About Latitudes
There are restaurants you visit for the food. There are restaurants you visit for the setting. And then, very occasionally, there are restaurants where both arrive together in such perfect alignment that the result transcends both categories. Latitudes at Sunset Key Cottages is, on its best evenings, one of the second type operating at the level of the first.
The experience begins before you sit down. A complimentary boat departs from the Key West Historic Seaport at 245 Front Street, carrying guests across a short stretch of open water to Sunset Key — a private island that can only be reached by the Sunset Key Cottages ferry. The five-minute crossing is part of the theater: by the time you step ashore onto a palm-lined path leading to the restaurant's beachfront terrace, the transition from Key West's lively Old Town to something altogether more private and rarefied is complete.
The menu is built around the same Gulf waters visible through every window: fresh snapper, lobster bisque that earns the description "bisque" rather than just "soup," Caribbean-inflected preparations of stone crab (in season, October through May) that respect both the ingredient and the technique. Lobster risotto, when available, is an event. The wine list is well-chosen for warm-weather drinking, with whites and rosés particularly thoughtful.
The setting delivers on its reputation unambiguously. The outdoor terrace faces west across the Gulf of Mexico, and the sunset here — unobstructed by buildings, elevated from the water's edge — is among the most dramatic in the continental United States. Tables are positioned to maximize the view, and the timing of the 7pm seating places most guests at the table precisely as the sun descends. This is not accidental. Latitudes has been engineering this moment for years.
Honest assessment: the food, while genuinely good, does not always justify the premium pricing relative to what you'll find at Cafe Marquesa or Little Pearl. Some reviewers note inconsistency. But for a proposal, an anniversary, or any occasion where the physical drama of the setting is an asset rather than a backdrop, no other restaurant in Florida — perhaps no other restaurant in the United States at this price point — offers what Latitudes provides at sunset.
Best Occasion: Proposal
The private island journey, the sunset choreography, the beachfront setting, the arrival by boat — Latitudes provides the logistical theater of a proposal before the ring even appears. Book the sunset seating, request an outdoor table facing west when you make the reservation, and let the Gulf of Mexico do what it does every evening at dusk.