couldn’t be nearly as bad. Well the beer is still bad but the service was at least better.

This time I went for a late lunch. The place was totally empty and my waiter was brand new. He didn’t know much about the beers but at least he could do his job.  I hadn’t eaten here before as last time the service was so horrible, my friend and I walked out.  The food here is marginal. We started with a veggie flatbread appetizer which was small but tasty.  We also tried the mango gazpacho– it was different but not my favorite. I think I will stick with traditional gazpacho, as this reminded me of mango flavored salsa but with even more mango. I am sure it was good for me at least.

Now onto the beers…. Every beer here seemed to be lacking in carbonation. The mouth feel on each was like a semi-flat soda.  Think about what happens to a 2 liter of Coke after being in the fridge a couple of days– even though the cap is on, the Coke loses enough carbonation to be a bit on the flat side.

The Havana Red was very weak with only a slightly roasted nose.  The Key West Golden Ale was the best one here but also very weak with not much nose. I got a hint of yeast at the end of the taste on this one.  The Southern Clipper Wheat had a nose reminiscent of Bud Light with lemon Pledge and a sour lemon taste. I didn’t even feel this one was drinkable.

My suggestion– If you are going to Key West, skip Kelly’s. Go to the new World of Beer off Duvall Street instead.  From what I found, World of Beer and The Porch (a tiny craft beer establishment) were the only places in Key West to get good beer.