On Saturday evening, we had drinks again at our favorite bar, La Te Da, We asked the bartender for recommendations for an early dinner. We didn’t have lunch because we were on our kayaking trip. so we could take advantage of the bar specials.  They recommended Santiago’s Bodega.

Santiago’s Bodega is close to Blue Heaven so we had been in the neighborhood before. We called to see if we needed reservations and they suggested we do.

In reality, we didn’t need one but it was 4:30.  We  had a nice table (of course, there weren’t many people there)  The restaurant is another wonderfully Key West place.  We just love the laid back vibe.

We looked at the half price menu and decided to order a couple of appetizers and the sangria. The sangria was a great deal because we got a pitcher for $10.  For the price, the sangria was pretty good.

The tapas on  the half price list weren’t very good. We ordered empanadas and they were just awful. Definitely not like empanadas we have any anywhere else.  For one thing, they were too big and for another, they were too salty. We took a taste and sent them back. They did take it off our bill.  After that, we decided it might be better to order off the real menu.

We asked for the tuna ceviche. To be honest, we were told it was different but we didn’t realize what that meant. It was different, very different and not in a great way. It was huge chunks of tuna that are too large to have much flavor.

We didn’t care for it and at that point, we started wondering why everyone gave the  restaurant a good review. Maybe because it wasn’t very expensive.  We started getting very concerned.

Just as we became skeptical that anything there was good, they delivered the garlic shrimp that was delicious and the short rib appetizer that also was very good.

We were glad that a couple of the dishes were good because we had such high hopes for the place.

The service was very good and very attentive. The restaurant was a fun place to be.  We hope they can raise the level of the rest of their dishes to match the shrimp and short ribs. We decided to leave after the short ribs.